Charles Daniel Ferris (born April 9, 1933) is an American lawyer and former government official. A longtime staffer for

Majority Leader In U.S. politics (as well as in some other countries utilizing the presidential system), the majority floor leader is a partisan position in a legislative body.

Mike Mansfield Michael Joseph Mansfield (March 16, 1903 – October 5, 2001) was an American politician and diplomat. A Democrat, he served as a U.S. representative (1943–1953) and a U.S. senator (1953–1977) from Montana. He was the longest-serving Sen ...

on the

Senate Democratic Policy Committee The United States Senate Democratic Policy Committee is responsible for the creation of new United States Democratic Party policy proposals, supporting Democratic senators with legislative research, developing reports on legislation and policy, ...

, he played a key role in the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Voting Rights Act of 1965, and Lyndon Johnson's

Great Society The Great Society was a set of domestic programs in the United States launched by Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964–65. The term was first coined during a 1964 commencement address by President Lyndon B. Johnson at the Universit ...

legislation. Following Mansfield's retirement, Ferris briefly worked for House Speaker

Tip O'Neill Thomas Phillip "Tip" O'Neill Jr. (December 9, 1912 – January 5, 1994) was an American politician who served as the 47th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 1987, representing northern Boston, Massachusetts, as ...

before being nominated by President

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 76th governor of Georgia from 1 ...

to chair the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdicti ...

in 1977. He would serve for the remainder of Carter's term. During his tenure, the agency initiated a program of nationwide

telecommunications Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...

deregulation, which was later continued during the

Reagan administration Ronald Reagan's tenure as the 40th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1981, and ended on January 20, 1989. Reagan, a Republican from California, took office following a landslide victory over ...

Early life and education

Ferris was born in the Dorchester neighborhood of

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

to Henry Joseph and Mildred Mary ( née MacDonald) Ferris. His father worked for Boston's metropolitan transit authority and his mother as a telegrapher for

Western Union The Western Union Company is an American multinational financial services company, headquartered in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1851 as the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company in Rochester, New York, the company cha ...

. He attended

Boston College High School , motto_translation = ''So they may know You.'' , address = 150 Morrissey Boulevard , city = Boston , state = Massachusetts , zipcode = 02125 , country ...

and Boston College, leaving the latter in 1954 with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

. Upon graduation, he was hired by

Sperry Corporation Sperry Corporation was a major American equipment and electronics company whose existence spanned more than seven decades of the 20th century. Sperry ceased to exist in 1986 following a prolonged hostile takeover bid engineered by Burroug ...

as a research physicist. Faced with the prospect of being drafted into the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

, Ferris applied for Navy officer candidate school in 1954 and entered active service the following year. Eventually he would attain the rank of

lieutenant (junior grade) Lieutenant junior grade is a junior commissioned officer rank used in a number of navies. United States Lieutenant (junior grade), commonly abbreviated as LTJG or, historically, Lt. (j.g.) (as well as variants of both abbreviations), ...

and be made chief engineer on the destroyer . From 1958 to 1960 he was on assignment as an assistant professor of naval science at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

, teaching celestial navigation and

marine engineering Marine engineering is the engineering of boats, ships, submarines, and any other marine vessel. Here it is also taken to include the engineering of other ocean systems and structures – referred to in certain academic and professional circl ...

Reserve Officers' Training Corps The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC ( or )) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces. Overview While ROTC graduate officers serve in al ...

cadets. At night, Ferris attended

Boston College Law School Boston College Law School (BC Law) is the law school of Boston College. It is situated on a wooded campus in Newton, Massachusetts, about 1.5 miles from the university's main campus in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. With approximately 800 stud ...

, receiving his J.D. degree in 1961.

Legal career

Justice Department

From 1961 to 1963 he was a trial attorney with the

United States Department of Justice Civil Division The United States Department of Justice Civil Division represents the United States, its departments and agencies, members of Congress A Member of Congress (MOC) is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official bod ...

as part of the Attorney General's honor program.Nominations, September hearings before the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate, Ninety-fifth Congress, first session ... (1977)
/ref>

Legislative work

From 1963 to 1977 he served as associate general counsel and later general counsel to the

United States Senate Democratic Policy Committee The United States Senate Democratic Policy Committee is responsible for the creation of new United States Democratic Party policy proposals, supporting Democratic senators with legislative research, developing reports on legislation and policy, ...

. In 1977 he served as general counsel to Speaker of the House

Federal Communications Commission

While most scholars look the term of Reagan appointee

Mark S. Fowler Mark S. Fowler (born October 6, 1941) served as chair of the Federal Communications Commission from May 18, 1981 to April 17, 1987. Appointed by Ronald Reagan, he led repeal of the Fairness Doctrine and spearheaded the deregulatory trend in teleco ...

as the beginning of telecommunications deregulation, deregulation actually began with Ferris. The most significant effect Ferris had on the FCC was shifting the Commission's reasoning from legal and technical to an economic one.

Private practice

He practiced law with

Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky, and Popeo Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C. (commonly referred to as "Mintz Levin" or simply "Mintz") is a general practice, full service law firm employing approximately 550 attorneys worldwide. Its headquarters are located at One Financ ...

from 1981 to 2013.Charles D. Ferris Presented with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award by Marquis Who's Who
/ref> He retired in 2013.

Personal life

He is married to Patricia C. Brennan and they have two children.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ferris, Charles D. Living people 1933 births 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American lawyers Members of the Federal Communications Commission Boston College High School alumni Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences alumni Boston College Law School alumni Chairmen of the Federal Communications Commission Harvard University faculty Lawyers from Dorchester, Massachusetts Carter administration personnel Reagan administration personnel