William A. Patterson

2025-08-16T21:30:12Z

2A02:8012:227B:0:8D7E:5981:FDB2:52E1: - Category:People from Hawaii + Category:People from Oahu

{{Short description|President of United Airlines from 1934 until 1966}}
'''William A. "Pat" Patterson''' (October, 1899 – June 13, 1980) was the President of [[United Airlines]] from 1934 until 1966.<ref name="EAA">{{cite journal |last1=Williams |first1=Lee M. |date=November 1980 |title=WILLIAM A. PATTERSON, AVIATION PIONEER |url=http://members.eaavintage.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/VA-Vol-8-No-11-Nov-1980.pdf |journal=The Vintage Airplane |location=Hales Corners, WI |publisher=[[Experimental Aircraft Association]] |volume=8 |issue=11 |pages=16–19 |issn=0091-6943 |oclc=1788070 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131208001233/http://members.eaavintage.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/VA-Vol-8-No-11-Nov-1980.pdf |archive-date=2013-12-08 |url-status=live |access-date=2013-12-08}}</ref>

==Life and career==
Patterson was born on a [[sugarcane]] [[Sugar plantations in Hawaii|plantation]] in Waipahu on [[Oahu, Hawaii]]. When Patterson was 13, his widowed mother moved to [[San Francisco, California]], while he remained at [[Honolulu Military Academy]]. Not liking the academy, he decided to leave. He persuaded a captain to allow him to work on his ship in exchange for passage to San Francisco.<ref name="ANBHF">{{cite web |url=http://www.anbhf.org/laureates/patterson.php |title=American National Business Hall of Fame's bio of Patterson |website=www.anbhf.org |publisher=American National Business Hall of Fame |location=Macomb, IL, USA |access-date=2013-12-07}}</ref>

Instead of finishing high school in San Francisco, Patterson became an office worker at [[Wells Fargo]] bank, though he later attended night school. He became a teller and later a loan officer.<ref name="EAA"/><ref name="ANBHF"/>

As a loan officer, he authorized a loan to Pacific Air Transport and became an advisor to its founder and president Vern Gorst. When Gorst sold his airline to [[Boeing Air Transport]], the advice that Gorst was receiving from Patterson brought the latter to the attention of [[Philip G. Johnson]] of Boeing.<ref name="EAA"/><ref name="ANBHF"/>

Patterson was recruited by Johnson, leaving Wells Fargo in 1929, and moving to [[Seattle, Washington]], to be the assistant to the president of [[Boeing Airplane Company]] and [[Boeing Air Transport]]. In 1931 Boeing Air Transport was one of four airlines that merged into [[United Air Lines]] and Patterson moved to Chicago to become United's general manager.<ref name="NAHF">{{cite web |url=http://nationalaviation.org/patterson-william/ |title=William Patterson, Entrepreneur |website=nationalaviation.org |publisher=[[National Aviation Hall of Fame]] |location=Dayton, OH |access-date=2013-12-07}}</ref>

Two years later, Patterson was promoted to vice president of United. In 1934, in reaction to the [[Air Mail scandal]] and the departure of Johnson, Patterson became the company's president at the age of 34.<ref name="EAA"/>

Patterson is credited with starting the profession of [[flight attendant]]. He gave his approval to hire eight nurses to work as flight attendants on a three-month trial basis. On May 15, 1930, United became the first airline to use flight attendants, a practice that has since been adopted by every major airline.<ref name="ANBHF"/> Patterson's daughter, Patty, briefly worked for [[American Airlines]] as a flight attendant before her marriage rendered her ineligible.<ref name="UAHF">{{cite web |url=http://www.uahf.org/ua_flight_attendants_founders.asp |title=United Airlines Flight Attendants Founders |author= |at=No Marriage Rule |website=www.uahf.org |publisher=United Airlines Historical Foundation |location=Denver, CO |access-date=December 7, 2013}}</ref> Patterson and [[C. R. Smith]], the CEO of American, shared a friendly rivalry.{{Citation needed|date=December 2013}}

Under Patterson, United invested in new technologies, such as the [[DC-4]] and the [[DC-8]] a pioneering jet,<ref name="NAHF"/> and purchased Capital Airlines in 1961 to become the United States' largest airline,<ref name="ANBHF"/> a title it would hold for nearly 40 years. In 1963, when Patterson became United's CEO and chairman of the board, the airline had more than 30,000 employees.{{Citation needed|date=December 2013}}

