R. Douglas Stuart, Jr.

Robert Douglas Stuart Jr. (April 26, 1916 – May 8, 2014) was the son of Quaker Oats Company co-founder R. Douglas Stuart, the founder of the America First Committee in 1940, the CEO of Quaker Oats from 1966 to 1981, and United States Ambassador to Norway from 1984 to 1989. Early life Stuart was born in Winnetka, Illinois, on April 26, 1916, the son of Harriet (McClure) and R. Douglas Stuart. His grandfather, Robert Stuart was one of the founders of the Quaker Oats Company. He was educated at Princeton University, graduating with a A.B. in 1937. He then attended Yale Law School. America First On September 4, 1940, while a law student, Stuart organized the anti-interventionist organization America First Committee to support the enforcement of the Neutrality Acts of the 1930s and to oppose United States intervention in World War II. Other students who joined Stuart's committee included Gerald Ford, Sargent Shriver, and Potter Stewart. The America First Committee asked Robert E. Wood, chairman of Sears, Roebuck and Company, to become its leader. They later asked Charles Lindbergh to serve as their spokesman. At its height, the America First Committee may have had as many as 800,000 members in 650 chapters. It was disbanded shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Empire of Japan, on December 7, 1941.