Robert Coldwell Wood
Robert Coldwell Wood (* 16th September 1923 in St. Louis , Missouri ; † 1. April 2005 in Boston , Massachusetts ) was an American political scientist and politician who in 1969 briefly as minister of construction of the United States under US President Lyndon B. Johnson officiated.
After Wood received a scholarship to Princeton University , he had to interrupt his studies there because of his conscription to the army. He fought in World War II , took part in the Battle of the Bulge , was awarded the Bronze Star and rose to the rank of sergeant . He then returned to Princeton, graduated there and moved to Harvard . There he completed a master's degree in public administration as well as a master's and finally a doctorate in political science.
Wood then taught political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) between 1959 and 1965 . He then entered government services and was from 1966 to the beginning of 1969 as Deputy Minister of Construction ( Undersecretary ) in government. He was involved in the Model Cities Program of 1966 and the Fair Housing Act of 1968. After the resignation of Robert C. Weaver, he was promoted to Minister of Construction in the Johnson Cabinet on January 7, 1969 . His brief tenure ended just 13 days later, on January 20, when Richard Nixon succeeded Johnson as president.
Wood then returned to MIT, where he headed the Joint Center for Urban Studies , which MIT and Harvard University operated jointly. At the same time he was head of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority . From 1970 to 1977 he served as President of the University of Massachusetts ; During this time, the university expanded to include the UMass Medical Center in Worcester and its campus in Boston . Wood also played an important role in laying the presidential library of John F. Kennedy to its current location in Boston's Columbia Point .
In 1965 Wood was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . In 1986 he received the Vienna Medal for Cybernetics from the American Society for Cybernetics . He died in 2005, leaving behind his wife Margaret and a son, actor Frank Wood , and two daughters. His daughter Maggie Hassan was governor of the US state of New Hampshire from 2013 to 2017 and has since served as Senator for New Hampshire in the United States Senate .
Web links
- Robert Coldwell Wood in the Miller Center of Public Affairs of the University of Virginia (English)
- Robert Coldwell Wood in the database of Find a Grave (English)
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Wood, Robert Coldwell |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American politician and political scientist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 16, 1923 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | St. Louis , Missouri |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 1, 2005 |
| Place of death | Boston , Massachusetts |