Hull, Cordell (1871–1955)

Cordell Hull (b. 2 October 1871; d. 23 July 1955), U.S. secretary of state (1933–1944) during the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Although Roosevelt bypassed his secretary of state on many matters, Hull played an active role in Latin American affairs. Along with Roosevelt and Assistant Secretary of State Sumner Welles, Hull formulated the Good Neighbor Policy, which sought to improve relations between the United States and the nations of Latin America. Hull's principal contributions to the Good Neighbor Policy were threefold. First, in 1933, at the Pan-american Conference in Montevideo, he surprised and pleased fellow delegates by endorsing the principle of nonintervention in the affairs of Latin American nations. Second, Hull was the principal architect of the reciprocal trade agreements that increased commerce between the United States and its hemispheric neighbors. Finally, as World War II approached, he helped negotiate mutual defense agreements among nations of the Western Hemisphere.

See alsoGood Neighbor Policy; United States-Latin American Relations.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The Memoirs of Cordell Hull, 2 vols. (1948).

Julius W. Pratt, Cordell Hull, 1933–1944, 2 vols. (1964).

Irwin F. Gellman, Good Neighbor Diplomacy: United States Policies in Latin America, 1933–1945 (1979).

Additional Bibliography

Butler, Michael A. Cautious Visionary: Cordell Hull and Trade Reform, 1933–1937. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 1998.

Schoultz, Lars. Beneath the United States: A History of U.S. Policy toward Latin America. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1999.

                                           Patrick J. Maney