Stettin See Szczecin
Stettinius \ste-'ti-ne-9s\, Edward Reilly, Jr. (b. Oct. 22, 1900, Chi¬ cago, Ill., U.S.—d. Oct. 31,1949, Greenwich, Conn.) U.S. industrialist and statesman. He worked for General Motors Corp., becoming a vice presi¬ dent in 1931. Joining U.S. Steel Corp. in 1934, he became chairman of the board in 1938. He was appointed chairman of the War Resources Board (1939-40) and administrator of lend-lease (1941-43). As U.S. secretary of state (1944-45), he advised Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt at the Yalta Con¬ ference. He led the U.S. delegation to the UN organizing conference in San Francisco and was the first U.S. delegate to the UN (1945—46).
Steuben Vstu-banX, Frederick William (Augustus), Baron,
von (b. Sept. 17, 1730, Magdeburg, Prussia—d. Nov. 28, 1794, near
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Stevens ► Stewart I 1821
Remsen, N.Y., U.S.) German-bom American Revolutionary officer. He joined the Prussian army at 16 and was a captain in the Seven Years’ War. After the war he retired from the army and became court chamberlain for the prince of Hohenzollern-Hechingen; at some unknown date he appar¬ ently was created a baron. Recommended to George Washington, he arrived in America in 1777. Appointed to train the Continental forces at Valley Forge, Pa., he produced a disciplined fighting force that became the model for the entire Continental Army. He was appointed inspector general of the army and was promoted to major general (1778), and he helped command the Siege of Yorktown.
Stevens, George (b. Dec. 18, 1904, Oakland, Calif., U.S.—d. March 8, 1975, Lancaster, Calif.) U.S. film director. Both of his parents were actors, and Stevens was the stage manager of his father’s company until 1921, when he went to Hollywood to become a cameraman. He photo¬ graphed many of Laurel and Hardy’s (see Laurel, Stan; and Hardy, Oliver) comedies before turning to directing in 1933. Noted for his brilliant cam¬ era techniques, careful craftsmanship, and a romanticized view of life, he achieved fame with Alice Adams (1935) and Swing Time (1936). His later films include Woman of the Year (1942), I Remember Mama (1948), A Place in the Sun (1951, Academy Award), the classic western Shane (1953), and Giant (1956, Academy Award).
Stevens, John (b. 1749, New York, N.Y.—d. March 6, 1838, Hobo¬ ken, N.J., U.S.) U.S. lawyer, engineer, and inventor. He served as a colo¬ nel in the American Revolution. To protect his boiler and engine designs, he submitted his outline for a patent law; the resulting Patent Law of 1790 formed the basis of the U.S. patent system. In 1802 he became the first person to employ a powered screw to propel a ship. In 1809 his steam¬ ship Phoenix became the world’s first seagoing steamboat. In Philadel¬ phia in 1811 he inaugurated the world’s first steam-ferry service. In 1825 he built the first American steam locomotive. He developed his New Jer¬ sey estate into the city of Hoboken. He was the father of Robert L. Stevens. Another son, Edwin Augustus Stevens (1795-1868), was the inventor of the Stevens plow and a pioneer builder of ironclad warships and estab¬ lished the Stevens Institute of Technology by a bequest. A third son, John Cox Stevens (1785-1857), headed the group that sent the yacht America to Britain, where it won the race that established the America's Cup.
Stevens, John Paul (b. April 20, 1920, Chicago, Ill., U.S.) U.S. jurist. He studied law at Northwestern University and clerked at the Supreme Court of the United States before joining a Chicago law firm, where he specialized in antitrust law while also teaching and serving on various public commissions. He was appointed to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (1970) by Pres. Richard Nixon and to the Supreme Court by Pres. Gerald Ford (1975). Though initially perceived as a conservative, he proved to be a moderate liberal; indeed, as the court became more con¬ servative in the 1980s and early ’90s, after appointments by Pres. Ronald Reagan and Pres. George Bush, Stevens became perhaps the court’s most liberal member.
Stevens, Robert Livingston (b. Oct. 18, 1787, Hoboken, N.J., U.S.—d. April 20, 1856, Hoboken) U.S. engineer and ship designer. The son of John Stevens, he tested the first steamboat to use screw propellers. He designed the railway T-rail in 1830, and later the railroad spike. He found that rails laid on wooden ties, with crushed stone or gravel beneath, provided a roadbed superior to any known before; his construction remains in universal use.
Stevens, Thaddeus (b. April 4, 1792, Danville, Vt., U.S.—d. Aug. 11, 1868, Washington, D.C.) U.S. politician. He practiced law in Penn¬ sylvania, defending fugitive slaves without fee. In the U.S. House of Rep¬ resentatives (1849-53,1859-68), he opposed the extension of slavery into the western territories. After the American Civil War, as a leader of the Radical Republicans, he demanded strict conditions for readmission of the seceded states. He helped establish the Freedmen's Bureau and secured pas¬ sage of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. He opposed the mod¬ erate Reconstruction policies of Pres. Andrew Johnson and introduced the resolution for his impeachment.
Stevens, Wallace (b. Oct. 2, 1879, Reading, Pa., U.S.—d. Aug. 2, 1955, Hartford, Conn.) U.S. poet. Stevens practiced law in New York City before joining an insurance firm in Hartford in 1916; he rose to vice president, a position he held until his death. His poems began appearing in literary magazines in 1914. In Harmonium (1923), his first and most verbally brilliant book, he introduced the theme that occupied his creative lifetime and unified his thought: the relationship between imagination and
reality. His later poetry, in collec¬ tions such as Ideas of Order (1936),
The Man with the Blue Guitar (1937), and The Auroras of Autumn (1950), continued to explore this theme with greater depth and rigour.
Not until his late years was he widely read or recognized as a major poet by more than a few; he received a Pulitzer Prize only with his Col¬ lected Poems in 1955. He is now often considered one of America’s greatest 20th-century poets.
Stevenson, Adlai E(wing) (b.
Feb. 5, 1900, Los Angeles, Calif.,
U.S.—d. July 14, 1965, London,
Eng.) U.S. politician and diplomat.
The grandson of a vice president of the U.S., he practiced law in Chicago from 1926. During World War II he was assistant to the secretary of the navy (1941-44) and to the secretary of state (1945). He served as a U.S. delegate to the UN (1946-47). As governor of Illinois (1949-53), he introduced liberal reforms. Noted for his eloquence and wit, he was twice the Democratic candidate for president (1952, 1956) but lost both times to Dwight D. Eisenhower. He later served as chief U.S. representative to the UN (1961-65).
Stevenson, Robert Louis (Balfour) (b. Nov. 13, 1850, Edinburgh, Scot.—d. Dec. 3, 1894, Vailima, Samoa) Scottish essayist, novelist, and poet. He prepared for a law career but never practiced. He traveled fre¬ quently, partly in search of better climates for his tuberculosis, which would eventually cause his death at age 44. He became known for accounts such as Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes (1879) and essays in periodicals, first collected in Virginibus Puerisque (1881). His immensely popular novels Treasure Island (1883), Kidnapped { 1886), and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886), and The Master of Ballantrae (1889) were written over the course of a few years. A Child’s Garden of Verses (1885) is one of the most influential children’s works of the 19th century. In his last years he lived in Samoa and produced works moving toward a new maturity, including the story “The Beach of Falesa” (1892) and the novel Weir of Hermiston (1896), his unfinished masterpiece.