Patterson, Robert Porter

(1891-1952)

   Born in Glen Falls, New York, Robert Patterson was a graduate of Union College in 1912 and Harvard Law School in 1915. After working in a law firm headed by Elihu Root, he served in the National Guard in the expeditionary force that went to Mexico in 1916. During World War I, he served with distinction in the army and was wounded and awarded the Silver Star and Distinguished Service Cross. After the war, he established a law firm in New York City. In 1930, he was chosen as a judge on the U.S. District Court for southern New York, and in 1939 he was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit. In 1940, Patterson became an assistant to Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson and in 1941 was appointed as undersecretary. Patterson played a major part in organizing the mobilization for war, and in 1945 he was made secretary of war by President Harry S. Truman. He left in 1947 to resume his private law practice. Patterson died in a plane crash in 1952.