He was a life trustee of [[Northwestern University]], and helped establish the [http://transportation.northwestern.edu/index.html Northwestern University Transportation Center] in 1954. Patterson received the ''[[Tony Jannus Award]]'' in 1968 for his distinguished contributions to commercial aviation.<ref name="1968 Tony Janus Award">{{cite web |url=http://www.tonyjannusaward.com/recipient/1968/ |title=1968 « Tony Jannus Award – Outstanding Achievements in the Field of Scheduled Air Transportation |author= |website=www.tonyjannusaward.com |publisher=[[Tony Jannus Award|Tony Jannus Distinguished Aviation Society]] |location=Tampa, FL |access-date=December 7, 2013}}</ref>

In 1976, for his contributions to aviation Patterson was inducted into the [[National Aviation Hall of Fame]] in Dayton, Ohio. <ref>{{cite web |title=Enshrinee William Patterson |url=https://nationalaviation.org/enshrinee/william-allan-patterson/ |website=nationalaviation.org |publisher=National Aviation Hall of Fame |access-date=27 February 2023}}</ref>

Patterson was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 1980.<ref name="Archived JA">{{cite web |url=http://www.ja.org/hof/alpha.asp?alpha=P |title=U.S. Business Hall of Fame - Recipients: William A. Patterson, United Airlines |website=www.ja.org |publisher=[[Junior Achievement]] USA |location=Colorado Springs, CO |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130708052801/http://www.ja.org/hof/viewLaureate.asp?id=145&alpha=P |archive-date=2013-07-08 |url-status=dead |access-date=2013-12-07}}</ref>

Near the end of his life, he was honored with the creation of the ''William A. Patterson Distinguished Chair in Transportation''<ref name="Patterson Chair in Transportation">{{cite web |url=http://www.transportation.northwestern.edu/research/pattersonchair.html |title=Patterson Chair in Transportation | Transportation Center - Northwestern University |website=www.transportation.northwestern.edu |publisher=[[Northwestern University]] |location=Evanston, IL, USA |access-date=2013-12-07}}</ref> through the gifts of more than 12,000 individual and corporate donors.{{Citation needed|date=December 2013}} After his death in 1980, the Patterson Endowment established an annual Patterson Lecture and provided other research support.<ref name="About NU Transportation Center">{{cite web |url=http://www.transportation.northwestern.edu/about/index.html |title=About Us | Transportation Center - Northwestern University |website=www.transportation.northwestern.edu |publisher=[[Northwestern University]] |location=Evanston, IL, USA |access-date=2013-12-07}}</ref>

In 2006, Patterson was inducted into the [[International Air & Space Hall of Fame]] at the [[San Diego Air & Space Museum]].<ref>Sprekelmeyer, Linda, editor. ''These We Honor: The International Aerospace Hall of Fame''. Donning Co. Publishers, 2006. {{ISBN|978-1-57864-397-4}}.</ref>

==Family==
Patterson's son, William A. Patterson Jr., was married to Marcia Motley, daughter of [[Arthur Harrison Motley]].<ref name=GH4B>
[https://www.nytimes.com/1960/03/09/archives/good-head-for-business-arthur-harrison-motley.html Good Head for Business: Arthur Harrison Motley], in ''[[The New York Times]]''; published March 9, 1960; p. 20</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Aviation}}
*[[United Airlines]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
*{{cite book |last=Taylor |first=Frank J |year=1967 |title="Pat" Patterson |url=https://archive.org/details/patpatterson00tayl |url-access=registration |location=Menlo Park, CA, USA |publisher=Lane Magazine & Book Co |oclc=576172511}}
*{{cite web |url=http://www.transportation.northwestern.edu/news_events/patterson.html |title=Patterson Lecture Series | Transportation Center - Northwestern University |website=www.transportation.northwestern.edu |publisher=[[Northwestern University]] |location=Evanston, IL, USA |access-date=2013-12-07}}
*{{cite web |url=https://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19470421,00.html |title=TIME Magazine Cover: William A. Patterson - Apr. 21, 1947 - Aviation - Business |author= |date=1947-04-21 |website=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |location=New York, NY |access-date=2013-12-07}}

{{United Continental Holdings}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Patterson, William A.}}
[[Category:1899 births]]
[[Category:1980 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Oahu]]
[[Category:United Airlines people]]

Hiram Bingham II

2025-08-16T21:09:15Z

2A02:8012:227B:0:8D7E:5981:FDB2:52E1: - Category:People from Hawaii + Category:People from Honolulu

