Maurice Harold Macmillan

Born to a wealthy publishing family; was educated at Eton College (1906-1912); attended Balliol College, Oxford (1912-1914); left before graduating and did not return due to outbreak of World War I; joined the infantry and was commissioned second lieutenant (temporary, 1914); promoted to lieutenant (1915), captain (1916); served with the 4th Grenadier Guards in France and was seriously wounded at the Battle of the Somme (1916); after the war went to Canada to serve as aide-de-camp to the Governor-General, the Duke of Devonshire, whose daughter he married in 1920; joined Macmillan & Co. (Ltd.), the family publishing business, as a junior partner (1920); unsuccessfully contested the election to Parliament in 1923; returned as Conservative/Unionist MP for Stockton-on-Tees (1924-1929); gained a reputation as a radical demanding housing and rating reform; lost his seat in Parliament in the 1929 General Election; returned to Parliament as MP for Stockton-on-Tees (1931-1945); served as Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Supply (1940-1942), Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the Colonies (1942), and Minister Resident at Allied Headquarters in North-West Africa (30 Dec 1942 - 25 May 1945); sworn in as a member of the U.K. Privy Council (9 Feb 1942); took his first Cabinet position as Secretary of State for Air (28 May 1945 - 3 Aug 1945) in the caretaker cabinet of Winston Spencer-Churchill; was defeated in the 1945 General Election, but won a by-election in Bromley (MP, 1945-1964); served as Minister for Housing and Local Government (30 Oct 1951 - 18 Oct 1954) in the third Cabinet of Churchill, where he was instrumental in the postwar rebuilding of Britain; was appointed Minister of Defense (18 Oct 1954 - 7 Apr 1955); served as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (12 Apr 1955 - 22 Dec 1955) and Chancellor of the Exchequer (22 Dec 1955 - 14 Jan 1957) in the government of Sir Anthony Eden; immediately following the Suez crisis and Eden's resignation, he was chosen by Cabinet colleagues to succeed Eden; was also elevated to the top post of Leader of the Conservative and Unionist Party (22 Jan 1957 - 11 Nov 1963); had to restore confidence in the Government both at home and abroad and in particular Great Britain's 'special relationship' with the United States affected by disagreement over the Suez crisis; held a number of meetings with the U.S. presidents Dwight Eisenhower and John Kennedy, and visited Moscow in February 1959; quickly asserted domination of the House of Commons (General Election, 8 Oct 1959: Conservative and associates 365, Labour 258, Liberal 6, independent 1); was strong in foreign affairs and was aided in sustaining relations with the United States through his friendship with Kennedy; accepted the demise of the Central African Federation and his 'Wind of Change' speech in 1960 presaged the end of colonial domination in Africa; in 1962 economic insecurity, including an unpopular Pay Pause, bred several by-election defeats for the Conservatives; sacked seven cabinet ministers in a reshuffle dubbed 'the night of the long knives' (13 Jul 1962); successfully negotiated for supplying U.S. nuclear missiles for the British submarines; worked hard with Kennedy and Nikita Hruščev to establish the Test Ban treaty in 1963 but his administration was weakened by a scandal involving one of his junior ministers, leading to investigations of lax internal security in the face of Cold War spying; while staying in hospital, he resigned (18 Oct 1963) for health reasons; returned to work in Macmillan & Co. and was instrumental in rationalizing the company and increasing sales; served as the company's chairman until 1967, when his son took over; in 1970 became the first president of the company. Biography source: [7]