Stimson, Henry Lewis (1867–1950)

US politician. He was war secretary in President Taft's cabinet 1911–13, Hoover's secretary of state 1929–33, and war secretary 1940–45.

As secretary of state, he formulated the Stimson Doctrine of non-recognition of territories and agreements obtained by acts of aggression. He headed the US delegation to the London Naval Conference in1930, and was a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague in 1938.

Stimson was born in New York City, and educated at Yale and Harvard universities. He entered the bar of New York City in 1891, and was US attorney for the Southern district of New York State 1906–09. During World War I he served in the army. His publications include Democracy and Nationalism in Europe (1934), The Far Eastern Crisis (1936), and his memoirs, On Active Service in Peace and War (with M Bundy) (1948).