The LBJ Tapes: 50th Anniversary of Robert Weaver Swearing-In

On January 18, 1966, Robert Weaver became the first secretary of the new Department of Housing and Urban Development and the first African American cabinet secretary.  We note this month’s 50th anniversary with President Johnson’s 1965 and 1966 calls leading up to choosing Robert Weaver. You’ll hear President Johnson seek advice from participants including civil rights leader Roy Wilkins, New York Democratic Senator Robert Kennedy, and U.S. Solicitor General and future Supreme Court Associate Justice Thurgood Marshall. And we talk with Wendell Pritchett: Presidential Professor of Law and Education at the University of Pennsylvania Law School in Philadelphia and author of "Robert Clifton Weaver and the American City: The Life and Times of an Urban Reformer." close