Ron Brown | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 30thUnited States Secretary of Commerce | |
| In office January 22, 1993 – April 3, 1996 | |
| President | Bill Clinton |
| Preceded by | Barbara Franklin |
| Succeeded by | Mickey Kantor |
| Chair of theDemocratic National Committee | |
| In office February 11, 1989 – January 21, 1993 | |
| Preceded by | Paul G. Kirk |
| Succeeded by | David Wilhelm |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Ronald Harmon Brown (1941-08-01)August 1, 1941 Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Died | April 3, 1996(1996-04-03) (aged 54) NearDubrovnik, Croatia |
| Cause of death | Airplane crash |
| Resting place | Arlington National Cemetery |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2, includingMichael |
| Education | Middlebury College(BA) St. John's University, New York(JD) |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Branch/service | United States Army |
| Years of service | 1962–1967 |
| Rank | Captain |
| Battles/wars | Vietnam War |
Ronald Harmon Brown (August 1, 1941 – April 3, 1996) was an American politician. He served as theUnited States Secretary of Commerce during the first term ofPresidentBill Clinton. Before this, he was chairman of theDemocratic National Committee (DNC). He was thefirst African American to hold these positions. He was killed, along with 34 others, in a1996 plane crash in Croatia.
Ron Brown was born inWashington, D.C., and was raised inHarlem,New York, in amiddle-class family. He was a member of an African-American social and philanthropic organization,Jack and Jill of America. Brown attendedHunter College Elementary School andRhodes Preparatory School. His father managed the Theresa Hotel in Harlem, where Brown and his family lived. His best friend, John R. Nailor, moved into the penthouse while he was a student at Rhodes. Nailor was one of the other few black students who attended Rhodes Prep. As a child, Brown appeared in anadvertisement for Pepsi-Cola (renamed toPepsi in 1961), one of the first to be targeted specifically towards the African-American community.[1]
While atMiddlebury College, Ron Brown became the first African-American member ofSigma Phi Epsilon, collegiatefraternity. Brown was commissioned through the ROTC program as a 2nd Lieutenant of Armor in theUnited States Army in 1962 after graduating from Middlebury, the same year he married Alma Arrington. After tours of duty in Germany and California, deploying temporarily to Korea, he left the United States Army as a Captain in 1967. Brown then joined theNational Urban League, a leading economic equality group in the United States. Meanwhile, Brown enrolled atSt. John's University School of Law and obtained a degree in 1970.[2]
By 1976, Brown had been promoted to Deputy Executive Director for Programs and Governmental Affairs of the National Urban League. However, he resigned in 1979 to work as a deputy campaign manager forSenatorEdward M. Kennedy, who sought theDemocratic Party's presidential nomination.
Brown was hired in 1981 by the Washington, D.C., law firmPatton Boggs as alawyer and alobbyist.[citation needed]
In May 1988, Brown was named byJesse L. Jackson to head Jackson's convention team at the Democratic National Convention in Atlanta. Brown and several other experienced party insiders were named to Jackson's convention operation. By June, it was apparent that Brown was also running Jackson's campaign.[3]
In 1982, Brown was named deputy chairman of theDemocratic National Committee. That same year, he began lobbying the U.S. government on behalf of the brutalDuvalier regime, which was then in power inHaiti. Over the next four years, Brown earned $630,000, helping to persuade the Administration to continue aid to the government of dictatorJean-Claude Duvalier. Brown refused to drop the Duvaliers despite being criticized for representing such unsavory clients.[4]
Brown was elected chairman of theDemocratic National Committee on February 10, 1989, becoming the first African American chosen to lead a major U.S. political party. He later played an integral role in running a successful1992 Democratic National Convention and in Bill Clinton's successful1992 presidential run.[5]
President Clinton then appointed Brown to the position ofSecretary of Commerce in 1993. Clinton's highest priority was bolstering the economy, not diplomacy, and Brown produced results. He led delegations of entrepreneurs, business people, and financiers to South Africa, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel, the West Bank, Gaza, Egypt, Russia, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Ireland, India, and Senegal. He was leading a trade mission en route to Croatia when all the passengers died in a plane crash.[6]
Brown was involved in theCommerce Department trade mission controversy during his tenure.
