Symington, (William) Stuart

(1901-1988)

   Stuart Symington was born in Amherst, Massachusetts, but his family moved to Baltimore, Maryland, where he went to school. He enlisted in the military at the age of 17 and after the war went to Yale but left in 1923 without graduating. He became an iron molder, studied at night, and by 1925 was president of the Eastern Clay Company. After holding several other executive posts, Symington became chair of the Surplus Property Board in 1945 and then assistant secretary of war for air in 1946. In 1947, he was appointed first secretary of the air force, and he helped establish the new service. In 1950, he chaired the National Security Resources Board and in 1951 the Reconstruction Finance Corporation.

   In 1952, Symington was elected Democratic state senator for Missouri. He stood unsuccessfully for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in 1960. The successful candidate, John F. Kennedy, considered Symington as his vice presidential running mate but finally opted for Lyndon Johnson. Instead, Symington served four terms as senator, in which time he was a critic of Joseph McCarthy, a supporter of defense spending, and initially a supporter of U.S. involvement in Vietnam. He changed his position after 1967. Critical of the administration of Richard M. Nixon, Symington opposed the antiballistic missile system. He retired in 1976.