James F. Byrnes

James Francis Byrnes was born and raised in Charleston, South Carolina. He did not attend school beyond the 8th grade. Nevertheless, after apprenticing to a lawyer, Byrnes read for and was admitted to the bar in 1903. Byrnes went on to serve as a U.S. Representative from 1911 to 1925, a U.S. Senator from 1931 to 1941, a Justice of the Supreme Court from 1941 to 1942, Secretary of State from 1945 to 1947, and Governor of South Carolina from 1951 to 1955. As a confidant of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Byrnes was one of the most powerful men in U.S. politics in the mid-1940s.