Background
Robert Porter Patterson was born on February 12, 1891 in Glens Falls, Warren County, New York, United States. He was the son of Charles R. Patterson, an attorney, and Lodice E. Porter Patterson.
Robert Porter Patterson was born on February 12, 1891 in Glens Falls, Warren County, New York, United States. He was the son of Charles R. Patterson, an attorney, and Lodice E. Porter Patterson.
Robert Porter Patterson attended Union College, in Schenectady, New York, and graduated in 1912, a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He also attended Harvard Law School.
In 1915, with a law degree from Harvard, Robert Porter Patterson began practice in the New York law firm headed by Elihu Root. Military service interrupted Patterson's legal career; in 1916 he went to the Mexican border as a private in the Seventh Regiment of the New York National Guard. In 1917 he went on active duty as a second lieutenant at the Reserve Officers' Training Camp, Plattsburgh Barracks, New York, and was promoted to captain. After April 1918 he served in France with the 306th Infantry and compiled an impressive war record, receiving the Distinguished Service Cross for "extraordinary heroism in action. " In March 1919 he was promoted to major, and a month later he was discharged. After briefly rejoining Root's law firm, in 1920 Patterson helped start a new firm, which during the next decade became extremely successful.
In 1930 President Herbert Hoover appointed him judge of the United States District Court, Southern New York District. President Franklin D. Roosevelt promoted him to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in 1939. It was said that as a judge Patterson set a record for nonreversals in higher courts. In the summer of 1940, Roosevelt appointed two prominent Republicans, Henry L. Stimson and Frank Knox, as secretaries of war and the navy. Since Stimson was seventy-two years old, Roosevelt selected Patterson as assistant secretary of war. Although he had had little experience in procurement or other industrial matters, Patterson soon showed exceptional skill as an administrator.
In December 1940 Patterson was advanced to undersecretary, and his office became an important part of the War Department. He keenly felt the need to prepare for war and worked hard to achieve that goal. After American entry into World War II, three persons became key figures in military production: Lieutenant General Brehon B. Somervell, head of the Army Service Forces, General George C. Marshall, chief of staff, and Patterson. Success in production owed much to the effective way in which these men functioned. As undersecretary, Patterson was a leading spokesman for the military at numerous congressional committee meetings and hearings. Early in the war he supported increased production by streamlining contracts for expansion of facilities and by shelving the cautious, legalistic approach of peacetime in favor of rapid buildup and production at any reasonable cost.
To observe the results of war production, Patterson toured the Pacific theater in the summer of 1943 and joined General Somervell in visiting North Africa and Italy in August 1944. At Prime Minister Winston Churchill's invitation, they joined him on a British vessel to watch the Allied landings in southern France. Shortly afterward Patterson flew to England, and after the breakthrough at St. -L" he crossed the Channel to evaluate the tremendous logistical problems involved in pursuing the enemy across France. Among other duties, Patterson represented the War Department on the War Production Board, the War Manpower Commission, and the Committee for Congested Production. Possessing the power of clemency in military cases, he concerned himself with the entire penology program of the army and formed a board of consultants drawn from leading penologists and prison administrators. At the end of the war Patterson received the Distinguished Service Medal for his work. After Stimson's resignation in September 1945, President Harry Truman offered Patterson his choice of a seat on the United States Supreme Court, which he had long coveted, or appointment as secretary of war. When Patterson replied that he would serve where most needed, Truman appointed him to the latter position.
As secretary, Patterson unsuccessfully promoted unification of the armed services under a single head. He also vigorously supported the idea of a North Atlantic Treaty. Patterson resigned in 1947 and returned to the private practice of law as the senior member of the firm of Patterson, Belknap and Webb, commuting to New York City from his seventy-acre farm across the river from West Point. He was elected president of the Bar Association of New York City and president of the Council on Foreign Relations while continuing his practice. Returning from a trip to Buffalo on behalf of a client, Robert Porter Patterson was killed when his plane crashed at Elizabeth, New Jersey on January 22, 1952.
Robert Porter Patterson was an indefatigable worker, co-operative, modest, and willing to take advice.
In 1920 Robert Porter Patterson married Margaret T. Winchester of Baltimore. They had four children.