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Averell Harriman

His Excellency
W. Averell Harriman
William Averell Harriman.jpg
48th Governor of New York
In office
January 1, 1955 – December 31, 1958
Lieutenant George DeLuca
Preceded by Thomas E. Dewey
Succeeded by Nelson A. Rockefeller
11th United States Secretary of Commerce
In office
October 7, 1946 – April 22, 1948
President Harry S. Truman
Preceded by Henry A. Wallace
Succeeded by Charles Sawyer
United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom
In office
April 30, 1946 – October 1, 1946
Monarch George VI
President Harry S. Truman
Prime Minister Clement Attlee
Preceded by John G. Winant
Succeeded by Lewis W. Douglas
United States Ambassador to the Soviet Union
In office
October 23, 1943 – January 24, 1946
President
Preceded by William H. Standley
Succeeded by Walter Bedell Smith
Personal details
Born William Averell Harriman
(1891-11-15)November 15, 1891
New York City, New York, U.S.
Died July 26, 1986(1986-07-26) (aged 94)
Yorktown Heights, New York, U.S.
Resting place Arden Farm Graveyard in Arden, New York, U.S.
Political party Democratic (1928–86)
Other political
affiliations
Republican (Before 1928)
Spouse(s)
Children
  • Mary Williamson Harriman
  • Kathleen Lanier Harriman Mortimer
Alma mater Yale University
Signature

William Averell Harriman (November 15, 1891 – July 26, 1986) was an American Democratic politician, businessman, and diplomat. He was the son of railroad baron E. H. Harriman. He served as Secretary of Commerce under President Harry S. Truman and later as the 48th Governor of New York. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1952, and again in 1956 when he was endorsed by President Truman but lost to Adlai Stevenson both times.

Harriman served President Franklin D. Roosevelt as special envoy to Europe and served as the U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union and U.S. Ambassador to Britain. He served in numerous U.S. diplomatic assignments in the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations. He was a core member of the group of foreign policy elders known as "The Wise Men".

Better known as Averell Harriman, he was born in New York City, the son of railroad baron Edward Henry Harriman and Mary Williamson Averell. He was the brother of E. Roland Harriman and Mary Harriman Rumsey. Harriman was a close friend of Hall Roosevelt, the brother of Eleanor Roosevelt.

During the summer of 1899, Harriman's father organized the Harriman Alaska Expedition, a philanthropic-scientific survey of coastal Alaska and Russia that attracted 25 of the leading scientific, naturalist, and artist luminaries of the day, including John Muir, John Burroughs, George Bird Grinnell, C. Hart Merriam, Grove Karl Gilbert, and Edward Curtis, along with 100 family members and staff, aboard the steamship George Elder. Young Harriman would have his first introduction to Russia, a nation on which he would spend a significant amount of attention in his later life in public service.


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