Winant, John G(ilbert) (1889–1947)

US governor and government official. Although a Republican, he was sympathetic to labour, and President Franklin Roosevelt got him appointed to the International Labour Organization (ICO) in Geneva (1935); he came back to Washington after a few months to head the newly created Social Security Board. He returned to the ICO in 1937 and became its director in 1939.

Born in New York, New York to a wealthy family, he became a history teacher at his former prep school, St Paul's School, in Concord, New Hampshire (1911–17). As a moderate Republican, he also served in the New Hampshire legislature (1916–17). He served in the American Air Service (1917–18) then returned to St Paul's until 1920 when he went to the state senate, and then served as governor (1925–27, 1933–35).

Roosevelt named him ambassador to England (1940–46) and he helped plan the Three-Power Foreign Ministers Conference in Moscow (1943). In 1946 President Truman appointed him a representative to the Economic and Social Council of the UN.