William John Kenney (June 16, 1904 – January 16, 1992) was

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Assistant Secretary of the Navy Assistant Secretary of the Navy (ASN) is the title given to certain civilian senior officials in the United States Department of the Navy. From 1861 to 1954, the Assistant Secretary of the Navy was the second-highest civilian office in the Depar ...

1945-46,

Under Secretary of the Navy Under may refer to: * "Under" (Alex Hepburn song), 2013 * "Under" (Pleasure P song), 2009 *Bülent Ünder (born 1949), Turkish footballer *Cengiz Ünder (born 1997), Turkish footballer *Marie Under Marie Under ( – 25 September 1980) was one o ...

1947-49, and the operating chief of the

Marshall Plan The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was an American initiative enacted in 1948 to provide foreign aid to Western Europe. The United States transferred over $13 billion (equivalent of about $ in ) in economic re ...

from 1950 to 1952..

Early life and career

W. John Kenney was born in

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

on June 16, 1904. He grew up in Oklahoma,

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, and

Carmel-by-the-Sea, California Carmel-by-the-Sea (), often simply called Carmel, is a city in Monterey County, California, United States, founded in 1902 and incorporated on October 31, 1916. Situated on the Monterey Peninsula, Carmel is known for its natural scenery and ric ...

. He attended

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

, graduating in 1926, and then attended

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

, graduating in 1929. After law school, he moved to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, and practiced law there until 1936. In 1936, Kenney began his career of public service when he was appointed chief of the oil and gas unit of the

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...

. After two years in government, he practiced law in Los Angeles until 1941, when he returned to Washington, D.C. as special assistant to

James Forrestal James Vincent Forrestal (February 15, 1892 – May 22, 1949) was the last Cabinet-level United States Secretary of the Navy and the first United States Secretary of Defense. Forrestal came from a very strict middle-class Irish Catholic fami ...

, first

. He later served as the second

General Counsel of the Navy The General Counsel of the Department of the Navy is the senior civilian lawyer in the United States Department of the Navy, U.S. Department of the Navy and is the senior legal adviser to the United States Secretary of the Navy, Secretary of the ...

from February 5, 1945 to April 2, 1945.

Career in the Navy and the Marshall Plan

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...

Harry Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...

appointed Kenney

in 1946, and he served in that capacity from March 1, 1946 to September 19, 1947. Truman then promoted Kenney to

and he served in that office from September 19, 1947 to September 24, 1949. Under the

, President Truman named Kenney director of the Economic Cooperation Mission to Britain, and then, in 1950, he became the operating chief of the entire Marshall Plan under its director,

W. Averell Harriman William Averell Harriman (November 15, 1891July 26, 1986), better known as Averell Harriman, was an American Democratic politician, businessman, and diplomat. The son of railroad baron E. H. Harriman, he served as Secretary of Commerce un ...

. Kenney would later support Harriman during Harriman's 1952 and 1956 attempts to become

Post-government career

With the ending of the Marshall Plan in 1952, Kenney returned to the private practice of corporate law as a

partner Partner, Partners, The Partner, or, The Partners may refer to: Books * ''The Partner'' (Grisham novel), by John Grisham, 1997 * ''The Partner'' (Jenaro Prieto novel), 1928 * ''The Partners'' (book), a 1983 book by James B. Stewart * ''Partner'' (m ...

at the

law firm A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise clients (individuals or corporations) about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to r ...

of Sullivan, Shea & Kenney. In 1970, he left for the firm of Cox, Langford & Brown, and then in 1973, moved to

Squire, Sanders & Dempsey Squire Patton Boggs is an international law firm with 42 offices in 20 countries. It was formed in 2014 by the merger of multinational law firm Squire Sanders with Washington, D.C. based Patton Boggs. It is one of the 30 largest law firms in the ...

, where he was a partner until he retired in 1989. During his many years as a high-powered attorney in Washington, D.C., Kenney was involved in many outside organizations. He helped to found the

Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) is a graduate school of Johns Hopkins University based in Washington, D.C., United States, with campuses in Bologna, Italy, and Nanjing, China. It is consistently ranked one of the ...

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

. He was a

trustee Trustee (or the holding of a trusteeship) is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, is a synonym for anyone in a position of trust and so can refer to any individual who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility to t ...

of The George C. Marshall Foundation. For a number of years, he sat on the

board of directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

Riggs Bank Riggs Bank was a bank headquartered in Washington, D.C. For most of its history, it was the largest bank headquartered in that city. On May 13, 2005, after the exposure of several money laundering scandals, the bank was acquired by PNC Financ ...

. He was chairman of the Washington, D.C. chapter of the

American Red Cross The American Red Cross (ARC), also known as the American National Red Cross, is a non-profit humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. It is the desi ...

. Socially, he was head of the prestigious

Alibi Club The Alibi Club is a private, traditional List of gentlemen's clubs in the United States, private club in Washington, D.C. Its members consist of the Washington elite, including presidents, senators, and diplomats, among other prominent figures. H ...

. Kenney died of pneumonia at his home in Washington, D.C. on January 16, 1992.

Family

Kenney and his wife, Elinor, had two daughters and two sons. In 1957, his daughter Priscilla Kenney married

Edward Streator Edward James Streator (December 12, 1930 – April 16, 2019) was an American diplomat."Nomination of Edward J. Streator To Be the United States Representative to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development: July 28, 1984." Found a ...

, a diplomat and future

ambassador to the

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries ...

under President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

,"Nomination of Edward J. Streator To Be the United States Representative to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development: July 28, 1984." Found a
Ronald Reagan Library archives at the University of Texas website
Accessed June 29, 2010.American Enterprise Institute website New Atlantic Initiative page
Accessed June 29, 2010. at the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, popularly known as the

Washington National Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in the City and Diocese of Washington, commonly known as Washington National Cathedral, is an American cathedral of the Episcopal Church. The cathedral is located in Washington, D.C., the cap ...

. In 1981, their three children (Kenney's grandchildren), donated to St. John's Church Lafayette Square a

stained glass window Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

in the Streators' honor.Richard F. Grimmett, ''St. John's Church, Lafayette Square: The History and Heritage of the Church of the Presidents, Washington, DC'' (Hillcrest Publishing Group, 2009) . Found a
Google Books
Accessed June 29, 2010. Kenney's granddaughter Elinor Streator had a society wedding in 1986."Elinor Streator is affianced," ''New York Times'', September 29, 1985. Found a

Accessed June 29, 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kenney, W. John 1904 births 1992 deaths Harvard Law School alumni General Counsels of the United States Navy Stanford University alumni United States Under Secretaries of the Navy United States Assistant Secretaries of the Navy People from Carmel-by-the-Sea, California