James F. Byrnes

James Francis Byrnes ( born 2 May 1882 in Charleston, South Carolina, † April 9, 1972 in Columbia, South Carolina ) was an American politician of the Democratic Party. He was from 1945 to 1947 and Secretary of State from 1951 to 1955 Governor of South Carolina. Byrnes was a member of the Democratic Party.

Early years and political rise

The young James Byrnes had to stop his schooling for financial reasons at the age of 14 years. From 1900 to 1908 he was clerk in the Second District Court in South Carolina. During this time he made ​​up for his studies of law and was admitted as a solicitor in 1903. Then he began a successful career, both as a lawyer and as a politician. From 1908 to 1910 he was a prosecutor in the Second Judicial District. From 1911 to 1925 he was a member of the House of Representatives of the United States. After this time, he was until 1931 an attorney in Spartanburg, before he was elected to the Senate of the United States, where he remained until 1941. There he was a supporter and personal friend of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his policies. This was followed by a trip to the Supreme Court of the United States ( Supreme Court ), on which he served as a judge until October 1942. In May 1943 he was appointed director of mobilization authority. This office he held until April 1945. Moreover, he was one of President Roosevelt's delegation at the Yalta Conference.

U.S. Secretary of State

President Harry S. Truman appointed him on July 3, 1945 as foreign minister in his cabinet. In his two-year tenure, he was directly involved in world events of those days. He took in 1945 at the Potsdam Conference and 1946 at the Paris Peace Conference. In addition, he was instrumental in the decision to Truman's dropping of the first atomic bomb on Japan by the President encouraged to take this step. Although they were a foreign policy opinion arose between the President and Byrnes to personal tensions ' led in January 1947 to Byrne's resignation.

Governor of South Carolina

In 1950, Byrnes was running for the office of governor of South Carolina. He succeeded relatively easy to secure the nomination. The election on November 7, 1950 was a mere formality, because there was no opposing candidate. Byrnes is still the oldest in Appointed Governor of South Carolina. During his tenure, he brought a basic education reform in motion. The hitherto 1200 school districts were reduced by merging 102. The schools for African-American children were improved. To finance a three percent VAT was introduced. However, nothing has been changed on the racial segregation. To this end, even the country's constitution was changed. Now the government had the power to close the schools, to prevent the integration of blacks. In order to respond in advance to an expected decision of the Supreme Court ( Brown v. Board of Education) the segregation of schools unconstitutional explained. That judgment was actually on May 17, 1954.

Another Journey

The Constitution of South Carolina did not allow for direct re-election of a governor. For this reason, had to resign from his post Byrnes on January 18, 1955. In the following years he felt his Democratic Party as too liberal. Although he remained a party member, but sympathized with the Republicans. He backed up to his death, the Republican presidential candidate. James Byrnes died on 9 April 1972.

Others

On September 6, 1946, he held as foreign minister in the Great House of the Staatstheater Stuttgart, the so-called "Hope Speech" for Germany, in which he presented a possible free exchange of goods and knowledge between the zones of occupation, and the abolition of the administrative regions of the occupying powers in view - an idea that was realized only months later with the establishment of bizone and formed the basis for the ties to the West of the later Federal Republic of Germany.

He also arranged in that speech the intention of the United States to work for a free Germany. Byrnes wanted his speech originally held in Paris in front of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Allied Powers, was but the American military governor of the occupied zone, General Lucius D. Clay, urged to make the speech in Stuttgart. For this reason, a street was named after him later in Stuttgart. It is located north of Prague saddle on the Burgholzhof, next to Robinson Barracks, an American military barracks.

James F. Byrnes was a member of the Federation of the Freemasons.

Awards

The TIME Magazine chose Byrnes 1946 "Man of the Year". From the perspective of the editors of the magazine he had the greatest impact on the world that year.