W. Averell Harriman (1891-1986) was an American politician, businessman and diplomat.
Born in New York City, Harriman attended Groton and Yale and shortly after graduation established a banking business. Highlight of his career include U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union (1943-1946) and the United Kingdom (1941 to 1943 and 1946), Secretary of Commerce (1946-1948), Special envoy to Churchill and Stalin, (1941-1946), U.S. Coordinator for the Marshall Plan (1948-1950), Governor of New York (1955-1958), two-time candidate for the Democratic nominaton for President (1952, 1956), Special Representative to the US President for the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (1963), and US Ambassador-at-large (1965-1969).
John R. Deane (b. 1896), whose voice also appears in this collection, was a U.S. Army officer and head of the U.S. Military Mission in Russia from 1943 to the end of World War II.
From the guide to the Averell Harriman Recordings, 1955-1956, (Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries)
