Harriman, (William) Averell (1891-1986)

US diplomat. He was administrator of lend-lease in World War II and warned of the Soviet Union's aggressive intentions from his post as ambassador to the USSR 1943-46. He became Democratic secretary of commerce 1946-48 in Harry Truman's administration, governor of New York 1955-58, and negotiator of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty with the USSR in 1963. He served the Lyndon Johnson administration 1968-69 in the opening rounds of the Vietnam War peace talks at which he was chief negotiator.

Harriman graduated from Yale University in 1913. A business executive and financier, he joined Franklin Roosevelt's National Recovery administration in 1934, and was closely associated with the New Deal. He was Roosevelt's special representative in Britain in 1941, and chair of the president's special mission to the USSR in 1941. He was US ambassador to Britain in 1946, and later shared responsibility for the administration of the European Recovery Programme in its application to Britain. He was director of the Mutual Security Agency 1951-53. His successor as chief negotiatior in the Vietnam War peace talks was Henry Cabot Lodge II.