NEW YORK GOVERNOR, 1954-1958

Truman Adviser.

A longtime government administrator and ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1943 to 1946, Averell Harriman, along with Dean Acheson, supported the "peace-through strength" approach to dealing with the Soviet Union as President Harry S Truman's special adviser in 1951 and 1952.

Background.

Averell Harriman was born into one of the wealthiest families in America. His father had amassed a $100 million fortune in the railroad and ship-ping businesses and had founded one of the leading Wall Street investment houses. Educated at Groton and Yale, Harriman was an international businessman before he entered government in 1941 as President Franklin D. Roosevelt's special representative to oversee land-lease assistance to Great Britain. In 1943 he became the first U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union. He was subsequently ambassador to Great Britain, secretary of commerce, and...