John Volpe | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Volpe in 1970 | |
| United States Ambassador to Italy | |
| In office March 6, 1973 – January 24, 1977 | |
| President | Richard Nixon Gerald Ford Jimmy Carter |
| Preceded by | Graham Martin |
| Succeeded by | Richard N. Gardner |
| 2nd United States Secretary of Transportation | |
| In office January 22, 1969 – February 2, 1973 | |
| President | Richard Nixon |
| Preceded by | Alan S. Boyd |
| Succeeded by | Claude Brinegar |
| Chair of theNational Governors Association | |
| In office October 16, 1967 – July 21, 1968 | |
| Preceded by | William L. Guy |
| Succeeded by | Buford Ellington |
| 61st and 63rd Governor of Massachusetts | |
| In office January 7, 1965 – January 22, 1969 | |
| Lieutenant | |
| Preceded by | Endicott Peabody |
| Succeeded by | Francis Sargent |
| In office January 5, 1961 – January 3, 1963 | |
| Lieutenant | Edward F. McLaughlin Jr. |
| Preceded by | Foster Furcolo |
| Succeeded by | Endicott Peabody |
| Administrator of theFederal Highway Administration Acting | |
| In office October 22, 1956 – February 5, 1957 | |
| President | Dwight D. Eisenhower |
| Preceded by | Charles Dwight Curtiss |
| Succeeded by | Bertram D. Tallamy |
| Massachusetts Commissioner of Public Works | |
| In office February 1953 – October 22, 1956 | |
| Governor | Christian Herter |
| Preceded by | William F. Callahan |
| Succeeded by | Carl A. Sheridan |
| Personal details | |
| Born | John Anthony Volpe (1908-12-08)December 8, 1908 Wakefield, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Died | November 11, 1994(1994-11-11) (aged 85) Nahant, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Education | Wentworth Institute of Technology(BS) |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch/service |  United States Navy |
| Years of service | 1942–1946 |
| Rank |  Lieutenant Commander |
| Unit | Seabees |
| Battles/wars | World War II |
John Anthony Volpe (/ˈvoʊlpi/VOHL-pee; December 8, 1908 – November 11, 1994) was an American businessman, diplomat, and politician fromMassachusetts. A son of Italian immigrants, he founded and owned a large construction firm. Politically, he was aRepublican in increasingly Democratic Massachusetts, serving asits 61st and 63rd Governor from 1961 to 1963 and 1965 to 1969, as theUnited States Secretary of Transportation from 1969 to 1973, and as theUnited States Ambassador to Italy from 1973 to 1977.[1] As Secretary of Transportation, Volpe was an important figure in the development of theInterstate Highway System at the federal level.
Volpe was born on December 8, 1908, inWakefield, Massachusetts.[2] He was the son ofItalian immigrants Vito and Filomena (née Benedetto) Volpe, who had come fromPescosansonesco,Abruzzo[3] toBoston'sNorth End on theSS Canopic in 1905; his father was in the construction business.[citation needed]
Volpe attended the Wentworth Institute (later known as theWentworth Institute of Technology) in Boston where he majored in architectural construction and entered the construction business, building his own firm in 1930.[4] By the outbreak ofWorld War II, it was one of the USA's leading construction companies.[3]
In 1934, Volpe married Giovannina Benedetto, with whom he had two children, John Anthony, Jr. and Loretta Jean Volpe Rotondi.[3] DuringWorld War II, he volunteered to serve stateside as aUnited States NavySeabees training officer, enlisting with the rank of lieutenant commander.[3] He was a Knight of Malta and a member of theKnights of Columbus.[5]
Volpe's first political post was in 1951, when he served as the deputy chair of theMassachusetts Republican Party.[3] In 1953, GovernorChristian Herter appointed him theMassachusetts Commissioner of Public Works, and in 1956 he was appointed by PresidentDwight D. Eisenhower as the first administrator of theFederal Highway Administration. In this position he oversaw the early phases of the development of theInterstate Highway System.
