Edward Hidalgo

Edward Hidalgo (1986)

Edward Hidalgo (born October 12, 1912 in Mexico City as Eduardo Hidalgo , † January 21, 1995 in Fairfax , Virginia ) was an American lawyer and politician of Mexican origin who served as Secretary of State for the United States from 1979 to 1981 .

Lawyer and officer

Eduardo Hidalgo, who was born in Mexico, came to the USA as a young boy. His parents settled in New York in 1918 ; a few years later he became a US citizen and Anglicized his first name to Edward . After leaving school, he earned a bachelor's degree from Holy Cross College in 1933 and a Juris Doctor from Columbia Law School in 1936 . As a result, he worked from 1936 to 1937 as a clerk at the Federal Court of Appeal for the 2nd district.

He was then a partner in a law firm until 1942, before entering government services and initially working as a legal advisor for the US State Department based in Montevideo until 1943 . From 1943 to 1945 he then served as an officer in the Air Force Intelligence Service on the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise . During this time he was also a lieutenant in the naval reserve; He was also a member of the Eberstadt Committee , which reported to the Secretary of the Navy on efforts to combine the US armed forces in a single department. For his services to the Navy, he was awarded the Bronze Star and a Commendation Ribbon .

After serving as a special advisor to the Minister of the Navy from 1945 to 1946, Hidalgo returned to the legal profession. He became a partner in the law firm Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle and took over the management of its branch in his native Mexico City. There he founded his own law firm in 1948 with the name Hidalgo, Barrera, Siqueiros & Torres Landa , whose senior partner he remained until 1965.

In government services

A short term as special advisor to the Secretary of State for the Navy followed until 1966. He then became a partner in a law firm again, whose interests he represented in Europe until 1972 . He subsequently worked for the government one more time: from 1972 to 1973 he was special advisor for economic affairs to the director of the United States Information Agency , before becoming the agency's general counsel . Finally, US President Jimmy Carter named him Deputy Secretary of the Navy in 1977 ; on October 24, 1979, he then took over as successor to W. Graham Claytor, the direction of the authority, which he held until the end of Carter's tenure on January 20, 1981. He made a contribution to the increased recruitment of Hispanics for the Navy.

As a result, Hidalgo worked as a corporate attorney until he died in a Fairfax hospital in 1995.

Web links

• Biography (English)
• Wording of the nomination for Undersecretary of State
• Obituary in the New York Times