Lord Halifax

Edward Frederick Lindley Wood (1881–1959), successively Lord Irwin and Lord Halifax, entered the Commons as a Conservative in 1910 and held the education and agriculture portfolios before becoming viceroy of India in 1926. During his viceroyalty, which ended in 1931, he confronted Gandhi’s civil disobedience campaign, announced dominion status as Britain’s objective, and negotiated Gandhi’s participation in constitutional discussions. He inherited the Halifax viscountcy in 1934 and became Conservative leader in the Lords. ¹

As foreign secretary from February 1938 to December 1940, Halifax initially shared Chamberlain’s belief that negotiation and concessions could avert war with Germany and Italy. His attitude hardened during the Munich crisis: he pressed for fewer concessions over the Sudetenland and, after Germany occupied the rest of Czechoslovakia in March 1939, supported a British guarantee to Poland. In May 1940 he was considered as a possible successor to Chamberlain but did not take the premiership. He subsequently favored exploring peace negotiations while the Dunkirk evacuation was in progress. ^{2, 3}

Halifax went to Washington in January 1941 and remained until May 1946. On 23 February 1942 he signed the Anglo-American Mutual Aid Agreement with Acting Secretary of State Sumner Welles. The agreement provided for continued American supplies and reciprocal British assistance, while postponing a final reckoning of benefits. Its seventh article committed the governments to pursue expanded production and trade, reduced trade barriers, and the removal of discriminatory treatment in international commerce. ^{2, 4}

He also helped carry wartime cooperation into the United Nations. At San Francisco on 25 June 1945, as president of the conference’s ninth session, he put the United Nations Charter and the Statute of the International Court of Justice to the vote; both were adopted. Created an earl in 1944, he later published American Speeches and his autobiography, Fulness of Days. ^{5, 1}