James Day Hodgson (December 3, 1915November 28, 2012) was an American politician. He served as the Secretary of Labor and the Ambassador to Japan.

Life and career

Hodgson was born in Dawson, Minnesota, the son of Fred Arthur Hodgson, a lumberyard owner, and his wife, Casaraha M. ('' née'' Day). He graduated from the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

in 1938 where he was a member of

Phi Sigma Kappa Phi Sigma Kappa (), colloquially known as Phi Sig or PSK, is a men's social and academic Fraternities and sororities, fraternity with approximately 74 List of Phi Sigma Kappa chapters#List of Chapters, active chapters and provisional chapters in ...

fraternity, and began graduate studies at the

University of California at Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

. He married the former Maria Denend on August 24, 1943. They had two children, Nancy Ruth Hodgson, and Frederick Jesse Hodgson. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, Hodgson served as an

officer An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," f ...

in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

. He worked for Lockheed for 25 years. From 1970 to 1973, Hodgson served as

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

's Secretary of Labor, and from 1974 to 1977, he served as the

U.S. Ambassador to Japan The is the ambassador from the United States of America to Japan. History Since the opening of Japan by Commodore Matthew C. Perry, in 1854, the U.S. has maintained diplomatic relations with Japan, except for the ten-year period between t ...

under Gerald Ford. Beginning in 1977, Hodgson served as the Chairman of the Board of the Uranium Mining Company. Hodgson served as an adjunct professor at

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California S ...

and was visiting scholar from the

American Enterprise Institute The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, known simply as the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), is a center-right Washington, D.C.–based think tank that researches government, politics, economics, and social welfare. A ...

. Following the death of former Labor Secretary

W. Willard Wirtz William Willard Wirtz Jr. (March 14, 1912 – April 24, 2010) was a U.S. independent agencies of the United States government, administrator, Cabinet of the United States, cabinet officer, attorney, and law professor. He served as the Secret ...

on April 24, 2010, Hodgson became the oldest living former Cabinet member. He died on November 28, 2012, in

Malibu, California Malibu ( ; es, Malibú; Chumash: ) is a beach city in the Santa Monica Mountains region of Los Angeles County, California, situated about west of Downtown Los Angeles. It is known for its Mediterranean climate and its strip of the Malib ...

, and is interred at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park, in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

Publications

*"American Senryu", The Japan Times, 1992 (a collection of

senryū is a Japanese form of short poetry similar to haiku in construction: three lines with 17 (or , often translated as syllables, but see the article on for distinctions). tend to be about human foibles while haiku tend to be about nature, and a ...

, short humorous poems similar to

haiku is a type of short form poetry originally from Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases that contain a ''kireji'', or "cutting word", 17 '' on'' (phonetic units similar to syllables) in a 5, 7, 5 pattern, and a ''kigo'', or s ...

) *"Doing Business with the New Japan", 2000 (written with Yoshihiro Sano and John L. Graham)

References

External links

U.S. Department of Labor BiographyFinding Aid of the James D. Hodgson Papers
(

California Digital Library The California Digital Library (CDL) was founded by the University of California in 1997. Under the leadership of then UC President Richard C. Atkinson, the CDL's original mission was to forge a better system for scholarly information management a ...

)
Price Comparisons Between the Japanese and U.S. Markets
( RAND Corporation, 1991)
US Department of State
*
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Hodgson, James D. 1915 births 2012 deaths Ambassadors of the United States to Japan United States Navy personnel of World War II Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills) Ford administration personnel Lockheed people Nixon administration cabinet members 20th-century American politicians People from Dawson, Minnesota RAND Corporation people United States Navy officers United States Secretaries of Labor University of California, Los Angeles alumni University of California, Los Angeles faculty University of Minnesota alumni 20th-century American diplomats