Alan Boyd | John Volpe | Claude Brinegar | William Coleman, Jr. | Brockman Adams | Neil Goldschmidt | Andrew Lewis, Jr. | Elizabeth Hanford Dole | James Horace Burnley IV | Samuel Knox Skinner |Andrew Hill Card, Jr. | Federico Peña | Rodney Slater | Norman Mineta| Mary E. Peters | Ray LaHood | Anthony Foxx | Elaine Chao | Pete Buttigieg
On January 16, 1967, Judge James Durfee of the U.S. Court of Claims administered the oath of office to Alan S. Boyd in the East Room of the White House as Mrs. Boyd and President and Mrs. Johnson looked on. The President said Secretary Boyd's major assignment as the first Secretary of Transportation would be to "coordinate a National Transportation Policy.”
A key figure in the establishment and organization of the new department, Secretary Boyd served as the Undersecretary of Commerce for Transportation and had six years’ experience with the Civil Aeronautics Board before becoming Secretary of Transportation. During his tenure, Boyd issued the first national highway safety and Federal motor carrier vehicle standards and oversaw the transfer of the Urban Mass Transportation Administration from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to the Department of Transportation. He later served as president of Amtrak (1978-1982) and joined the Airbus Industries of North America. He received numerous awards including the Tony Jannus Award for his contributions to commercial Aviation (1994) the the Philip J. Klass Award for lifetime achievement from Aviation Week & Space Technology (2009).
Alan Stephenson Boyd, left, shakes hands with President Lyndon Johnson after taking the oath of office as the nation's first Secretary of Transportation in 1967.
On January 22, 1969, Chief Justice Earl Warren administered the oath of office to Secretary of Transportation John A. Volpe in a White House ceremony as President Richard Nixon looked on. Volpe was the first Federal Highway Administrator to later become Secretary of Transportation.
During Volpe’s tenure, he established the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) as a separate operating administration, and passed laws to modernize the nation's airport-airways system, upgrade urban transit systems (using the highway trust fund for the first time), and created the national rail passenger system (Amtrak). With Volpe appointee General Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., the Federal Aviation Administration instituted an anti-hijacking program. In 1990, the National Transportation Systems Center in Cambridge, Mass., was renamed in honor of then-former Secretary Volpe.
John A. Volpe (left) is sworn in as the first Federal Highway Administrator on October 22, 1956. President Eisenhower holds the Bible while Frank K. Sanderson (right), White House administrative officer, administers the oath of office.
Chief Justice Warren Burger administered the oath of office to Claude Brinegar, along with 19 other Cabinet and sub-Cabinet members, on February 2, 1973. Although President Richard Nixon introduced the Chief Justice at the ceremony, the President did not stay to watch his nominees take the oath office because of a meeting at the British Embassy.
Secretary Brinegar confronted railroad revitalization and regulatory reform, reauthorization of Federal highway programs, and the impact of transportation on energy consumption and on the environment. During his tenure, he championed legislation that led to the creation of Conrail, the Government-owned freight railroad in the Northeast, adoption of a national speed limit of 55 miles per hour to conserve fuel, and the creation of Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards. Later, Brinegar became vice chairman of the Unocal Corporation and served a four-year stint as a visiting scholar at his alma mater, Stanford.
An avid collector of Mark Twain first editions and related memorabilia, he proved by statistical tests that Twain was the author of a collection of letters attributed to him. Elmira College awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1997 for his public service and Twain-related work.
Secretary Brinegar and Gerald Ford, Photo Credit: Stanford Alumni Magazine: July/August 2009, Class Notes, Farewells.
On March 7, 1975, in a White House ceremony, William T. Coleman, Jr., became the first African American to serve as Secretary of Transportation. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, Coleman’s friend and colleague, administered the oath of office. President Ford told the guests that the new Secretary had a mandate to help save energy, develop mass transportation, strengthen the railroads, and ensure an equitable and stern enforcement of the 55 m.p.h. speed limit brought on by oil shortages. His tenure would be marked by direct involvement in settling highway controversies.