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In1960, Volpe was electedGovernor of Massachusetts, defeatingMassachusetts Secretary of the CommonwealthJoseph D. Ward. He served as governor from 1961 to 1963. In1962, Volpe was narrowly defeated for reelection, losing to former Governor's Councillor and JFK friendEndicott Peabody. In1964, Volpe ran again for governor and was able to capitalize on disarray within the Massachusetts Democratic Party when Lieutenant GovernorFrancis X. Bellotti defeated Peabody for the Democratic nomination for governor. Despite the Democratic landslide nationwide that year, Volpe defeated Bellotti in a close race. In1966, Volpe was elected to the first four-year term in Massachusetts history, defeating formerMassachusetts Attorney GeneralEdward J. McCormack, Jr.
During his administrations, Volpe signed legislation to ban racial imbalances ineducation, reorganize the state'sBoard of Education, liberalizebirth control laws, and increase public housing for low-income families. Governor Volpe also raised revenues, engaging in a long and ultimately successful fight to institute a three percent state sales tax. He served as president of theNational Governors Association from 1967 to 1968. In 1962, Volpe signed into law the bill passed by162nd Massachusetts General Court that established theUniversity of Massachusetts Medical School.[6] On April 22, 1965, Volpe received a visit from Rev.Martin Luther King Jr. at theMassachusetts State House, after which King delivered an address to a joint session of the164th Massachusetts General Court.[7]
On April 1, 1965, a special committee appointed byMassachusetts Education Commissioner Owen Kiernan released its final report finding that more than half of black students enrolled in Boston Public Schools (BPS) attended institutions with enrollments that were at least 80 percent black and thathousing segregation in the city had caused the racial imbalance.[8][9][10] From its creation under theNational Housing Act of 1934 signed into law by PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt, theFederal Housing Administration used its officialmortgage insuranceunderwriting policy explicitly to preventschool desegregation,[11] while theBoston Housing Authority actively segregated the city'spublic housing developments since at least 1941 and continued to do so despite the passage of legislation by the156th Massachusetts General Court prohibitingracial discrimination or segregation in housing in 1950 and the issuance ofExecutive Order 11063 by PresidentJohn F. Kennedy in 1962 that required all federal agencies to prevent racial discrimination in federally-funded subsidized housing in the United States.[12][13]
In response to the report, on April 20, 1965, the BostonNAACP filed a lawsuit in federal district court against the city seeking thedesegregation of the city's public schools.[7] Volpe filed a request for legislation from the state legislature that defined schools with nonwhite enrollments greater than 50 percent to be imbalanced and granted the State Board of Education the power to withhold state funds from anyschool district in the state that was found to have racial imbalance, which Volpe would sign into law the following August.[9][14][15] Also in August 1965, along withBoston MayorJohn F. Collins (1960–1968) and BPS SuperintendentWilliam H. Ohrenberger, Volpe opposed and warned the Boston School Committee that a vote that they held that month to abandon a proposal tobus several hundred black students from Roxbury and North Dorchester from three overcrowded schools to nearby schools in Dorchester andBrighton, and purchase an abandonedHebrew school in Dorchester to relieve the overcrowding instead, could now be held by a court to be deliberate acts of segregation.[16] Pursuant to the Racial Imbalance Act, the state conducted a racial census and found 55 imbalanced schools in the state with 46 in Boston, and in October 1965, the State Board required the School Committee to submit a desegregation plan, which the School Committee did the following December.[17]
In April 1966, the State Board found the plan inadequate and voted to rescind state aid to the district, and in response, the School Committee filed a lawsuit against the State Board challenging both the decision and the constitutionality of the Racial Imbalance Act the following August. In January 1967, theMassachusetts Superior Court overturned a Suffolk Superior Court ruling that the State Board had improperly withdrawn the funds and ordered the School Committee to submit an acceptable plan to the State Board within 90 days or else permanently lose funding, which the School Committee did shortly thereafter and the State Board accepted. In June 1967, theMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court upheld the constitutionality of the Racial Imbalance Act and theU.S. Supreme Court under Chief Justice Earl Warren (1953–1969) declined to hear the School Committee's appeal in January 1968.[18]
Supportive of civil rights for African-Americans, Volpe saw the discrimination of African-Americans as similar to his own experience with discrimination due to his Italian ancestry.[19]
In 1968, Volpe stood unsuccessfully as a "favorite son" candidate in the Massachusetts Republican presidential primary. Though he was the only person on the ballot, he was defeated by a spontaneous write-in campaign forNew York GovernorNelson A. Rockefeller.[20] Volpe endorsed Richard Nixon. Volpe was one of the finalists inRichard M. Nixon's decision concerning a running mate; he was considered acceptable to most wings of the party, but Nixon ultimately selectedSpiro Agnew instead.[21]
Following the election, PresidentNixon rewarded Volpe for his support by appointing himSecretary of Transportation. He resigned as governor to assume the cabinet post, and served in that position from 1969 to 1973.
