Robert P. Patterson

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Robert Porter Patterson Sr. (February 12, 1891 – January 22, 1952) was an American judge who served as Under Secretary of War under President Franklin D. Roosevelt and U.S. Secretary of War under President Harry S. Truman. He was a US circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit after he had been a district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Education and career

Born on February 12, 1891, in Glens Falls, New York,<ref name="auto">Template:FJC Bio</ref> the son of Lodice Edna (née Porter) and Charles Robert Patterson,Template:Citation needed Patterson received an Artium Baccalaureus degree in 1912 from Union College and a Bachelor of Laws in 1915 from Harvard Law School.<ref name="auto"/> He entered private practice in New York City from 1915 to 1916,<ref name="auto"/> with what today is the law firm of Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler,Template:Citation needed also serving with that firm in subsequent periods of private practice.Template:Citation needed He served in the New York Army National Guard from 1916 to 1917.<ref name="auto"/> He served in the United States Army from 1917 to 1919,<ref name="auto"/> attaining the rank of Major.Template:Citation needed He received the Distinguished Service Cross<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and Silver Star<ref name=":0" /> for heroism in France. Patterson served in the 306th Infantry Regiment which was assigned to the 77th Infantry Division.Template:Citation needed He returned to private practice in New York City from 1919 to 1930.<ref name="auto"/>

Federal judicial service

Patterson was nominated by President Herbert Hoover on April 24, 1930, to a seat on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York vacated by Judge Thomas D. Thacher.<ref name="auto"/> He was confirmed by the United States Senate on May 13, 1930, and received his commission the same day.<ref name="auto"/> His service terminated on March 22, 1939, due to his elevation to the Second Circuit.<ref name="auto"/>

Patterson was nominated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 9, 1939, to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated by Judge Martin Thomas Manton.<ref name="auto"/> He was confirmed by the Senate on March 20, 1939, and received his commission on March 21, 1939.<ref name="auto"/> His service terminated on July 30, 1940, due to his resignation.<ref name="auto"/>

War Department service

File:"After inspecting a regiment of Negro artillerymen during a visit to Hawaii, Under Secretary of War Robert P. Patterson - NARA - 524377.tif

Patterson congratulating Col. Chauncey M. Hooper in Hawaii, 1943.

Patterson served as a United States Assistant Secretary of War in 1940.<ref name="auto"/> He served as United States Under Secretary of War from 1940 to 1945 under Secretary Henry L. Stimson.<ref name="auto"/> He was instrumental in the mobilization of the armed forces preparatory to and during World War II.<ref>Herman, Arthur. Fredom's Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II, pp. 157, 161, 165–166, 175, 236, 238–239, 284–285, 288, Random House, New York, 2012. Template:ISBN.</ref> President Harry S. Truman appointed Patterson as United States Secretary of War in 1945.<ref name="auto"/> Truman initially was set to offer Patterson a seat on the United States Supreme Court which was left vacant by Justice Owen J. Roberts, however, with the resignation of Henry L. Stimson, Patterson instead became the Secretary of War.<ref>Eiler, op. cit. pp. 443–444</ref> Patterson advocated unifying the armed services (army and navy) and having a single chief of staff.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=nytimes1946-11-23/> Steps to this effect were begun by the National Security Act of 1947 and revised several times, finally by the Goldwater-Nichols Act of 1986.Template:Citation needed

Patterson worked to promote more black participation and promotion with in the military, specifically during the late stages of World War II. He was instrumental in creating an African-American fighter group, known now as the Tuskegee airmen.<ref name="Inc.1945">Template:Cite book</ref> While sympathetic to black grievances, aspirations, and recommendations he was concerned that radical change would impede military preparedness during war.<ref name="Eiler2018">Template:Cite book</ref> After the war the "Board for Utilization of Negro Manpower" (or Gillem Board). released a report,<ref name="Goldstein2009">Template:Cite book</ref> "Utilization of Negro Manpower in the Postwar Army Policy", in April 1946. that was signed off by Patterson: it recommended the retention of segregation, as that was a policy external to the military, but that the military introduce equal opportunity, as that would be the best use of military manpower. Patterson served until 1947.<ref name="auto"/>

Later career

After declining an offer by President Truman to be reappointed to his former judgeship,Template:Citation needed Patterson returned to private practice in New York City from 1947 to 1952.<ref name="auto"/> Later he became the President of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, and the President of the Council on Foreign Relations.<ref name="CliffordPatterson2012">Template:Cite book</ref> Governor Thomas E. Dewey appointed Patterson along with New York City’s construction coordinator Robert Moses and former Justice Charles C. Lockwood as a member of the Temporary Long Island Railroad Commission, installed after the Richmond Hill train crash on November 22, 1950, that claimed 79 lives.<ref name=nyt261150>Dewey Names 3 Men to Study 'All Aspects' of the L.I. Road, The New York Times, November 26, 1950</ref> The Commission recommended the state purchase and operation by non-profit public authority of the railway service.<ref name=gdt080351>Dewey Asks State Control of Long Island Road, Geneva Daily Times, March 8, 1951</ref>

Personal life

On January 3, 1920, Patterson married Margaret Tarleton Winchester (1897–1988); they had four children: Robert P. Patterson, Jr., Aileen Patterson Seldes, Susan H. Patterson and Virginia Patterson Montgomery.Template:Citation needed Robert P. Patterson Jr. was a federal judge in the Southern District of New York from 1988 until his death in 2015.<ref>Template:FJC Bio</ref>

Death

Patterson died on January 22, 1952,<ref name="auto"/> returning from meeting a client, onboard American Airlines Flight 6780 which crashed on the approach to Newark Airport in Elizabeth, New Jersey; he was age 60.Template:Citation needed

Works

In 2012, the University of Tennessee Press published The World War I Memoirs of Robert P. Patterson: A Captain in the Great War, edited by J. Garry Clifford.Template:Citation needed

In 2014, the University of Tennessee Press published his previously unpublished 1947 memoir Arming the Nation for War, with a foreword by Robert M. Morgenthau, former Manhattan district attorney, and edited by Brian Waddell, associate professor at the University of Connecticut.Template:Citation needed

• The World War I Memoirs of Robert P. Patterson: A Captain in the Great War (2012)
• Arming the Nation for War: Mobilization, Supply, and the American War Effort in World War II (2014)

Legacy

In 1953, Union College named liberal arts scholarships in the memory of Patterson.<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Open access</ref> An army reserve building on the Bronx campus of New York University was named after Patterson in 1953.<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Open access</ref>

Sources

• Eiler, Keith. (1997) Mobilizing America: Robert P. Patterson and the War Effort, 1940–1945. Cornell University Press.

External links

• Template:FJC Bio