born Oct. 2, 1871, Overton county, Tenn., U.S.
died July 23, 1955, Bethesda, Md.
U.S. politician and diplomat.
He served in the U.S. House of Representatives (1907–21, 1923–31), where he wrote the first income-tax bill (1913) and the inheritance-tax law (1916). He served briefly in the U.S. Senate (1931–33). As secretary of state under Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933–44), he worked for international agreements to reduce high tariff barriers. He helped to improve U.S. relations with Latin America through what came to be known as the Good Neighbor Policy . In East Asia he rejected a proposed "Japanese Monroe Doctrine" that would have given that country a free hand in China (1934). When the U.S. entered World War II, Hull began to plan an international postwar peacekeeping body. For this work, Roosevelt described him as the "father of the United Nations ." He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1945.