During his tenure, Volpe abandoned previous positions supportive of unfettered highway construction, instead pushing for a more balanced approach to the nation's transportation infrastructure. He was notably instrumental in effectively ending attempts to revive Boston's failedInner Belt project, which he had promoted as highway administrator.[22] Likewise, Volpe's 1969 decision to kill the proposed Riverfront Expressway savedNew Orleans's historicFrench Quarter and marked a substantial victory for preservationists, who were able to convince Volpe that an expressway that cut the Quarter off from the riverfront would have been disastrous.[23]Amtrak was established during his time in office. An avid cyclist who biked to work on a folding bike, he used his position - and the energy crisis - to encourage more Americans to bike.[citation needed]
Volpe was the second to serve in this role following the position becoming aCabinet-level appointment. He received theAward of Excellence in 1970 fromEngineering News-Record for his service as Secretary of Transportation.[24]
Volpe had a long and abiding interest in the homeland of his parents, and visited it many times. In 1969, he was awarded the Knight Grand Cross of theOrder of Merit of the Italian Republic.[25]
In 1973, Volpe was nominated by President Nixon and confirmed by theUnited States Senate asUnited States Ambassador to Italy, a position he held until 1977. Volpe was snubbed by elements of the Italian elite/political establishment, due to his roots in southern Italy,[26] and he upset leftist elements by making strong statements against the inclusion of theItalian Communist Party in its government. He was accused by the Italian Communist press of being "neo-Fascist" for his views.[27]
Volpe died inNahant, Massachusetts, on November 11, 1994, at the age of 85.[1] He was buried at Forest Glade Cemetery inWakefield, Massachusetts.
TheJohn A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center inCambridge was named in his memory, as well as the Governor John A. Volpe Library atWakefield High School in Wakefield. Volpe's papers are stored in the Archives and Special Collections of theNortheastern University Libraries, in Boston.[28]Terminal E atLogan International Airport is also dedicated in his honor.
John Anthony Volpe, a former Governor of Massachusetts, Ambassador to Italy and United States Secretary of Transportation, died on Friday night. He was 85 and lived in Nahunt, Mass. The Nahant police attributed his death to natural causes. ...
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Republican nominee forGovernor of Massachusetts 1960,1962,1964,1966 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Governor of Massachusetts 1961–1963 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Governor of Massachusetts 1965–1969 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chair of theNational Governors Association 1967–1968 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | United States Secretary of Transportation 1969–1973 | Succeeded by |
| Diplomatic posts | ||
| Preceded by | United States Ambassador to Italy 1973–1977 | Succeeded by |
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| Chargé d'Affaires | |
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| Minister Resident | |
| Chargé d'Affaires | |
| Minister Resident | |
| Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary | |
| Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary | |
| Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary | |
