James Day Hodgson (December 3, 1915November 28, 2012) was an American politician. He served as the

Secretary of Labor The United States Secretary of Labor is a member of the Cabinet of the United States, and as the head of the United States Department of Labor, controls the department, and enforces and suggests laws involving unions, the workplace, and all ot ...

and the

Ambassador to Japan The is the ambassador from the United States of America to Japan. History Since the opening of Japan by Commodore Matthew C. Perry, in 1854, the U.S. has maintained diplomatic relations with Japan, except for the ten-year period between the at ...

Life and career

Hodgson was born in

Dawson, Minnesota Dawson is a city in Lac qui Parle County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 1,466 at the 2020 census. History Dawson was platted in 1884. The city was named for William Dawson, a former mayor of St. Paul, and one of three partners ...

, the son of Fred Arthur Hodgson, a lumberyard owner, and his wife, Casaraha M. (''

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

'' Day). He graduated from the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

in 1938 where he was a member of

Phi Sigma Kappa Phi Sigma Kappa (), colloquially known as Phi Sig or PSK, is a men's social and academic fraternity with approximately 74 active chapters and provisional chapters in North America. Most of its first two dozen chapters were granted to schools in ...

fraternity, and began graduate studies at the

University of California at Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

. He married the former Maria Denend on August 24, 1943. They had two children, Nancy Ruth Hodgson, and Frederick Jesse Hodgson. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Hodgson served as an officer in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

. He worked for Lockheed for 25 years. From 1970 to 1973, Hodgson served as

Richard 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 ...

, and from 1974 to 1977, he served as the U.S. Ambassador to Japan under

Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...

. Beginning in 1977, Hodgson served as the Chairman of the Board of the Uranium Mining Company. Hodgson served as an adjunct professor at

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

and was visiting scholar from the American Enterprise Institute. Following the death of former Labor Secretary

W. Willard Wirtz William Willard Wirtz Jr. (March 14, 1912 – April 24, 2010) was a U.S. administrator, cabinet officer, attorney, and law professor. He served as the Secretary of Labor between 1962 and 1969 under the administrations of Presidents John F. ...

on April 24, 2010, Hodgson became the oldest living former Cabinet member. He died on November 28, 2012, in Malibu, California, and is interred at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park, in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

Publications

*"American Senryu", The Japan Times, 1992 (a collection of senryū, short humorous poems similar to

haiku is a type of short form poetry originally from Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases that contain a ''kireji'', or "cutting word", 17 '' on'' (phonetic units similar to syllables) in a 5, 7, 5 pattern, and a ''kigo'', or se ...

) *"Doing Business with the New Japan", 2000 (written with Yoshihiro Sano and John L. Graham)

References

External links

U.S. Department of Labor BiographyFinding Aid of the James D. Hodgson Papers
( California Digital Library)
Price Comparisons Between the Japanese and U.S. Markets
(

RAND Corporation The RAND Corporation (from the phrase "research and development") is an American nonprofit global policy think tank created in 1948 by Douglas Aircraft Company to offer research and analysis to the United States Armed Forces. It is financed ...

, 1991)
US Department of State
*
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Hodgson, James D. 1915 births 2012 deaths Ambassadors of the United States to Japan United States Navy personnel of World War II Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills) Ford administration personnel Lockheed people Nixon administration cabinet members 20th-century American politicians People from Dawson, Minnesota RAND Corporation people United States Navy officers United States Secretaries of Labor University of California, Los Angeles alumni University of California, Los Angeles faculty University of Minnesota alumni 20th-century American diplomats