UCLA community grieves for Brown

Friday, April 5, 1996

Late commerce secretary remembered for strong leadership, global
tiesBy John Digrado

Daily Bruin Staff

As the nation woke up this morning, Washington began to pick up
the shattered pieces of the Commerce Department, the most prominent
monument to the leadership of late Secretary of Commerce Ron
Brown.

Flags flew at half-mast for the fallen leader. The Commerce
Department, a forgotten committee turned global player in American
business policy, mourned the loss of 13 of its top advisers.

At UCLA, the campus community remembered a dynamic and diligent
leader, noted for his commitment to bringing American business into
the post-Cold War era.

President Clinton held a brief, private memorial service in
Washington to honor the 35 who lost their lives in Wednesday’s
plane crash.

"We thank God for their life, we pray for their families and we
came together in our grief and rededication," Clinton said
following the service. "He was one of the best advisers and ablest
people I ever knew. And he was very, very good at everything he
did," he continued.

Members of the UCLA community who knew Brown described him as
highly devoted and disciplined in his work.

"He was very serious about representing the government and the
people (of the United States)," said Andrea McAleenan, associate
dean for International Affairs and director of the Global Partners
forum. "He would have so much personal discipline and integrity …
he brought that out of the people around him. That awareness level
is a legacy he is leaving behind."

McAleenan credited Brown with opening many doors of
international trade for the United States, including those to China
and the former Yugoslavia.

The Chinese "see (Brown) as a tremendous ally. They trusted him
and called him the ‘Voice of Reason’" in the United States,
McAleenan said, due to his strong support for keeping the Most
Favored Nation trading status with China.

"He was the global officer that we’ve needed for a long time,"
she added.

Brown’s policy of allowing American business officials to gain
first-hand knowledge of new markets pushed the nation into the
global economy, McAleenan said.

"He was trying to get us here to understand that, to get
government to understand that we have to step up to (the global
economy) and be able to move up into that role."

Others familiar with Brown’s work commented on his ability to
move the Commerce Department out of obscurity and into the
forefront of America’s global business policy after the Cold
War.

"(Brown) was an effective secretary in that he worked to
actively promote the business interests of the United States and
forging relationships between the United States and different parts
of the world," said Dean Archie Kleingartner, of the School of
Public Policy and Social Research.

"He brought (the Commerce Department) out of obscurity as an
activist secretary," he said.

As a politician, Brown served as Jesse Jackson’s top aide at the
1988 Democratic National Convention. Two years later, he was
appointed to the lead the Democratic National Party, the first
African American to lead either major party.

In 1992, Brown led the Democratic party to victory with the
election of then-Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton.

As Clinton’s Commerce Secretary, he guided the Commerce
Department out of relative obscurity and into the role it now plays
as a major determinant of American business policy.

And, as a prominent member of the African American community, he
represented a unique synergy between government, business and
minority groups, bridging the gap across the three sectors.

"The Clinton Administration will miss his skills as mediator
between factions," said Professor Xandra Kayden, director of the
UCLA Policy Forum.

"It’s a great loss to the black community and women not to have
Ron Brown at the table because he was mindful of the impact of not
only the government programs but of the problems of those who
didn’t have the leg up in the business world," she said.

His death may even influence the course of the debate on
affirmative action, which Brown supported.

"As this debate becomes more political, I think the Democrats
will miss his counsel and I think the whole country will miss his
moderation and capacity to bring all sides together," Kayden
said.

FRED HE/Daily Bruin

Flags at the Federal Building flew at half-mast in memory of
Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown, presumed dead from Wednesday’s
plane crash.