George Williford Boyce Haley (August 28, 1925 – May 13, 2015) was an American attorney, diplomat and policy expert who served under seven presidential administrations. He was one of two younger brothers to the Pulitzer Prize winner Alex Haley.

George W. Haley
Member of the Kansas State Senate
In office
1964–1968
United States Ambassador to the Gambia
In office
October 1998 – 2001
PresidentBill Clinton
George W. Bush
Preceded byGerald W. Scott
Succeeded byJackson McDonald
Personal details
Born
George Williford Boyce Haley

(1925-08-28)August 28, 1925
Henning, Tennessee, U.S.
DiedMay 13, 2015(2015-05-13) (aged 89)
Silver Spring, Maryland, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
SpouseDoris M. Haley
RelationsSimon Haley (father)
Alex Haley (brother)
Children2, Anne Haley and David Haley
Alma materMorehouse College
University of Arkansas

Early life and education

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Haley was born in Henning, Tennessee to Simon Haley and his first wife Bertha. He was the second of their three sons, between Alex and Julius (who grew up to be an architect). His family moved to Pine Bluff, Arkansas and he spent a part of his childhood there. He spent his High school education in Memphis Tennessee at the Booker T. Washington High School. He attended the Bordentown School in Bordentown, New Jersey.[1] He was a classmate and contemporary of Martin Luther King Jr. at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia.

Haley was the second African-American to receive a law degree from the University of Arkansas. Despite being separated from the rest of the student body and living in the cramped basement of one the school buildings he graduated from Arkansas Law in 1952. Following that he joined Kansas law firm Steven Jackson where he worked with attorney and future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall on the landmark case Brown v. Topeka, Kansas Board of Education case challenging the "separate but equal" doctrine in the prior case of Plessy v. Ferguson.

Political career

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Haley was elected to the Kansas State Senate in 1964 as a Republican and served one term. Haley served in national administrations beginning in 1969 under Presidents Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Clinton, and George W. Bush. His government posts included chief counsel of the Federal Transit Administration from 1969 to 1973 and general counsel and congressional liaison of the U.S. Information Agency, now part of the State Department, from 1976 to 1977. He ran unsuccessfully for the United States House of Representatives from Kansas in 1966 and for the United States Senate from Maryland in 1986. In 1990, President George H. W. Bush appointed Haley chairman of the Postal Rate Commission.[2] Haley served as Chairman of the Commission from February 14, 1990 until October 14, 1993, and later as a Commissioner from December 1, 1993 until September 10, 1998.[3]

Haley served as United States Ambassador to The Gambia under President Bill Clinton until 2001. Haley died on May 13, 2015, aged 89.[4]

References

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  1. ^ Karen DeMasters. "ON THE MAP; Remembering a Boarding School for Black Students", The New York Times, October 1, 2000. Accessed June 3, 2010.
  2. ^ "George Haley's Biography".
  3. ^ "Former Commissioners | Postal Regulatory Commission". www.prc.gov. Retrieved Dec 23, 2020.
  4. ^ Hancock, Peter (May 14, 2015). "George Haley, one of first African Americans in Kansas Senate, dies". Lawrence Journal-World.
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by United States Ambassador to the Gambia
1998–2001
Succeeded by