Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare Abraham Ribicoff was the first appointee to President Kennedy’s cabinet in 1961. Initially asked to become Attorney General, Ribicoff declined and suggested Robert F. Kennedy instead. Mr. Ribicoff and President Kennedy had first become friends in 1949, when Mr. Ribicoff joined the U.S. House of Representatives. He served as Governor of Connecticut from 1955 to 1961, establishing a national reputation for promoting highway safety. In 1962, Mr. Ribicoff resigned from the cabinet and was elected to the U.S. Senate. In that capacity, he advocated causes such as automobile safety standards, environmental legislation, reform of the judiciary system, and the creation of Medicare.
1910 Born, New Britain, CT
1933 LL.B, 1933
1938-1942 Democratic Representative, Connecticut House of Representatives
1941 Judge of Hartford Police court
1942-1943 Municipal judge in Hartford
1945-1947 Municipal judge in Hartford
1949-1953 Democratic representative from Connecticut, U.S. House of Representatives
1955-1961 Governor of Connecticut
1961-1962 Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare
1963-1981 Democratic Senator from Connecticut, US Senate
1977-1981 Counselor on Governmental Affairs
1998 Died
Author
Politics: The American Way,1969
America Can Make it! 1972
The American Medical Machine, 1972
Petropolitics and the American Energy Shortage, 1973
A Strategy for International Trade Negotiations, 1973
UNCTAD IV and the New Diplomacy of Interdependence, 1976
Source
Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2004. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI: The Gale Group. 2004.