Harriman

Harriman, family name of a father and son prominent in U.S. commerce and government. Edward Henry Harriman (1848–1909) was a railroad tycoon and stockbroker who, after financial struggles with J.J. Hill, joined with Hill and J.P. Morgan to create a holding company designed to prevent competition on the railroads. It was dissolved by the Supreme Court in 1904. His son, W(illiam) Averell Harriman (1891–1986), was board chairman of Union Pacific 1933–46, served under Franklin D. Roosevelt in the National Recovery Administration, and carried on lend-lease negotiations in Britain (1941–42). Named U.S. ambassador to Moscow in 1943, he took part in all the major wartime conferences. He was the ambassador to London in 1946, became secretary of commerce in 1946–48, and was governor of New York 1955–59. He was under-secretary of state 1963–65 and ambassador-at-large 1963–65. In 1968 he was the head U.S. negotiator at the Paris peace talks on the Vietnam war.