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Robert C. Weaver | |
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1st United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development | |
In office January 18, 1966 – December 18, 1968 | |
President | Lyndon B. Johnson |
Preceded by | Himself (HHFA Administrator) |
Succeeded by | Robert Coldwell Wood |
Administrator of the Housing and Home Finance Agency | |
In office February 11, 1961 – January 18, 1966 | |
President | John F. Kennedy Lyndon B. Johnson |
Preceded by | Jack Conway (acting) |
Succeeded by | Himself (HUD Secretary) |
Chair of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People | |
In office 1960–1961 | |
Preceded by | Channing Heggie Tobias |
Succeeded by | Stephen Gill Spottswood |
Personal details | |
Born | Robert Clifton Weaver December 29, 1907 Washington, D.C., US |
Died | July 17, 1997 New York City, US | (aged 89)
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse |
Ella Haith
(m. 1935; died 1991) |
Education | Harvard University (BS, MA, PhD) |
Robert Clifton Weaver (December 29, 1907 – July 17, 1997) was an American economist, academic, and political administrator who served as the first United States secretary of housing and urban development (HUD) from 1966 to 1968, when the department was newly established by President Lyndon B. Johnson. Weaver was the first African American to be appointed to a US cabinet-level position.[1][2]
Prior to his appointment as cabinet officer, Weaver had served in the administration of President John F. Kennedy. In addition, he had served in New York State government, and in high-level positions in New York City. During the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration, he was one of 45 prominent African Americans appointed to positions and helped make up the Black Cabinet, an informal group of African-American public policy advisers. Weaver directed federal programs during the administration of the New Deal, at the same time completing his doctorate in economics in 1934 at Harvard University.