James Edward Allen Jr. (April 25, 1911 – October 16, 1971) was the

Commissioner of Education of the State of New York The Commissioner of Education of the State of New York is the head of the State Education Department, chosen by the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York. The commissioner also serves as the president of the University of the ...

from 1955 to 1969 and served briefly as

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...

U.S. Commissioner of Education The Commissioner of Education was the title given to the head of the federal Office of Education, which was historically a unit within and originally assigned to the Department of the Interior in the United States. The position was created on March ...

. He ordered New York school boards to comply with the 1962 U. S. Supreme Court order banning prayer in New York schools and began

desegregation Racial integration, or simply integration, includes desegregation (the process of ending systematic racial segregation), leveling barriers to association, creating equal opportunity regardless of race, and the development of a culture that draws ...

of New York Public Schools.

Biography

Allen was born in

Elkins, West Virginia Elkins is a city in Randolph County, West Virginia, United States, and its county seat. The population was 6,950 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It lies along the Tygart Valley River and was incorporated in 1890, taking its name fr ...

, on April 25, 1911. His father was a

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

minister and he earned his

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree from

Davis & Elkins College Davis & Elkins College (D&E) is a private college in Elkins, West Virginia, United States. It operates as a nonprofit liberal arts college and is affiliated with the Association of Presbyterian Colleges and Universities. History The school was ...

in 1932. He worked for the West Virginia State Department of Education for six years before attending

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, where he earned his

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

in education in 1942 and his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in 1945. In 1947, he went to work for the New York Department of Education. He became Deputy Commissioner of Education in 1950 and

Commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to incl ...

in 1955. In 1960, he was opposed to school districts drawn up along racial lines and began having local school boards redraw boundaries to end racial disparities in 1962. In June 1962, the Supreme Court banned prayer in New York public schools, an order Allen directed local school boards to follow. In 1969, President Richard Nixon appointed him

. Nixon, Richard M. Statement Announcing the Nomination of Dr. James E. Allen, Jr., as Assistant Secretary for Education and Commissioner of Education. February 3, 1969. Online. February 11, 2009.
/ref> His strong support for desegregation caused friction however, and President Nixon removed him the following year. He went from there to the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton. He and his wife died in a plane crash on October 16, 1971, in

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

Sources

*Lichtenstein, Nelson et al. ''Political Profiles.'' Volume 3, "The Kennedy Years." pp 7–8. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 1976.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Allen Jr., James E. 1911 births 1971 deaths 20th-century New York (state) politicians Accidental deaths in Arizona American Presbyterians Commissioners of education of New York (state) Davis & Elkins College alumni Harvard Graduate School of Education alumni People from Elkins, West Virginia United States Bureau of Education people Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1971 Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in the United States