During Coleman's tenure, he created the first Statement of National Transportation Policy in U.S. history. He also opened the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's automobile test facility at East Liberty, Ohio, and established the Materials Transportation Bureau to address pipeline safety and the safe shipment of hazardous materials. In what could be regarded as his most controversial decision, Coleman allowed limited transatlantic service for the supersonic transport plane, the Concorde, a decision that angered the majority of environmental groups concerned largely with the effects of noise pollution. Close on the heels of the Concorde decision (in terms of controversy) was Coleman's decision to defer the mandatory installation of airbags in all new automobiles. On leaving the department, Coleman returned to Philadelphia and subsequently became a partner in the Washington office of the Los Angeles-based law firm O'Melveny & Myers. In 1983, with the election quickly approaching, the Reagan administration stopped supporting the IRS's position against Bob 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 in Bob Jones University v. United States. On September 29, 1995, President Bill Clinton awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
William T. Coleman, Thurgood Marshall, and Wiley A. Branton. Credit: Cover of the Journal of Supreme Court History 1999, Vol 24, No. 2, a publication of the Supreme Court Historical Society.
In a low-key ceremony, Chief Justice Warren Burger swore in Brock Adams as Secretary of Transportation on February 1, 1977. Burger also administered the oath to other Cabinet members at the same time.
As Secretary, Adams challenged the auto industry to make dramatic changes in design to achieve greater fuel efficiency and mandated the installation of airbags. He strongly supported significant regulatory reform in transportation, and oversaw a major program for repair and improvement of railway service along the Boston-to-Washington corridor. He also achieved domestic airline deregulation in 1978 legislation. Adams later served as the senior U. S. Senator for the State of Washington.
Multnomah County, Ore., Circuit Court Judge Irving Steinbock administered the oath of office to Neil Goldschmidt on August 15, 1971, with Goldschmidt’s wife, Margaret, and President Jimmy Carter in attendance.
During his tenure, Goldschmidt oversaw the enactment of regulations for child restraints in vehicles, and established the new Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization established within the Department. Under his term, both the Stagger Rail Act and the Motor Carrier Act were passed, which deregulated the railroad and trucking industries, respectively. He also created the National Task Force on Ridesharing to encourage carpooling and vanpooling as ways to save fuel. Goldschmidt served as Governor of Oregon from 1987-1991; after leaving office, he opened his own law practice.
Other accomplishments include serving as the youngest mayor of a major city in American history (Portland, Oregon, 1973-1979), working as senior executive with Nike for several years, and creating the Oregon Children's Foundation and the Start Making a Reader Today (SMART) literacy program.
Neil Goldschmidt (right) with Fujitsu President Mr. T. Yamamoto, August 1987, announcing the company's plans to build a semiconductor wafer fabrication plant in Gresham, Credit: photograph by Max Gutierrez
Drew Lewis, as Secretary of Transportation, discussing the air traffic controllers’ strike in 1981.Credit: Ron Edmonds/Associated Press
First Lady Nancy Reagan, hosting a lunch for spouses of Senators, is greeted by Elizabeth Dole in the Blue Room, June 15, 1988
President Ronald Reagan announced his nominee to head the Department of Transportation, James Burnley IV, October 8, 1987, credit: screenshot from C-SPAN
Wolfgang Schäuble, Federal Minister of the Interior (Germany), and Samuel Skinner shaking hands in Bonn, April 1989. Credit: Arne Schambeck
Chief of Staff Andrew Card stands by as President George W. Bush talks with World Leaders and members of Congress after the capture of Saddam Hussein, Oval Office, December 14, 2003. Credit: Eric Draper
Federico Peña being sworn in as Mayor of Denver, Credit: Colorado Virtual Library
From left to right: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Henry H. Shelton, U.S. Army; President Bill Clinton; Sen. John Glenn (D-Ohio); Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen and Secretary of Transportation Rodney E. Slater applauding a fly-by of aircraft from each of the five armed services during the opening ceremonies of the annual joint services open house and air show at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland., May 19, 2000.
Andy Card and Norman Mineta, September 11, 2001
(from left) Oklahoma Secretary of Transportation Herschal Crow, U.S. Senator James Inhofe, Oklahoma Director of Transportation Gary Ridley, and FHWA Administrator Mary E. Peters updated the media on the progress of the cleanup on June 10. From “Making it Happen the Fast Way”, Public Roads: vol. 66, no.3: Nov/Dec 2002.
President Barack Obama fixes the tie of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, as they prepare for an announcement at the Department of Transportation, Washington, D.C., March 3, 2009. Credit: Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
Vice President Biden swearing-in Secretary Anthony Foxx with his wife Samara and two children, Hillary and Zachary, standing alongside.
Elaine Chao at her confirmation hearing to be Secretary of Transportation