Evening star., 1950-10-21
Was First Western
Leader to Demand
Curb on Agqressors
BY the Associated Press

COLD SPRING HARBOR, N. Y,
Oct. 21.-Henry L. Stimson, the
first American to hold cabinet
Office under four Presidents. died
yesterday of a heart attack. He
was 83 years old.
Mr.. Stimson was Secretary of
War under Presidents William
Howard Taft, Franklin D. Roose-
velt and Harry Truman, and was
Herbert Hoover's only Secretary
of State.
Three months ago Mr.. Stimson
fell and suffered broken hip, but
was making a good recovery and
getting about with wheelchair and
crutches. Yesterday afternoon
he and Mrs. Stimson set out on a
drive around the estate. He was
stricken in the car, was taken
home Immediately, and died a few
minutes later.
Funeral plans were not arranged
at once, but a relative said Mr.
Stimson would be buried here on
Long Island.
Mr.. Stimson was the first lead
ing statesman in any Western
country to demand a tough crack
down on the aggressors of the
1930s. His policy failed at the
time. but as Americas Secretary
of War from Pearl Harbor to Hiro-
shima, he directed the Army and
Air Force that helped redeem it.
Mr.. Stimson already had gained
an "elder statesman" status when
he accepted his third cabinet ap-
pointment at the outbreak of
World War II and became the
man most responsible for drop
ping the atomic bomb on Japan.
His remarkable public career
covered 40 years, saw him serve
four Presidents and both major
political parties as Secretary of
War and Secretary of State.
More than q years elapsed be-
tween the time he left Taft's cab
met as Secretary of War until,
at the age Of 72, he returned to
the same post at the behest of
President Roosevelt and became
the oldest man ever to fill that
role in wartime.
Between those assignments in
which he enunciated preparedness
by powerful military forces. Mr..
Stimson worked vigorously for
peace as President Hoover's Sec
retary of State. Even then. the
shadows Of Hitler and TOTO fore
told the leading part Mr.. Stimson
was to play in the next decade.
Although a Republican, Mr.
Stimson experienced surprising re-
sistance from Senators of that
party when President Roosevelt
asked him to come out of retire.
ment in 1910 and help stem the
snow-balling Nazi war machine.
Accused Of War Mongering.
Mr.. Stimson had expressed some
strong convictions about giving
material aid to anti-Nazi coun-
tries. He called for repeal of the
Neutrality Act and an end to ship
ping arms to Japan. Some accused
him Of war mongering and spread
ing British propaganda.
Mr.. Stimson lost little time get
ting action. once he had taken the
oath on July 10, 1910.
He supported legislation for the
selective service system and lend
lease for Nations aligned against
Hitler. Seven months before Pearl
Harbor. he advocated use of the
Navy to clear the sea lanes for
shipment of munitions to Britain.
He called the world struggle IAN
issue between right and wrong,
between freedom and slavery, be-
tween kindness and cruelty" And
he said the two sides could not be
compromised.
With only "red tape and the
skeleton of an Army" at his dis
posal. Mr.. Stimson had set up
shop on the same felt-covered
desk he had used nearly three
decades before.
Under the first peacetime con-
scription in history. the Regular
Army grew from 100000 officers
and men to nearly 10 times that
many on the eve Of Pearl Harbor.
At it's wartime peak, the Army
reached an all-time high of 8
million, equipped with the deadli-
est Weapons then known.