TAYLOR, MYRON CHARLES

Lawyer, industrialist, and diplomat who became the personal representative of presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry Truman to Pius XII during and immediately after World War II; b. Lyons, N.Y., Jan. 18, 1874; d. Locust Valley, N.Y., May 6, 1959. He was the son of William and Mary (Morgan) Taylor and received his LL.B. (1894) from Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. He served as chairman of the finance committee of the U.S. Steel Corporation (1927–34) and was chairman of the board of directors and chief executive office of that corporation (1932–38). Closely associated with the federal government, Taylor served in various capacities in the Hoover, Roosevelt, and Truman administrations. In 1929 he was on the executive committee of the President's National Business Survey Conference, and in 1931 he became a member of the President's Organization on Unemployment Relief. Subsequently (1933–35) he served as a member of the industrial board of the National Recovery Administration and was also the U.S. representative to the Evian Conference on Political Refugees. In 1939 when Taylor, an Episcopalian, was given the rank of ambassador and named personal representative of President Roosevelt to Pius XII, his main duties were to relay messages between Roosevelt and the pope and to harmonize the relief activities of the Vatican and the U.S. Taylor retained his Vatican post under Truman until 1950, when he resigned; his Wartime Correspondence between President Roosevelt and Pope Pius XII was published in 1947. For his various services to the U.S., Italy, and France during and after the war, Taylor received the Medal of Merit (U.S.); he was named Commander, Order of the Crown, Star of Solidarity (Italy), and Cross Commander, Legion of Honor (France). Because of his services to the Vatican, Taylor was made successively Knight, Order of Pius, first degree; Knight Grand Cross, SS. Mauritius and Lazarus; and Knight, Order of Malta.

[j. q. feller]