Averell Harriman

\nWilliam Averell Harriman (November 15, 1891 - July 26, 1986), son of Union Pacific Railroad magnate E. H. Harriman, joined his father's company in 1915, becoming chairman of the board by 1932. He also ran the W.A. Harriman Company starting in 1919. He was appointed U.S Ambassador to the Soviet Union in 1943, leaving that post in 1946 to become, briefly, Ambassador to the United Kingdom, and then Secretary of Commerce. Harriman served as national security adviser during the Korean War. Harriman made a successful bid for the governorship of New York in 1954, serving from 1955-59, and lost a Democratic nomination bid for the Presidency in 1956. He was appointed Ambassador at Large in the Kennedy administration, a position he held until November 1961. He was then appointed Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs. He remained in that position until April 1963, when he became Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs. He continued in that position in the Lyndon Johnson administration, until March 1965 when he again became Ambassador at Large, a position he would hold for the remainder of Johnson's presidency. Harriman was the chief U.S. negotiator at the Paris peace talks on Vietnam.