Robert P. Patterson

Robert Porter Patterson Sr. (February 12, 1891 – January 22, 1952) was an American judge who served as Under Secretary of War under President Franklin D. Roosevelt and U.S. Secretary of War under President Harry S. Truman. He was a US circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit after he had been a district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Education and career Born on February 12, 1891, in Glens Falls, New York, the son of Lodice Edna (née Porter) and Charles Robert Patterson, Patterson received an Artium Baccalaureus degree in 1912 from Union College and a Bachelor of Laws in 1915 from Harvard Law School. and Silver Star President Harry S. Truman appointed Patterson as United States Secretary of War in 1945. Patterson advocated unifying the armed services (army and navy) and having a single chief of staff. While sympathetic to black grievances, aspirations, and recommendations he was concerned that radical change would impede military preparedness during war. After the war the "Board for Utilization of Negro Manpower" (or Gillem Board). released a report, "Utilization of Negro Manpower in the Postwar Army Policy", in April 1946. that was signed off by Patterson: it recommended the retention of segregation, as that was a policy external to the military, but that the military introduce equal opportunity, as that would be the best use of military manpower. Patterson served until 1947. Governor Thomas E. Dewey appointed Patterson along with New York City’s construction coordinator Robert Moses and former Justice Charles C. Lockwood as a member of the Temporary Long Island Railroad Commission, installed after the Richmond Hill train crash on November 22, 1950, that claimed 79 lives. The Commission recommended the state purchase and operation by non-profit public authority of the railway service.

Personal life

On January 3, 1920, Patterson married Margaret Tarleton Winchester (1897–1988); they had four children: Robert P. Patterson, Jr., Aileen Patterson Seldes, Susan H. Patterson and Virginia Patterson Montgomery. Robert P. Patterson Jr. was a federal judge in the Southern District of New York from 1988 until his death in 2015.

Death Patterson died on January 22, 1952, An army reserve building on the Bronx campus of New York University was named after Patterson in 1953.