Alan Stephenson Boyd

Alan Stephenson Boyd

Alan Stephenson Boyd (born July 20, 1922 in Jacksonville , Florida ) was the United States' first Secretary of Transportation . Before and after this task, the lawyer worked for various traffic authorities and companies; he was president of Amtrak , the Illinois Central Railroad and Airbus Industries North America.

Life

Alan Stephenson Boyd received his PhD from the University of Florida in 1941 . He then served in a troop transport command of the United States Army Air Forces during World War II from 1942 to 1945 . At the Law School of the University of Virginia , he earned a doctorate in law in 1948.

After that, Boyd worked as a lawyer in Florida. He also served on the Florida Railroad and Public Utilities Commission , a commission that investigated regulation in the transportation sector.

In 1959 he was appointed to the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) by President Dwight D. Eisenhower . Under Eisenhower's successor, John F. Kennedy , he became head of this agency. In this role he helped the ailing airlines. He regulated the airfare discounts and made funds available for connecting small cities. In 1965 he was named Secretary of State for Transportation by Lyndon B. Johnson .

Some of Boyd's actions were viewed critically by the unions. So he succeeded in reducing state subsidies for shipbuilding while at the same time lifting requirements and regulations. Boyd denounced the "featherbedding", employing non-essential workers on the railways.

Boyd campaigned from September 1965 to unite the various government agencies in the transport sector in a transport ministry. On January 16, 1967, Boyd was named the United States' first Secretary of Transportation. His first task in the cabinet was to integrate these authorities into the Ministry of Transport.

As minister he devoted himself, among other things, to the modernization of airports, civil air surveillance and vehicle safety, including driving license training and measures against driving under the influence of alcohol. He started with the implementation of the of Lady Bird Johnson excited highway beautification program ( Highway Beautification Act ). He was also responsible for the Interstate Highways budget , which was used to make President Johnson's tax hikes look beneficial. During his tenure, on the other hand, he did not succeed in preventing the decline in passenger transport by rail. The funding he granted was not sufficient to maintain the loss-making train operation at the previous level.

Following the election of Richard Nixon , he was released from his post on January 20, 1969. He then moved up on April 1 as president railway company Illinois Central Railroad . After the company received a grant of $ 25.2 million, an investigation was made into whether it was paid as a result of his previous activity. In 1971 he was instrumental in the merger of IC with the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad to form the Illinois Central Gulf . The introduction of intermodal transport at IC / ICG can also be traced back to his initiative. He left the company on April 1, 1976.

On June 1, 1978, he was appointed President of Amtrak , the state-owned long- distance passenger rail company . During his tenure, the Amtrak's offer was further restricted under the stipulation of reducing the federal grant, as the outdated vehicle fleet also did not allow large-scale replacement investments. Despite Boyd's actions, it failed to reduce the deficit. Under his leadership, the first considerations for high-speed traffic in the north-east corridor and in California were made. He resigned on June 30, 1982.

In the same year he became Chairman of Airbus Industries North America, and in 1986 he became President of that company. He held this post until December 1, 1992. During his tenure, Airbus' market share in the North American aircraft market grew.

Alan S. Boyd lives in Edmonds in the state of Washington .

Web links

• Department of Transportation ( Memento from July 30, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
• Alan Stephenson Boyd in the Miller Center of Public Affairs of the University of Virginia (English)
• John F. Stover, Purdue University: The Management of the Illinois Central Railroad in the 20th Century. (PDF file; 316 kB) Archived from the original ; accessed on September 4, 2018 . 
• NY Times December 1, 1992

Individual evidence

1. ^ William D. Middleton, George M. Smerk, Roberta L. Diehl (Eds.): Encyclopedia of North American Railroads . Indiana University Press, Bloomington, IN 2007, ISBN 978-0-253-34916-3 , pp. 77 .
2. ↑ 25 Mar 1976, Page 2 - The Pantagraph at Newspapers.com. Retrieved April 25, 2019 . 
3. ↑ heritage.org: END OF THE LINE FOR AMTRAK ( Memento of December 14, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
4. ^ NY Times December 1, 1992