Having studied at Yale he became a diplomat, taking up posts as ambassador to the USSR (1943) and to Britain (1946). He was then secretary of commerce (1946-1948) and special assistant (1950-1951) to his close friend, President Truman. He became Governor of New York (1955-1958), ambassador-at-large (1961), 1965-1969), and US representative at the Vietnam peace talks in Paris (1968). He negotiated the partial nuclear test-ban treaty between the USA and USSR in 1963, and continued to visit the USSR on behalf of the government, making his last visit there at age ninety-one. 
 

Source: Leo van de Pas