[1] The younger Stettinius grew up in a mansion on the family's estate on Staten Island and graduated from the Pomfret School in 1920, after which he attended the University of Virginia until 1924.

[3] In 1926, Stettinius began working at General Motors as a stock clerk, but his connections made for rapid advancement.

He became assistant to John Lee Pratt, a friend of the family, and by 1931 he had become vice president of public and industrial relations.

At General Motors, he worked to develop unemployment relief programs and came into contact with New York Governor Franklin Roosevelt.

[4] He then returned to public service, serving on the National Defense Advisory Commission, as chairman of the War Resources Board (1939) and administrator of the Lend-Lease Program (1941).

[7] While Secretary of State, Stettinius composed in 1944 an airgram describing Bulgaro-Yugoslav efforts at establishing an independent "Macedonian" state (i.e., Vardarska) as "unjustified demagoguery representing no ethnic or political reality" (implying that the Macedonians are Greek), and "a possible cloak for aggressive intentions against Greece":[8] The Department has noted with considerable apprehension increasing propaganda rumors and semi-official statements in favor of an “autonomous Macedonia”, emanating principally from Bulgaria, but also from Yugoslav Partisan and other sources, with the implication that Greek territory would be included in the projected state.

Stettinius resigned in June 1946, as he became critical of what he saw as Truman's refusal to use the UN as a tool to resolve tensions with the Soviet Union.

Stettinius's voluminous archive of more than 1,000 boxes resides at the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia.