1930s/40s US Secretary Of War Patrick J. Hurley Autograph Card For Sale

This 1930s/40s US Secretary Of War Patrick J. Hurley Autograph Card is the exact item you will receive and has been certified Authentic by REM Fine Collectibles.
Patrick Jay Hurley (January 8, 1881 – July 30, 1963) was an American politician and diplomat. He was the United States Secretary of War from 1929 to 1933, but is best remembered for being Ambassador to China in 1945, during which he was instrumental in getting Joseph Stilwell recalled from China and replaced with the more diplomatic General Albert Coady Wedemeyer.
A man of humble origins, Hurley's lack of what was considered to be a proper ambassadorial demeanor and mode of social interaction made professional diplomats scornful of him. He came to share pre-eminent army strategist Wedemeyer's view that the Chinese Communists could be defeated and America ought to commit to doing so even if it meant backing the Kuomintang and Chiang Kai-shek to the hilt.
Frustrated, Hurley resigned as Ambassador to China in 1945, publicised his concerns about high-ranking members of the State Department, and alleged they believed that the Chinese Communists were not totalitarians and that America's priority was to avoid allying with a losing side in the civil war.
Patrick was born near Lehigh in the Choctaw Nation in Indian Territory on January 8, 1883, to Pierce O'Neil and Mary Kelly Hurley. His parents immigrated to the United States from Ireland and settled in Indian Territory.
He started working as a mule driver for coal mines at age 11 alongside his father and at age 15 attempted to enlisted in the Rough Riders during the Spanish-American War, but was turned away for being too young.[2] After failing to enlist, he worked as a cowboy and met his lifelong friend Will Rogers.
He worked while attending Indian College (now Bacone College) where he graduated in 1905. He received his law degree from the National University School of Law, Washington, in 1908.
In 1916, he was called to active duty and participated in the Pancho Villa Expedition. After the expedition, he was made a Judge Advocate General's Department and assigned to Washington D.C.
During World War I, Hurley served with the Judge Advocate General's Department of the 6th Army Corps, American Expeditionary Force, in France and helped negotiate with Luxembourg for the passage of allied troops through the neutral country. He was also awarded the Army Distinguished Service Medal.
In November 1918, Hurley was detached to the 76th Field Artillery Regiment and participated it in the battles near Louppy-le-Château, France. Hurley was wounded and awarded with Silver Star.
Hurley received a promotion to brigadier general (from colonel in the reserves) in 1941 when the United States entered World War II, and General George C. Marshall, the U.S. Army Chief of Staff, dispatched him to the Far East as a personal representative to examine the feasibility of relieving American troops besieged on the Bataan peninsula.
Dwight Eisenhower, a staff officer in Washington, sent Hurley to Australia with $10 million in cash, to arrange supplies and charters for the Philippines. According to historian Jean Edward Smith, Eisenhower had served under Hurley for the last three years at the War Department, "needed someone to organise blockade runners for MacArthur, and Hurley, an old-fashioned buccaneer in politics, with energy and decisiveness, was perfect for the job." He was successful in delivering additional food and ammunition to the soldiers on three separate occasions but could not evacuate them.
After the conclusion of this mission, he embarked on a series of assignments as a personal representative of President Franklin Roosevelt. He served as minister to New Zealand in 1942 and then flew to the Soviet Union, the first foreigner to receive permission to visit the Eastern Front. Over the next two years, he visited the Near East, Middle East, China, Iran and Afghanistan on behalf of Roosevelt.