As featured in October 1996
Ron Brown's Legacy
A Foundation of Love Spurs Efforts to Promote Political Action
By Vincent F.A. Golphin
Word of former U.S. Secretary of Commerce Ronald Harmon Brown's death last April in a plane crash sent waves of shock and sadness throughout the world. The wreckage yielded more than a ravaged body. The public gained an insight into Brown's work for civil and human rights. "Secretary Brown's life was rich with accomplishments. Through his many roles he was guided by the common goal of providing opportunities for people of all races, beliefs, and social classes," said Robert Johnson, Black Entertainment Television's president.
His wife and children grieved as they said they
felt an incompleteness about Brown's hopes and dreams for the nation and
world. Then, they decided to embrace their loved one's work through the
Ronald H. Brown Foundation.
Michael Arrington Brown, the late commerce secretary's son, is the foundation's president and chief executive officer. Ronald Brown's widow, Alma Arrington Brown, chairs the board, of which his daughter, Tracy Lyn Brown, currently a Los Angeles County assistant district attorney, is secretary. "This foundation ensures that we will continue my father's mission and fulfill his most heartfelt ambitions," Michael said. Family and friends agree those are more than political.
"In his final and most important role as Secretary of Commerce, Ron Brown elevated the importance of trade and technology as national priorities, and created jobs for all Americans," said George Fisher, chairman, president, and chief executive officer of the Eastman Kodak Company. Like Johnson, Fisher is also a member of the foundation's advisory board. "The work of the foundation will continue the mission of enhancing opportunities for working Americans."
The plan, unveiled on August 1, which would have been Ronald Brown's 55th birthday, calls for the establishment of a Washington, D.C., policy center for domestic and international growth. "The foundation will support a variety of educational purposes including curriculum development and scholarship programs," said a spokesperson for the foundation. Officials say the organization plans to work with federal, state, and local governmental agencies, non-profit organizations, and businesses to foster and aid minority businesses.
Michael also works full-time as an associate of the Washington law firm of Patton, Boggs and Blow, where his father once practiced. "Our agenda is ambitious," he admits. "Our commitment is to move quickly to achieve lasting, tangible results." One of those efforts he said is to help average people gain a sense of their own political strength.
"My father always said that politics is not a spectator sport," Michael told Maudine Cooper, host of On Track, a radio show sponsored by the Washington Urban League. "You really need to know what's going on and get involved and there are several different levels at which you can do that."
Michael Brown said voting is the key. "You
watch many of the developing and emerging countries," he said. "When
they first get the chance to vote, those people will stand in lines for
days in order to vote. It's interesting to see how they cherish the right
to vote and we just don't. We need to understand that we hold a lot of problems
we can correct in our hands."
Brown said he and his father, sister and mother made voting an event. They would ride to the polls together. "We tried to send the message to other people that you should bring your mother, father, brother, sister, cousin, whoever," he said. "Take them with you--even if they don't agree with you politically--just so they're getting involved."
Michael's formal involvement in politics began in 1976. "My father had me putting stickers up for Clifford Alexander, [former Secretary of the Army under President Jimmy Carter] who ran for [Washington, D.C.] mayor," he recalled. "In 1980, I went to New York to work at the Democratic National Convention for Senator Kennedy when he was running for president. ...I poured coffee for people, made copies, and stuffed envelopes."
In 1988, he worked at the Atlanta convention for the Rev. Jesse Jackson and then-Gov. Michael Dukakis, who were Democratic presidential hopefuls. He began as an advance person for Dukakis after the former Massachusetts governor won the nomination.
"I've been in politics ever since, both behind the scenes and upfront on a more formal basis," says Michael. "I haven't run for office, but I have a political action committee called America's Fund. ...We give money to candidates of color around the country."
Brown said African Americans who put money and action into the political arena send a strong statement to the largely white Democratic and Republican leadership. "That's what the Million Man March was all about, too," he said. "It was not just showing white America, but also black America that people can come together and be a force both politically and economically."
Ronald H. Brown was nominated on December 12, 1992, confirmed by the U.S. Senate on January 21, 1993, and sworn in as the 30th U.S. Secretary of Commerce on January 22. President Clinton sought his skills as a negotiator and a pragmatic bridge builder.
Years before, Brown cut his political teeth as chief counsel for the Senate Judiciary Committee under Senator Edward M. Kennedy. Twelve years prior, he worked as the National Urban League's deputy executive director, general counsel, and vice president for Washington operations.
Ronald H. Brown was the first chairman of the board for the University of the District of Columbia and legislative chairman of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. At the same time, he was the first African American to head the Democratic National Committee. He left that position to join President Clinton's cabinet.
"We had a good strategy, good teamwork, and
good players. We didn't have a better player than the late Secretary of
Commerce Ron Brown," President Clinton said as he announced Commerce
Secretary Nickey Kantor as successor. "Nobody was more determined that
American workers and companies would get a fair shake around the world."
Brown led trade development missions to five continents to push U.S. goods and services. According to the Clinton White House, during Brown's tenure as Secretary of Commerce, U.S. exports reached a record high. America regained its title as the world's most productive economy, and the new export and technology markets he broke open were key contributors to millions of new jobs created in the first three years of the administration.
He served on President Clinton's National Economic Council, Domestic Policy Council, Task Force on National Health Care Reform, and Council on Sustainable Development. He chaired the 19-agency Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee and the National Information Infrastructure Task Force, President Clinton's initiative to build a national information superhighway. Also, he co-chaired the U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade, the U.S.-Russia Business Development Committee, and the U.S.-Israel and Technology Commission.
Brown was born in Washington, D.C., and grew up in New York City. He graduated from Middlebury College in Vermont. After serving four years in the U.S. Army in Germany and Korea, he earned a law degree from St. John's University, which he attended at night, while working as a New York City welfare caseworker.
His star was on the rise. Then, in a ball of flame on a mountain side near Dubrovnik, Croatia, it was suddenly gone. "Ron Brown was probably much too liberal for today's political climate," wrote Paul Reese, a teacher at Harlem's Ralph Bunche School, in an essay posted on the school's Internet site. He said he admired Brown's desire to make things work. "That first day in Washington when I met him, we also got the briefest of opportunities to meet General Colin Powell," the teacher wrote. "While charming and personable, General Powell was nowhere near as warm and genuine as Ron. ...He would have made a much better presidential candidate than Powell. It is sad that we will never know."
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