[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 60 (Thursday, April 6, 2017)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E470]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  TRIBUTE TO THE LIFE AND CAREER OF SECRETARY WILLIAM T. COLEMAN, JR.

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BILL SHUSTER

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 6, 2017

  Mr. SHUSTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the distinguished 
life and career of William T. Coleman, Jr., a fellow Pennsylvanian, who 
passed away on March 31, 2017 at the age of 96.
   Coleman served our Nation as the fourth Secretary of the U.S. 
Department of Transportation, from March 7, 1975 to January 20, 1977. 
He was nominated by and served under President Gerald R. Ford.
   Ironically, just one day after the passing of Secretary Coleman, the 
Department he once led marked its 50th anniversary of operation.
   President Ford nominated Coleman, a fellow Republican, to serve as 
Secretary based in part on his expertise in transportation law. During 
his tenure at the Department, he worked to strengthen the long-term 
viability of the U.S. rail industry, oversaw the opening of the 
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's automobile test 
facility at East Liberty, Ohio, established the Materials 
Transportation Bureau to address pipeline and hazardous materials 
transportation safety, and opened the United States to flights of the 
Concorde aircraft.
   As Transportation Secretary, William Coleman was beloved by Members 
of Congress from both sides of the aisle. My father served on the 
Public Works and Transportation Committee during Secretary Coleman's 
tenure. The two were good friends, even though they didn't agree on 
every issue. On one occasion, the previous Congressman Shuster gave the 
Secretary a particularly difficult time during a committee hearing. 
Afterwards, my father received a bottle of wine from the Secretary and 
a note that said, ``I hope we're still friends.'' Although it never 
crossed my father's mind that they wouldn't be, Secretary Coleman's 
gesture is one small example of why he was so well respected.
   By the time William Coleman was sworn in as the Secretary of 
Transportation, he had already made his important and indelible mark on 
U.S. history.
   Coleman was the second African American to serve in a cabinet-level 
post, following Robert Weaver, who served as housing secretary under 
President Johnson. Appropriately enough, his oath of office was 
administered by Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, with whom 
Coleman had previously worked alongside to help end discrimination and 
secure greater equality for all Americans.
   For example, they worked together--Coleman writing legal briefs for 
Marshall--on Brown v. Board of Education, the case which ultimately 
ended the doctrine of ``separate but equal'' and segregation in our 
public school system. This alone would have been an exceptional 
achievement for an African American from the Germantown area of 
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who attended a segregated elementary 
school.
   However, Coleman also later argued against a law that prohibited 
interracial couples from living together, and soon after, the Supreme 
Court ended all prohibitions against interracial marriage in the United 
States.
   Coleman was the first African American to serve as law clerk to a 
Supreme Court Justice, worked to defend civil rights activists, and 
served as president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. He also served as 
a lawyer on the Warren Commission, charged with investigating President 
Kennedy's assassination. During his career, Coleman served in the 
military, argued 19 cases before the Supreme Court, co-chaired the 
White House Conference on Civil Rights, and was awarded the 
Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1995.
   Ably serving as the U.S. Secretary of Transportation would have been 
a notable enough accomplishment, but William T. Coleman, Jr. achieved 
much more than that. He will be remembered as a thoughtful, dedicated, 
and just man who helped spearhead the fight for equal rights for all 
Americans.

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