Hurley, Patrick J

Hurley, Patrick J(ay)

(born Jan. 8, 1883, Indian Territory, U.S.—died July 30, 1963, Santa Fe, N.M.) U.S. diplomat. He began practicing law in Oklahoma in 1908. In World War I he served as a colonel in the American Expeditionary Force. Active in Republican Party politics during the 1920s, he served as U.S. secretary of war under Pres. Herbert Hoover from 1929 to 1933. When the U.S. entered World War II, he was promoted to brigadier general and sent to the Philippines to examine the possibility of relieving U.S. troops on the island of Bataan; he succeeded three times in delivering food and ammunition to the beleaguered troops there. Throughout the remainder of the war he served as the personal representative of Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt. As ambassador to China (1944–45), he tried unsuccessfully to reconcile the Nationalists and the communists.