Bill Coleman | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Judge of theUnited States Court of Military Commission Review | |
| In office September 21, 2004 – December 17, 2009 | |
| Appointed by | George W. Bush |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Scott Silliman |
| 4th United States Secretary of Transportation | |
| In office March 7, 1975 – January 20, 1977 | |
| President | Gerald Ford |
| Preceded by | Claude Brinegar |
| Succeeded by | Brock Adams |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1920-07-07)July 7, 1920 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | March 31, 2017(2017-03-31) (aged 96) Alexandria, Virginia, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | Lovida Hardin |
| Children | 3, includingWilliam andHardin |
| Education | University of Pennsylvania (BA) Harvard University (LLB) |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Branch/service | United States Army |
| Rank | Second lieutenant |
| Unit | United States Army Air Corps |
| Battles/wars | World War II |
William Thaddeus Coleman Jr. (July 7, 1920 – March 31, 2017) was an Americanattorney and judge.[1][2] Coleman was the fourthUnited States Secretary of Transportation, from March 7, 1975, to January 20, 1977, and thesecond African American to serve in theUnited States Cabinet. As an attorney, Coleman played a major role in significantcivil rights cases. At the time of his death, Coleman was the oldest living former Cabinet member.[a]
Coleman was born to Laura Beatrice (née Mason) Coleman and William Thaddeus Coleman Sr. inGermantown, Philadelphia,Pennsylvania.[1] Coleman's mother came from six generations of Episcopal ministers, including an operator of theUnderground Railroad.[1]W.E.B. DuBois andLangston Hughes would visit the family's home for dinner.[1] One of seven black students atGermantown High School, Coleman was suspended for cursing at a teacher after she praised his honors presentation by saying, "Someday, William, you will make a wonderful chauffeur."[1] When Coleman attempted to join the school's swim team he was again suspended, and the team disbanded after he returned so as to avoid admitting him, only to reform after he graduated.[1] Coleman's swim team coach wrote him a strong letter of recommendation and he was accepted into theUniversity of Pennsylvania, where he was a double major in political science and economics.[1]
He graduatedsumma cum laude from theUniversity of Pennsylvania with aB.A. in history in 1941.[2] There, he was elected toPhi Beta Kappa society.[2] He was elected to thePi Gamma Mu international honor society in 1941.[3] Coleman was also a member ofAlpha Phi Alpha fraternity.[4]
Coleman was accepted to theHarvard Law School but left in 1943 to enlist in theUnited States Army Air Forces, failing in his attempt to join theTuskegee Airmen.[1] Instead, Coleman spent the war defending the accused incourts-martial.[1] After the war, Coleman returned to Harvard Law, where he became the third black staff member accepted to theHarvard Law Review,[5] and graduated first in his class andmagna cum laude in 1946.[1]
He began his legal career in 1947, serving aslaw clerk to JudgeHerbert F. Goodrich of theU.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit andU.S. Supreme Court JusticeFelix Frankfurter in 1948. He was the first African American to serve as a Supreme Court law clerk.[6] Fellow clerks, includingElliot Richardson, would have difficulty finding a restaurant where they could eat together.[1]
Coleman was hired by the New York law firm ofPaul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in 1949.[7]Thurgood Marshall, then the chief counsel of theNational Association for the Advancement of Colored People, recruited Coleman to be one of the lead strategists and coauthor of the legal brief inBrown v. Board of Education (1954), in which the U.S. Supreme Court heldracial segregation in public schools to be unconstitutional.[1][8]
William Coleman joined Philadelphia based firm,Dilworth Paxson, in 1951. Eventually becoming the first African-American lawyer admitted as a partner in a Philadelphia law firm. Mr. Coleman worked on libel suits within Dilworth Paxson's Litigation Department forThe Inquirer and beyond. At this time, he also becomes a member of the Board of Directors of the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund. before leaving the firm in 1971.
He served as a member of the NAACP's national legal committee, director and member of its executive committee, and president of board of theNAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Coleman was also a member of PresidentDwight D. Eisenhower's Committee on Government Employment Policy (1959–1961) and a consultant to theU.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (1963–1975). Coleman served as an assistant counsel to the President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy (1964), also known as theWarren Commission, on which then-CongressmanGerald Ford was a commissioner.[1]
During the Warren Commission's investigation into theassassination of John F. Kennedy, the commission received word via a backchannel thatFidel Castro, thenPrime Minister of Cuba, wanted to talk to them. The Commission sent Coleman as an investigator and he met with Castro on a fishing boat off the coast of Cuba. Castro denied any involvement in the assassination of President Kennedy during Coleman's three-hour questioning. Coleman reported the results of his investigation and interview with Castro directly to Commission ChairmanEarl Warren, theChief Justice of the United States.[9]
Coleman was co-counsel to the petitioners inMcLaughlin v. Florida (1964), in which the Supreme Court unanimously struck down a law prohibiting an interracial couple from living together.[1] In 1969, he was a member of the U.S. delegation to the twenty-fourth session of theUnited Nations General Assembly.
