Walter A. Gordon
Walter Arthur Gordon (born October 10, 1894 in Atlanta , Georgia , † April 2, 1976 in Berkeley , California ) was an American lawyer and politician . Between 1955 and 1958 he was Governor of the US Virgin Islands .
Career
In 1904, Walter Gordon came to Riverside , California with his family , where he attended Polytechnic High School . After a subsequent law degree at the University of California at Berkeley and his admission as a lawyer, he began to work in this profession from 1922. He was the first African American to take a law exam at that university. Gordon was also active in boxing, wrestling and especially football . He later became an assistant coach in the sport and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame . He also worked as a police officer in Berkeley for some time. Until 1930 he worked simultaneously as a lawyer, police officer and football coach. Then he gave up the police job. In the 1930s he was regional president of the NAACP in Berkeley. During the so-called Zoot Suit Riots in Los Angeles in 1943 he was appointed by Governor Earl Warren to head a reaction force - with the task of ending the violence. In the same year he gave up his job as a trainer. Also in 1943, he became a member of the California State Board of Pardons, which he chaired for nine years. He gave up his legal practice in 1944.
In 1955, President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed Walter Gordon as the new Governor of the Virgin Islands. He held this office until 1958. He then served there for ten years as a district judge at the District Court of the Virgin Islands . He died in Berkeley on April 2, 1976.
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| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Gordon, Walter A. |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Gordon, Walter Arthur (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American lawyer and politician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 10, 1894 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Atlanta , Georgia |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 2, 1976 |
| Place of death | Berkeley , California |