Robert P. Patterson

Robert P. Patterson
55th United States Secretary of War
In office September 27, 1945 – July 18, 1947
President	Harry S. Truman
Preceded by	Henry L. Stimson
Succeeded by	Kenneth C. Royall
Personal details
Born	Robert Porter Patterson, Sr. (1891-02-12)February 12, 1891 Glens Falls, New York, U.S.
Died	January 22, 1952(1952-01-22) (aged 60) Newark Liberty International Airport Newark, New Jersey, U.S.
Resting place	Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Margaret Tarleton Winchester Patterson (m. 1920 - 1952, his death)
Children	Robert P. Patterson, Jr. Aileen W. Patterson Susan Patterson Hand Virginia D. Patterson
Parents	Charles Robert Patterson Lodice Edna Porter Patterson
Alma mater	Union College Harvard Law School
Profession	Government
Religion	Presbyterian
Military service
Service/branch	United States Army
Rank	Major
Battles/wars	World War I
Awards	Distinguished Service Cross

Robert Porter Patterson, Sr. (February 12, 1891 – January 22, 1952) was the United States Under Secretary of War under President Franklin Roosevelt and the United States Secretary of War under President Harry S. Truman from September 27, 1945 to July 18, 1947.

Life and politics

Patterson was born in Glens Falls, New York on February 12, 1891, to son of Lodice Edna (née Porter) and Charles Robert Patterson. He graduated from both Union College and Harvard Law School. On January 3, 1920, Patterson married, the former Margaret Tarleton Winchester (March 12, 1897 - March 28, 1988); they we're have four children, (Robert P. Patterson II, Aileen W. Patterson, Susan Patterson Hand and Virginia D. Patterson).

He practiced law in New York City. He served in the United States Army during World War I, reaching the rank of major, and received the Distinguished Service Cross for heroism in France. In February 2012, The World War I Memoirs of Robert P. Patterson: A Captain in the Great War, edited by J. Garry Clifford, was published by the University of Tennessee Press.

In 1930, President Herbert Hoover appointed Patterson as a judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt promoted Patterson to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, where he sat with judges including Learned Hand, Augustus Hand, and Thomas Walter Swan.

In 1940, after 15 months of service on the Second Circuit, Patterson left the bench to join the War Department. After a few months as Assistant Secretary of War, President Roosevelt promoted Patterson to Undersecretary of War late in 1940. He was instrumental in the mobilization of the armed forces preparatory to and during World War II.

Patterson congratulating Col. Chauncey M. Hooper in Hawaii, 1943. In the collection of the National Archives and Records Administration.

President Harry S. Truman appointed Patterson as Secretary of War in 1945. Truman initially was set to offer Patterson a seat on the 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.^[1] Patterson advocated unifying the armed services (army and navy) and having a single chief of staff. Steps to this effect were begun by the National Security Act of 1947, but was revised several times, finally by the Goldwater-Nichols Act of 1986. Patterson participated in the desegregation of the armed forces, specifically during late stages of the second world war with regard to creating an African-American fighter group, known now as the Tuskeegee airmen.

Patterson returned to his law practice in 1947. President Truman reportedly offered to reappoint Patterson to his former judgeship on the Second Circuit, but Patterson declined, opting to return to private practice. The firm, which continues as a preeminent law firm in New York City, still carries his name, Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler.

Patterson later served as the president of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, and the president of the Council of Foreign Relations.

Patterson died on January 22, 1952, returning from meeting a client, onboard American Airlines Flight 6780, which crashed on the approach to Newark Liberty International Airport in Elizabeth, New Jersey; he was age 60. Patterson's son, Robert P. Patterson, Jr., is himself a federal judge in the Southern District of New York.

References

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

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Robert Porter Patterson.

v t e U.S. Secretaries of War and the Army U.S. Department of War (1789–1949) Secretaries of War B. Lincoln Knox Pickering McHenry Dexter Dearborn Eustis Armstrong Monroe W. Crawford Calhoun Barbour P. Porter Eaton Cass Poinsett Bell Spencer J. Porter Wilkins Marcy G. Crawford Conrad J. Davis Floyd Holt S. Cameron Stanton Schofield Rawlins Belknap A. Taft J. Cameron McCrary Ramsey R. Lincoln Endicott Proctor Elkins Lamont Alger Root W. Taft Wright Dickinson Stimson Garrison Baker Weeks D. Davis Good Hurley Dern Woodring Stimson Patterson Royall Assistant Secretaries of War Scott Watson Tucker Wolcott Dana Eckert Grant Doe Meiklejohn Sanger Oliver Breckinridge Ingraham Crowell Williams Wainwright D. Davis MacNider Hurley Payne Woodring L. Johnson Patterson McCloy Petersen U.S. Department of the Army (1949–present) Secretaries of the Army Royall Gray Pace Stevens Brucker Stahr Vance Ailes Resor Froehlke Callaway Hoffmann C. Alexander Marsh Stone West Caldera White Harvey Geren McHugh Under Secretaries of the Army Draper Gray Voorhees A. Alexander Bendetsen E. Johnson Slezak Finucane Milton Ailes Ignatius Resor McGiffert Beal BeLieu Staudt Augustine LaBerge Ambrose Stone Shannon Reeder Walker Rostker Dahlberg Brownlee Geren Ford Westphal

v t e Cabinet of President Harry S. Truman (1945–1953) Vice President None (1945-1949) Alben W. Barkley (1949-1953) Secretary of State Edward R. Stettinius, Jr. (1945) James F. Byrnes (1945–1947) George C. Marshall (1947–1949) Dean G. Acheson (1949–1953) Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau, Jr. (1945) Fred M. Vinson (1945–1946) John W. Snyder (1946–1953) Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson (1945) Robert P. Patterson (1945–1947) Kenneth C. Royall (1947) Secretary of Defense James V. Forrestal (1947–1949) Louis A. Johnson (1949–1950) George C. Marshall (1950–1951) Robert A. Lovett (1951–1953) Attorney General Francis B. Biddle (1945) Tom C. Clark (1945–1949) J. Howard McGrath (1949–1952) James P. McGranery (1952–1953) Postmaster General Frank C. Walker (1945) Robert E. Hannegan (1945–1947) Jesse M. Donaldson (1947–1953) Secretary of the Navy James V. Forrestal (1945–1947) Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes (1945–1946) Julius A. Krug (1946–1949) Oscar Littleton Chapman (1949–1953) Secretary of Agriculture Claude Raymond Wickard (1945) Clinton P. Anderson (1945–1948) Charles F. Brannan (1948–1953) Secretary of Commerce Henry A. Wallace (1945–1946) W. Averell Harriman (1946–1948) Charles Sawyer (1948–1953) Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins (1945) Lewis B. Schwellenbach (1945–1948) Maurice J. Tobin (1948–1953)