Coleman was also a member of the National Commission on Productivity (1971–1972). Coleman served in the boardrooms ofPepsiCo,IBM,Chase Manhattan Bank, andPan American World Airways.[1] He was senior partner in the law firm of Dilworth, Paxson, Kalish, Levy & Coleman at the time of his appointment to the Ford Administration.
In 1973, Coleman became the first Black member of theUnion League of Philadelphia.[10]
PresidentGerald Ford appointed Coleman to serve in hisCabinet as the fourthSecretary of Transportation on March 7, 1975.[11] During Coleman's time at theDepartment of Transportation, theNational Highway Traffic Safety Administration's automobile test facility atEast Liberty, Ohio commenced operations, and the department established the Materials Transportation Bureau to address pipeline safety and the safe shipment of hazardous materials. In February 1976, Coleman authorized a testing period for thesupersonicConcorde jet,[12][13] and flights began onMay 24.[1][14][15] After thePort Authority of New York and New Jersey banned the jet, the U.S. Supreme Court restored Coleman's authorization.[1] In December 1976, Coleman rejected consumer activists' pressure for a federal mandate on automobileairbags and instead announced a two-year demonstration period favored by the auto industry.[1] Coleman's tenure ended in January 1977, afterJimmy Carter won the1976 election.
On leaving the department, Coleman returned to Philadelphia and subsequently became a partner in theWashington office of theLos Angeles-based law firmO'Melveny & Myers. Colman argued a total of 19 cases before the Supreme Court.[1] He appeared for the respondent in the argument and reargument ofGarcia v. San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority (1985). In 1983, with the election quickly approaching, the Reagan administration stopped supporting the IRS's position againstBob Jones University that overtly discriminatory groups were ineligible for certain tax exemptions. Coleman was appointed to argue the now unsupported lower court position before the Supreme Court, and won inBob Jones University v. United States.[16]
Coleman was elected to theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1993.[17] On September 29, 1995, Coleman was presented with thePresidential Medal of Freedom by PresidentBill Clinton. After the July 17, 1996, crash ofTWA Flight 800, he served on the President's Commission on Airline and Airport Security. Coleman received an honoraryLL.D. fromBates College in 1975. Coleman was also awarded honorary degrees from, among others,Williams College in May 1975,Gettysburg College on May 22, 2011,[18] andBoston University in May 2012.
Coleman was elected to theAmerican Philosophical Society in 2001.[19]
In September 2004, PresidentGeorge W. Bush appointed Coleman to theUnited States Court of Military Commission Review.[11]
In June 2006, Coleman received the Golden Plate Award of theAmerican Academy of Achievement.[20]
In December 2006, Coleman served as an honorary pallbearer during thestate funeral of Gerald Ford inWashington, D.C.[21][not specific enough to verify][22]
In June 2024, the William T. Coleman, Jr. Foundation, Inc. honored the legacy of William T. Coleman, Jr., Esq.with the unveiling of a sculpture that is now permanently displayed at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.
In 1945, Coleman married Lovida Mae Hardin (1923–2020). They had three children: Lovida H. Coleman, Jr. (1949–2018);William Thaddeus Coleman III, aGeneral Counsel of the Army under President Clinton and stepfather ofFlavia Colgan; andHardin Coleman, dean,Boston University School of Education.
Coleman Jr. died from complications ofAlzheimer's disease at his home inAlexandria,Virginia, on March 31, 2017, aged 96.[1]
William T. Coleman Jr., Ford administration secretary of transportation. Coleman's public service includes advisory or consultant positions to six presidents. Coleman was a member of the U.S. delegation to the 24th session of the United Nations General Assembly in 1969. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1946.
On April 19, the Court announced that it would not allow the NAACP to join the case, and in a step considered unprecedented by legal scholars and 'extraordinary' even to the NAACP's leadership, the Supreme Court appointed a prosecutor of its own—black attorney and civil rights activist William T. Coleman. Bob Jones III commented that 'this puts the court in the position of creating an issue to be litigated and insisting that an issue be heard when one of the two litigants declares 'no contest'.
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | United States Secretary of Transportation 1975–1977 | Succeeded by |
| Legal offices | ||
| New seat | Judge of theUnited States Court of Military Commission Review 2004–2009 | Succeeded by |
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| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |
