“After the Civil War, the position's requirements changed. Secretaries of state were much less political party leaders than able, in some cases highly able, corporate-trained administrators. Their job was no longer to serve as part of a political balance in the Cabinet, but to administer an increasingly complex foreign policy.” Some of the most effective secretaries were corporate lawyers like Elihu Root, Philander Knox and Robert Lansing — establishment figures not interested in or known for their glad-handing skills with the hoi polloi. Others were career diplomats for whom politics held no appeal.
Walter LaFeber, professor emeritus of history and an expert on U.S. foreign relations, commenting in this Smithsonian Magazine piece about why secretaries of state make poor presidential candidates.
