born April 9, 1905, Sumner, Mo., U.S.
died Feb. 9, 1995, Washington, D.C.
U.S. politician.
After earning degrees from the Universities of Arkansas and Oxford, he taught law at Arkansas; he later served as its president (1939–41). In 1942 he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, where in 1943 he introduced a resolution supporting U.S. participation in what would become the UN. In the U.S. Senate (1945–75), he initiated the international exchange program known as the Fulbright scholarship . As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (1959–74), he presided over televised hearings in 1966 on U.S. policy in the Vietnam War , from which he emerged as a leading advocate of ending the bombing of North Vietnam and opening peace talks. In 1974 he lost his bid for reelection.