W . John Kenney William John Kenney ( June 16 , 1904 – January 16 , 1992 ) was United States Assistant Secretary of the Navy 1945 - 46 , Under Secretary of the Navy 1947 - 49 , and the operating chief of the Marshall Plan 1950 - 52 . Early life and career . W . John Kenney was born in Oklahoma and grew up in Oklahoma , Washington , D . C . , Los Angeles , and Carmel - by - the - Sea , California . He attended Stanford University , graduating in 1926 , and then attended Harvard Law School , graduating in 1929 . After law school , he moved to San Francisco , and practiced law there until 1936 . In 1936 , Kenney began his career of public service when he was appointed chief of the oil and gas unit of the U . S . Securities and Exchange Commission . After two years in government , he practiced law in Los Angeles until 1941 , when he returned to Washington , D . C . as special assistant to James Forrestal , first Under Secretary of the Navy . He later served as the second General Counsel of the Navy from February 5 , 1945 to April 2 , 1945 . Career in the Navy and the Marshall Plan . President of the United States Harry Truman appointed Kenney Assistant Secretary of the Navy in 1946 , and he served in that capacity from March 1 , 1946 to September 19 , 1947 . Truman then promoted Kenney to Under Secretary of the Navy and he served in that office from September 19 , 1947 to September 24 , 1949 . Under the Marshall Plan , President Truman named Kenney director of the Economic Cooperation Mission to Britain , and then , in 1950 , he became the operating chief of the entire Marshall Plan under its director , W . Averell Harriman . Kenney would later support Harriman during Harriman ' s 1952 and 1956 attempts to become President of the United States . Post - government career . With the ending of the Marshall Plan in 1952 , Kenney returned to the private practice of corporate law as a partner at the law firm of Sullivan , Shea & Kenney . In 1970 , he left for the firm of Cox , Langford & Brown , and then in 1973 , moved to Squire , Sanders & Dempsey , where he was a partner until he retired in 1989 . During his many years as a high - powered attorney in Washington , D . C . , Kenney was involved in many outside organizations . He helped to found the Paul H . Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University . He was a trustee of The George C . Marshall Foundation . For a number of years , he sat on the Board of Directors of Riggs Bank . He was chairman of the Washington , D . C . chapter of the American Red Cross . Socially , he was head of the prestigious Alibi Club . Kenney died of pneumonia at his home in Washington , D . C . on January 16 , 1992 . Family . Kenney and his wife , Elinor , had two daughters . In 1957 , his daughter Priscilla Kenney married Edward Streator , a diplomat and future United States ambassador to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development under President Ronald Reagan , at the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul , popularly known as the Washington National Cathedral . In 1981 , their three children ( Kenney ' s grandchildren ) , donated to St . John ' s Church Lafayette Square a stained glass window in the Streators ' honor . Kenney ' s grand - daughter Elinor Streator had a society wedding in 1986 .