{{Short description|American Protestant Christian missionary}}
{{One source|date=April 2011}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Hiram Bingham II
| image = Hiram and Clara Brewster Bingham in 1887.jpg
| image_size = 180px
| caption = Hiram II and Clara Brewster Bingham in 1887
| birth_date = {{Birth-date|August 16, 1831}}
| birth_place = [[Honolulu, Hawaii]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1908|10|25|1831|8|16}}
| death_place = [[Baltimore, Maryland]], [[United States|USA]]
| alma_mater = [[Yale College]]<br />[[Andover Seminary]]
| occupation = Missionary
| known for =
| spouse = Clara Brewster
| children = [[Hiram Bingham III|Hiram III]], and one other
| parents = [[Hiram Bingham I|Hiram I]] and Sybil Bingham
| signature = Signature of Hiram Bingham II.svg
}}
'''Hiram Bingham II''' (August 16, 1831 – October 25, 1908) was a [[Protestant]] [[Christianity|Christian]] [[missionary]] to [[Hawaii]] and the [[Gilbert Islands]].

==Life and career==
Born in [[Honolulu, Hawaii|Honolulu]], Bingham was the sixth child of early missionary [[Hiram Bingham I]] (1789–1869) and [[Sybil Moseley Bingham]] (1792–1848). Both father and mother sailed from [[Boston, Massachusetts]], to Honolulu in 1819. Only ten years old in 1840, Bingham was sent to the [[United States]] with his siblings Elizabeth Kaahumanu (1829–1899) and Lydia Bingham (1834–1915) to attend school. Bingham was enrolled at [[Williston Seminary]] in [[Easthampton, Massachusetts]], and graduated from [[Yale University]] in 1853.

Bingham was [[ordained]] a [[Congregational church|Congregationalist]] [[Minister (Christianity)|minister]] in [[New Haven, Connecticut]], on November 9, 1856. Nine days later on November 18, Bingham married Clara Brewster (1834-1903) in [[Northampton, Massachusetts]]. The newlyweds arrived in Honolulu on April 24, 1857, where they both ministered to the [[native Hawaiians]] as part of [[American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions]]. They eventually traveled and spread [[Christianity]] in several [[Pacific Ocean]] island communities, notably at the end of 1857 at the [[Gilbert Islands]].

After a brief return to the United States in 1865, they arrived in Honolulu on March 13, 1867, for a stopover en route to the [[Marquesas Islands]]. They went through [[Micronesia]] and returned to Honolulu again in 1868. There they settled. Bingham was the first to [[translate]] the [[Bible]] into [[Gilbertese]], and wrote several [[hymn book]]s, [[dictionary|dictionaries]] and [[Exegesis|commentaries]] in the language of the [[Gilbert Islands]].

From 1877 to 1880, Bingham served as Secretary of the Hawaiian Board and in 1895, Yale University awarded him the [[Doctorate of Divinity]]. He died October 25, 1908, in [[Baltimore, Maryland]].

Bingham's son, [[Hiram Bingham III]], was an [[explorer]] who made public the existence of the Inca citadel of [[Machu Picchu]] in 1911 with the guidance of local indigenous farmers and later became a [[US Senator]] and (briefly) [[Governor of Connecticut]]. His grandson, [[Hiram Bingham IV]], was the US Vice [[Consul (representative)|Consul]] in [[Marseille]], [[France]], during [[World War II]] who rescued [[Jew]]s from [[the Holocaust]]. Another grandson, [[Jonathan Brewster Bingham]], was a long-time Reform Democratic Congressman from [[The Bronx]] from the mid-1960s through the early 1980s.

==References==
{{commons category|Hiram Bingham (missionary born 1831)}}
*''Fathers and sons, the Bingham family and the American mission'', by Char Miller, Published by [[Temple University Press]], 1982, {{ISBN|978-0-87722-248-4}}

{{Protestant missions to Pacific Islands}}
{{Christianity in Hawaii}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bingham 02, Hiram}}
[[Category:Protestantism in Hawaii]]
[[Category:1831 births]]
[[Category:1908 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Honolulu]]
[[Category:American people of English descent]]
[[Category:Williston Northampton School alumni]]
[[Category:Yale College alumni]]
[[Category:Yale Divinity School alumni]]
[[Category:American Congregationalist missionaries]]
[[Category:Christians from Hawaii]]
[[Category:Christians from Maryland]]
[[Category:Congregationalist missionaries in Hawaii]]
[[Category:Congregationalist missionaries in Kiribati]]
[[Category:Translators of the Bible into Gilbertese]]
[[Category:19th-century American translators]]
[[Category:American missionary linguists]]

Vero - Wikipedia - User contributions [en]

William A. Patterson

Hiram Bingham II