William Thaddeus Coleman
William Thaddeus Coleman, Jr. (* 7. July 1920 in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , † 31 March 2017 in Alexandria , Virginia ) was an American lawyer , politician of the Republican Party , Minister of Transport of the United States and economic managers .
Live and act
After attending school, he studied at the University of Pennsylvania , where he earned a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in 1941 . During the Second World War he did his military service in the US Army Air Corps . A subsequent postgraduate study of law at the Law School of Harvard University , he completed in 1946 with a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.).
After being admitted to the lawyer in the state of Pennsylvania (Pennsylvania State Bar) in 1947, he was secretary (Clerk) by Herbert Funk Goodrich , a judge of the 3rd Federal Court of Appeal ( United States Court of Appeals ) and director of the American Law Institute from 1947 to 1962 . Subsequently, he was in 1948 secretary of Felix Frankfurter , a longtime assessors judge (Associate judge) of the Supreme Court of the United States .
He then spent many years as an attorney partner at the Dilworth Paxson law firm in Philadelphia, which was founded in 1933 by former Philadelphia mayor Richardson Dilworth . During this time, he was a member of numerous legal professional associations and advocacy groups such as the American Bar Association , the American Arbitration Association , the American College of Trial Lawyers, and the American Law Institute. As an African American , he was also a member of the Executive Committee of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
On March 7, 1975, US President Gerald Ford appointed him as the first African American Secretary of Transportation in his cabinet and thus the successor to Claude Brinegar , who had renounced his appointment as Minister. Coleman held this post until the end of Ford's presidency on January 20, 1977.
After leaving government, he moved into the private sector and served on the boards of the American Stock Exchange , First Pennsylvania Corporation , Pan American World Airways , Penn Mutual Life and the Philadelphia Electric Company . In addition, he was involved in the Council on Foreign Relations and the trustee (Trustee) of the Brookings Institution , the Rand Corporation and the Gerald R. Ford Foundation .
For his social and political services he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom on September 29, 1995 , one of the two highest civilian awards in the United States , along with the equal gold medal of honor of the Congress . He has also been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 1993 and of the American Philosophical Society since 2001 .
Despite his membership in the Republican Party, he was a supporter of the presidential candidacy of Democrat Barack Obama in 2008 . In 2010 he received an Honorary Doctor of Laws from Boston University .
Coleman has been the oldest surviving former US Secretary of State since the death of Otis R. Bowen .
Web links
- William Thaddeus Coleman in nndb (English)
- William Thaddeus Coleman in the Miller Center of Public Affairs of the University of Virginia (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ Dennis Hevesi: William T. Coleman Jr., Who Broke Racial Barriers in Court and Cabinet, Dies at 96. In: The New York Times . March 31, 2017, accessed April 2, 2017 .
- ^ Member History: William T. Coleman. American Philosophical Society, accessed June 24, 2018 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Coleman, William Thaddeus |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Coleman, William Thaddeus Jr. (full name); Coleman, William T. Jr. |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American Republican politician, lawyer, and business manager |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 7, 1920 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , United States |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 31, 2017 |
| Place of death | Alexandria , Virginia , United States |