Prior to becoming Secretary of State, Cordell Hull was a member of the US Senate. From 1933 through 1944, he served as Secretary of State, a stint longer than any previous Secretary of State in US history. Hull concentrated at first on economic relations, an area in which he had always been keenly interested. He then played a key role in the negotiations with the Japanese, in an attempt to head off war. He was, however, often undercut by the personal diplomacy that Roosevelt pursued. Hull did not take part in the major wartime conferences. Bibliography: Hull, Cordel. Memoirs. New York. Macmillan. 1948. Pratt, Julius William. Cordell Hull, 1933-44, 1964. Cooper Square Pub Inc.