During theNannygate scandal, Brown admitted that he had failed to pay taxes for his maid, who was an illegal immigrant.[7]
In 1996, before Brown's trade mission, he sold seats on the plane used for the mission to raise funds forBill Clinton's reelection campaign.[8]
In 1993, Brown was alleged to have accepted $700,000 from Vietnamese businessman Nguyen Van Hao so that Brown would lift the embargo against Vietnam.[9]
On April 3, 1996, when Brown was on an official trade mission, a U.S. Air ForceCT-43 (a modifiedBoeing 737) carrying Brown and 34 other people, includingNew York Times Frankfurt Bureau chiefNathaniel C. Nash, crashed into a mountainside on approach to Croatia'sDubrovnik Airport. The Air Force attributed the crash to pilot error and a poorly designed landing approach.[10] Speculation about the crash included many government cover-up andconspiracy theories, largely based on Brown having been under investigation byindependent counsel forcorruption.[11] Of specific concern was a trip Brown had made toVietnam on behalf of the Clinton Administration. Brown carried an offer for normalizing relations between the United States and the former communist enemy.
Some people, includingKweisi Mfume—head of theNAACP at the time—and Rep.Maxine Waters (D-CA), chairwoman of theCongressional Black Caucus, had written federal officials to ask for more data on the suspicious circumstances of Brown's death. "Responding to homicide allegations, an official of theArmed Forces Institute of Pathology acknowledged that doctors initially were puzzled by a circular wound on the top of Brown's head when his remains were recovered at the crash scene. The forensic pathologist then consulted with others and took extensive X-rays. As a result of these consultations and full-body X-rays, we absolutely ruled out anything beyond a blunt-force injury to the head."[12]
Brown was buried inArlington National Cemetery.[13]
On April 5, 1996, President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton planted a white dogwood tree on a hill on the South Lawn in memory of Brown and the others killed in the aircrash.[14] On January 8, 2001, Brown was presented, posthumously, with thePresidential Citizens Medal by PresidentBill Clinton, twelve days beforeGeorge W. Bush took office. The award was accepted by Brown's widow, Alma Brown. President Clinton also established theRon Brown Award for corporate leadership and responsibility. TheConference Board administers the privately funded award. TheU.S. Department of Commerce also gives out the annualRonald H. Brown American Innovator Award in his honor.[citation needed]
Many academic scholarships and programs have been established to honor Brown.St. John's University School of Law established the Ronald H. Brown Center for Civil Rights and Economic Development in memorial.[15] The Ronald H. Brown fellowship is awarded annually to many students atMiddlebury College to pursue research internships in science and technology. The Ron Brown Scholar Program was established in Brown's honor in 1996 to provide academic scholarships, service opportunities, and leadership experiences for young African Americans of outstanding promise.
A memorial room has been installed in the Ronald Brown memorial house in the old city of Dubrovnik. It features portraits of the crash victims as well as a guest book.[16]
The largest ship in theNOAA fleet, theNOAA ShipRonald H. Brown, was named in honor of his public service not long after his death. The section of 14th Street between Pennsylvania and Constitution Avenue was renamed Ron Brown Way in March 2011.[17]
In March 2011, the newUnited States Mission to the United Nations building in New York City was named in Brown's honor and dedicated at a ceremony in which President Obama, former President Clinton, and the United States representative to the United Nations, AmbassadorSusan Rice, spoke.[18]
In 1997,Daniel C. Roper Middle School in Washington, DC, was renamed Ronald H. Brown Middle School in his honor.[19] That school was closed in 2013, and the building reopened as Ronald Brown College Preparatory High School in 2016.[20]
His sonMichael Brown was elected to theCouncil of the District of Columbia in 2008.[21] He lost his reelection campaign in 2012 and later pleaded guilty to the charge of accepting a bribe from undercover agents.[22][23] He was sentenced to 39 months in prison.[24]
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Chair of theDemocratic National Committee 1989–1993 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | United States Secretary of Commerce 1993–1996 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |
