Arthur Allen Fletcher (December 22, 1924 – July 12, 2005) was an American government official, widely referred to as the "father of
affirmative action" as he was largely responsible for the
Revised Philadelphia Plan.
Biography
Arthur Fletcher, a
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
, graduated from
Washburn University
Washburn University (WU) is a public university in Topeka, Kansas, United States. It offers undergraduate and graduate programs, as well as professional programs in law and business. Washburn has 550 faculty members, who teach more than 6,100 ...
and obtained a degree from
distance learning
Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at a school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance. Traditionally, this usually in ...
school
La Salle Extension University
La Salle Extension University (LSEUDe Sola, Ralph (1981). ''Abbreviations dictionary.'' Elsevier, ), also styled as LaSalle Extension University,The university styled its name as both "La Salle" and "LaSalle" in print mediahttp://aycu21.webshots.c ...
.
In 1950, he played two games with the NFL's Baltimore Colts, thus becoming the first Black professional player in any sport in the city's history.
Fletcher moved with his wife, Bernyce, and two youngest children to Pasco, Washington, where he took a job with the Hanford Atomic Energy Project. He also organized a community self-help program in predominantly black East Pasco and landed a seat on the Pasco City Council. In 1968, Fletcher ran for Lieutenant Governor of Washington State and narrowly lost to the incumbent, John Cherberg. Fletcher was the first African American in Washington as well as the West to contest a statewide electoral office.
During the campaign, his driver and bodyguard was
Ted Bundy
Theodore Robert Bundy (Name change, born Cowell; November 24, 1946 – January 24, 1989) was an American serial killer who kidnapped, raped and murdered numerous young women and girls during the 1970s and possibly earlier. After more th ...
, the serial killer who was active in Republican Party politics in the late 1960s through the early 1970s.
[Rule, Ann. ''The Stranger Beside Me'' p. 15. 1980. Penguin Putnam. New York, NY.]
Fletcher's close race for Lieutenant Governor got the attention of newly elected President Richard Nixon, who gave Fletcher a job in the incoming administration as Assistant Secretary of Labor. An African American, he served in the
Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
,
Ford
Ford commonly refers to:
* Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford
* Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river
Ford may also refer to:
Ford Motor Company
* Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company
* Ford F ...
,
Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
, and
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...
administrations.
NPR
National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...
br>obituary
in RealAudio
RealAudio, or also spelled as Real Audio is a proprietary audio format developed by RealNetworks and first released in April 1995. It uses a variety of audio codecs, ranging from low-bitrate formats that can be used over dialup modems, to high-fid ...
or for Windows Media Player
Windows Media Player (WMP) is the first media player and media library application that was developed by Microsoft for playing audio, video and viewing images on personal computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, as well as on ...
. Accessed July 20, 2005.
In
1978, Fletcher ran for
mayor of Washington, D.C., but was defeated by the popular
Democrat
Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to:
Politics
*A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people.
*A member of a Democratic Party:
**Democratic Party (United States) (D)
**Democratic ...
Marion Barry
Marion Shepilov Barry (born Marion Barry Jr.; March 6, 1936 – November 23, 2014) was an American politician who served as the second and fourth mayor of the District of Columbia from 1979 to 1991 and 1995 to 1999. A Democrat, Barry had served ...
. In 1995, he briefly pursued a bid for the Republican
presidential nomination.
[NP]
commentary
by his granddaughter, KUOW-FM
KUOW-FM (94.9 MHz) is a National Public Radio member station in Seattle, Washington. It is the largest of the three full-fledged NPR member stations in the Seattle and Tacoma media market, with two Tacoma-based stations, KNKX and KVTI being t ...
reporter and producer Phyllis Fletcher. Accessed June 20, 2006.
Numbers of his fellow Republicans were often at odds with the
affirmative action policies which Fletcher initiated
[Presidential adviser Arthur Fletcher, 80, dies](_blank)
the obituary on MSN. Accessed July 20, 2005. and supported as the chairman from 1990 to 1993 of the
United States Commission on Civil Rights
The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (CCR) is a bipartisan, independent commission of the United States federal government, created by the Civil Rights Act of 1957 during the Eisenhower administration, that is charged with the responsibility fo ...
.
As head of the
United Negro College Fund
UNCF, the United Negro College Fund, also known as the United Fund, is an American philanthropic organization that funds scholarships for black students and general scholarship funds for 37 private historically black colleges and universities ...
, Fletcher was rumored to have coined the famous slogan, "A mind is a terrible thing to waste."
[Arthur Fletcher](_blank)
on HistoryMakers.com. Accessed July 20, 2005. In point of fact, however,
the motto was created by Forest Long, of the advertising agency Young & Rubicam, in partnership with the
Ad Council
The Advertising Council, commonly known as the Ad Council, is an American nonprofit organization that produces, distributes, and promotes public service announcements on behalf of various sponsors, including nonprofit organizations, non-governme ...
.
Fletcher was a United States Army veteran during World War II and upon his death in 2005 was buried in
Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery is one of two national cemeteries run by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington, Virginia. There are about 30 funerals conducted on weekdays and 7 held on Sa ...
.
References
Further reading
* ''A Terrible Thing to Waste: Arthur Fletcher and the Conundrum of the Black Republican'' (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2019)
Arthur Fletcher at BlackPast.Org
External links
Seattle Times: Remembering Arthur Fletcher, Father of Affirmative Action (Mike Flynn, Nov. 11, 2018)*
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fletcher, Arthur
1924 births
2005 deaths
20th-century American politicians
Activists for African-American civil rights
African-American Methodists
African-American people in Washington (state) politics
African-American people in Washington, D.C., politics
Burials at Arlington National Cemetery
Candidates in the 1978 United States elections
History of affirmative action in the United States
La Salle Extension University alumni
Candidates in the 1996 United States presidential election
Washington (state) Republicans
Washington, D.C., Republicans
African-American history of Washington (state)
20th-century Methodists
Baltimore Colts players
Washburn Ichabods football players