Ron Brown (U.S. politician)

Ronald Harmon Brown (August 1, 1941 – April 3, 1996), was the United States Secretary of Commerce, serving during the first term of President Bill Clinton. He was the first African American to hold this position.

Early life and political career

He was born in Washington, D.C., and was raised in Harlem, New York, in a middle-class family. Brown attended Hunter College Elementary School and Rhodes Preparatory School.

Ron Brown was the first African-American member of Sigma Phi Epsilon, a national men's collegiate fraternity. Upon learning of Brown's membership, the National Headquarters of Sigma Epsilon demanded that the chapter expel him or face closure of the chapter. The chapter declined to remove Brown and was shut down by the national organization, but was later re-opened. Brown joined the army in 1962, after graduating from Middlebury College in Vermont, and served in South Korea and Europe. After being discharged in 1967, Brown joined the National Urban League, a leading economic equality group in the United States. Meanwhile, Brown enrolled in law school at St. John's University and obtained a degree in 1970.

Rising star in the Democratic Party

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 for Senator Edward M. Kennedy, who sought the Democratic Party's presidential nomination.

Brown was hired in 1981 by the Washington, D.C., law firm Patton, Boggs & Blow as a lawyer and a lobbyist.

In May, 1988, Brown was named by Jesse L. Jackson to head Jackson's convention team at the Democratic National Convention in Atlanta. Brown was named along with several other experienced party insiders to Jackson's convention operation. By June, it was apparent that Brown was also running Jackson's campaign.

Brown was elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee in 1989, and played an integral role in running a successful 1992 Democratic National Convention and in Bill Clinton's successful 1992 presidential run. President Clinton then appointed Brown to the position of Secretary of Commerce in 1993.

Death

On April 3, 1996, while on an official trade mission, the Air Force CT-43 (a modified Boeing 737) carrying Brown and 34 other people, including New York Times Frankfurt Bureau chief Nathaniel C. Nash, crashed in Croatia. While attempting an instrument approach to Čilipi airport, the airplane crashed into a mountainside killing everyone onboard. TSgt Shelly Kelly initially survived the crash only to die from her wounds hours later while being transported off the mountain. Speculations as to the circumstances surrounding the plane crash that caused Brown's death include many government cover-up and conspiracy theories, largely based on Brown having been under investigation by independent counsel for corruption^[1].

The official U.S. Air Force report

The official Air Force accident investigation board report noted several reasons that led to the CT-43, formerly a training aircraft that had been converted to distinguished visitor travel, to crash. Chief among the findings was a "failure of command, aircrew error and an improperly designed instrument approach procedure". Notably the inclement weather was not deemed a substantial contributing factor in the crash.

Legacy

President Clinton established the Ron Brown Award for corporate leadership and responsibility. The Conference Board administers the privately funded award. S. C. Johnson & Son, Bayer Corporation, and Johnson & Johnson received the 2006 awards.

The U.S. Department of Commerce also gives out the annual Ronald H. Brown American Innovator Award in his honor.

The largest ship in the NOAA fleet, the NOAA Ship Ronald H. Brown, was named in honor of his public service not long after his death.

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