Senator Tom Connally of Texas (1877–1963) served 35 years in Congress, from 1917 to 1953. A supporter of U.S. participation in the League of Nations following World War I, Connally was vice chairman of the U.S. delegation to the inaugural United Nations gathering in San Francisco, California, in 1945. He was also a member of the American delegation at the first meetings of the U.N. General Assembly. In partnership with Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg of Michigan as leaders of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Connally was instrumental in guiding the U.N. Charter, the Greek and Turkish Aid Act, the Marshall Plan, and the North Atlantic Treaty through the Senate.