Fred Korth

Fred Korth (1962)

Frederick Herman "Fred" Korth (born September 9, 1909 in Yorktown , DeWitt County , Texas , †  September 14, 1998 in El Paso , Texas) was an American lawyer and politician who served as Secretary of State for the United States from 1962 to 1963 officiated.

Life

Fred Korth grew up as the son of a banker and rancher on the family estate in Karnes County . After attending Brackenridge High School , he graduated from the University of Texas at Austin before taking a law exam at George Washington University in Washington, DC . During his time in the federal capital, he also met his future first wife, who also came from Texas. His step daughter Melissa is the mother of Beto O'Rourke .

After returning to his home state, Korth initially practiced as a lawyer in Fort Worth . During the Second World War he then served after an officer training in Miami Beach in an air transport unit of the Army Air Forces . He rose to lieutenant colonel and retired from active service in January 1946. He then became President of the Continental National Bank , before moving into government service and assuming the post of Assistant Secretary in the Department of the Army under President Harry S. Truman .

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy nominated him as the new head of the Department of the Navy . The previous incumbent, John Connally , had resigned to run for governor of Texas. Korth succeeded him on January 4, 1962 and remained in this position until his resignation on November 1, 1963. During this time he came into conflict with Defense Secretary Robert McNamara ; Among other things, it was about the change of strategic responsibility for the Middle East and India from the Navy to the Army . He was also accused of a conflict of interest in awarding a multi-billion dollar contract to General Dynamics Corporation in Fort Worth; a congressional committee found the allegations to be unfounded.

After the end of his tenure, Fred Korth returned to practice as a lawyer. He worked for a law firm in Washington and did not retire until December 1997 at the age of 88. In September of the following year, shortly after his 89th birthday, he died of cancer at his home in El Paso.

literature

• Fred Korth , in: Internationales Biographisches Archiv 48/1963 of November 18, 1963, in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely available)

Web links

• Fred Korth in the database of Find a Grave (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Stephanie Dube Dwilson: Beto O'Rourke's Family: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know. In: Heavy.com , November 6, 2018.
2. ↑ Frederick Korth, 89, Secretary of Navy For John Kennedy. In: The New York Times , September 21, 1998.