When America Worked

The almost-completely forgotten Secretary of State for FDR and Truman, Edward R.  Stettinius, Jr. did more than anyone to create the United Nations. He was derided in his time as an intellectual lightweight who lacked diplomatic experience. But he navigated a thicket of international disputes to maintain consensus between FDR, Churchill, Stalin and a litany of smaller nations to forge the final U.N. Charter. If not for an incredible series of events that thrusted Stettinius into the Secretary of State post, the United Nations may not exist today.