Henry L. Stimson served as Secretary of War under William Howard Taft, Franklin Roosevelt, and Harry S. Truman, as well as Secretary of State under Herbert Hoover. He was born on September 21, 1867, in New York City and educated at Phillips Andover Academy and Yale. Theodore Roosevelt appointed him U.S. Attorney General for the Southern District of New York, where he gained a reputation for anti-trust prosecutions.
Although a Republican, Stimson served under presidents of both parties. While in Hoover`s cabinet as secretary of state, Stimson articulated the Stimson Doctrine in opposition to Japanese expansionism. As Roosevelt`s Secretary of War, Stimson was a strong advocate of preparation for war with Germany. During the war, he opposed Morganthau`s plan to reduce Germany to an agrarian economy after the expected Allied victory.