Secretary of state under President Franklin D. Roosevelt from 1933 to 1945 who promoted reciprocal trade agreements.
Cordell Hull of Tennessee graduated from law school in his home state and then served as a captain during the Spanish-American War. He became a circuit judge after returning to the United States and in 1907 was elected to the House of Representatives, where he served until 1931, except for a hiatus between 1921 and 1923. He resigned from the House in 1931 to successfully run for the Senate. Two years into his Senate term he was appointed secretary of state by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
While he was in Congress, Hull focused primarily on the tariff. His fascination with the subject began during the Mills Bill debate in 1888 on the reduction of tariff rates. Hull viewed the tariff as a domestic evil that contributed to the rise of big business, the loss of competition, and the cause of poverty among workers. He not only spoke out against high tariffs, but he proposed a series of “pop-gun bills”—pieces of legislation that addressed single tariff issues—and opposed passage of the Payne-Aldrich Tariff of 1909. After the election of President Woodrow Wilson, Hull helped draft the tax legislation that accompanied the Underwood-Simmons Tariff Act of 1913. The act decreased the tariff but added a personal income tax. Before the effects of the downward revision of the tariff could be realized, World War I disrupted international trade.
Hull realized that the high tariffs caused conflict, including World War I, in international affairs. He worked to lower rates in an effort to stabilize and improve foreign relations. He spoke out passionately against the proposed record-high Hawley-Smoot Tariff during congressional debates in 1929. After Congress passed it in June 1930, the Great Depression worsened and the country elected Franklin D. Roosevelt president after Herbert Hoover failed to implement policies to help individuals hit hard by the depression. Roosevelt appointed Hull as his secretary of state in 1933.
Hull attended the London Economic Conference in 1934 but could not cooperate with other European nations because of the restrictions placed on him by the Hawley-Smoot Tariff. When he returned to the United States, he persuaded Roosevelt to propose that Congress allow the administration to negotiate reciprocal trade agreements with individual countries in an effort to stimulate international trade. Congress passed the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act of 1934, and Hull began negotiating agreements with countries that were willing to lower tariff barriers on a reciprocal basis with the United States. He continued to push for the reduction of tariffs throughout Roosevelt’s presidency. His efforts set the United States on the course toward free trade. In recognition of his efforts to bring about peace and stability to the international community, Hull received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1945.
