This Is Your Life
London Steverson
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Contents
Early life and education
Judge Steverson was born and raised in Millington, Tennessee, the oldest of three children of Jerome and Ruby Steverson. He is a 1964 graduate of Woodstock High School in Memphis, Tennessee where he graduated valedictorian.[2]A Presidential Executive Order issued by President Truman had desegregated the armed forces in 1948,[3] but the service academies lagged in officer recruiting. President Kennedy specifically challenged the Coast Guard Academy to increase appointments to qualified black high school students. Steverson was one of the first to be offered such an appointment in 1964, becoming the second African American to enter the previously all-white military academy. On June 4, 1968, Steverson graduated the Coast Guard Academy with a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering and a commission as an Ensign in the U.S. Coast Guard.[4]
In 1974, while still an active duty member of the Coast Guard, Steverson entered The National Law Center of The George Washington University. He graduated in 1977 with a Juris Doctor of Laws Degree.[5]
Career
U.S. Coast Guard
Operational Assignments
Steverson's first duty assignment was the Antarctic research logistical support vessel USCGC Glacier (WAGB-4), where he served as Deck Watch Officer and head of the Marine Science Division Officer. He deployed to Antarctica during two patrols from July 1968 to August 1969, supporting the research operations of the National Science Foundation's Antarctic Research Project in and around McMurdo Station. During the 1969 patrol Glacier responded to a request for assistance from the Argentine icebreaker General San Martin, which had become beset in the ice. With Glacier's assistance, General San Martin was freed.His next assignment was at Coast Guard District Seventeen in Juneau, Alaska from 1970 to 1972 as a duty Search and Rescue (SAR) officer. Steverson was the duty SAR officer on September 4, 1971 when an emergency call was received that an Alaska Airlines Boeing 727 airline passenger plane was overdue at Juneau airport. This was a Saturday and the weather was foggy with drizzling rain. Visibility was less than one-quarter mile. The aircraft was en route to Seattle, Washington from Anchorage, Alaska with a scheduled stop in Juneau. There were 109 people on board and there were no survivors. Steverson received the initial alert message and began the coordination of the SAR effort. In a matter of hours the wreckage from the plane, with no survivors, was located on the side of a mountain about five miles from the airport. Later a full investigation with the National Transportation Safety Board determined that the cause of the accident was equipment failure.
Steverson was involved during the seizure of two Soviet fishing vessels, the F/V Kolevan and the F/V Lamut for illegal fishing in the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The initial attempts at seizing the Soviet vessels almost precipitated an international incident when the two vessels refused to proceed to a U. S. port, and instead sailed toward the Kamchatka Peninsula. Soviet Air Force MIG fighter planes were scrambled, as well as U.S. fighter planes from Elmendorf Air Force Base before the vessels changed course and steamed back toward Alaska, where the U.S. Attorney from Anchorage was waiting to prosecute the vessels.
Taking advantage of his icebreaker experience, Steverson was also assigned as the Seventeenth District's first collateral duty Ice Operations Officer. With the increased activity around Point Barrow and on the North Slope of Alaska brought on by the discovery of the vast oil reserves, more Coast Guard icebreakers were making patrols north of the Bering Sea.
USCG Minority Recruiting
In July 1972, Steverson was reassigned from Alaska to Washington, D.C. to become the Chief of the newly formed Minority Recruiting Section of the Coast Guard, and was charged with working toward desegregating the nearly all-white Officer Corps, starting with the United States Coast Guard Academy. From 1876 until 1962 the Academy had not admitted any African-American cadets. One graduated in 1966, two graduated in 1968 (including Steverson) and one graduated in 1970. After that none were admitted until Steverson was placed in charge of the national recruiting effort. As the second minority cadet to enter and graduate from this institution, Steverson was offered this newly created assignment.He traveled the country looking for qualified minority high school students who could compete for admission. Since the Coast Guard Academy is the only one of the United States military academies that does not require a Congressional appointment, and admission is strictly on the basis of the Scholastic Aptitude Test with additional consideration of extra-curricular involvement, minority applicants stood a better chance of being admitted to the Coast Guard Academy than to Annapolis, West Point or the Air Force Academy.
His efforts were rewarded in 1973 when 28 Black cadets were sworn into the Class of 1977, and again in 1974 when 20 Black cadets were admitted as part of the Class of 1978. It was from these cadets that the Coast Guard's first African-American officers of flag rank were to come in the 1990s; officers such as Rear Admiral Joseph Jones, Rear Admiral Errol Brown and Vice Admiral Manson K. Brown.[6]
While Steverson was charged first and foremost with recruiting cadets for the Coast Guard Academy (because that is where the bulk of the career officers came from), he was also requested to find minority college graduates who were willing receive direct commissions as lawyers and as aviators. These officers were already college graduates and had no need to attend the four year Academy, instead received a three-month orientation at the Coast Guard Officer Training Center. He recruited several people from the Vanderbilt University Law School.
After serving two years in this position, he was replaced by the Academy's first graduate from Guam, Juan Tudela Salas.[7]
Law
The Coast Guard does not have a separate Judge Advocate General's (JAG) staff corps. Coast Guard lawyers were referred to as "law specialists". These law specialists were line officers who had passed the bar exam who would rotate out of Coast Guard legal billets. Frequently these "out of specialty" tours were in law-related areas.Steverson worked as a Law Specialist in the 12th Coast Guard District Office, San Francisco, California and as an Assistant U. S. Attorney for the collection of Civil Penalties under the Federal Boating Safety Act from 1979 to 1982. As Assistant District Legal Officer, he was required to defend as well as prosecute military members who had been charged with violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). Occasionally he was asked to represent other officers in administrative actions involving sexual harassment and discrimination. One such case was the Case of Christine D. Balboni against the Department of Transportation and the United States Coast Guard (DOT Case No. 82-177). Ensign (ENS) Balboni was one of the first female graduates of the Coast Guard Academy. She graduated in the Class of 1981 and was assigned to USCGC Rush, a high endurance cutter stationed in Alameda, California. She filed a formal complaint of sexual harassment against three senior officers onboard RUSH. She alleged that false special fitness reports had been written concerning her and that the captain of the ship had requested her immediate transfer off the ship long before her normal rotation date. After no other lawyer would take her case, CDR Ronald Mathews, Chief of The 12th District Legal Office, assigned LCDR Steverson to represent ENS Balboni in a formal departmental administrative hearing before a federal administrative law judge. The charges made by ENS Balboni were determined to be valid. The relief granted was to have the false special fitness reports removed from her service record and destroyed. She was promoted to the next higher rank. While her career was saved, no disciplinary action was ever taken against the offending officers.[8]
Steverson next served a four-year tour of duty as the Chief Marine Investigating Officer[9] at Marine Inspection Office in Battery Park, New York from 1982 to 1986. This job was similar to that of a city prosecutor. With a staff of ten investigating officers, he oversaw the investigation of marine casualties for negligence and causes of action. Any marine personnel found to have violated a marine safety law would be charged and tried before a Coast Guard Administrative Law Judge at the World Trade Center. In the case of a major marine disaster with multiple loss of life, a formal Board of Inquiry would be convened under the direction of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). These Inquiries often would result in promulgation of new marine safety regulations under Title 46 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). One such incident was the Case of The Joan LaRie III, a charter fishing vessel that sank of the coast of New Jersey on October 24, 1982.[10] In 1986 he was detailed to the National Narcotics Border Interdiction System under the Office of Vice President at the time, George H. W. Bush. When he retired in 1988 he became the first African-American Coast Guard Academy graduate to retire as a regular line office from the service. Steverson held the rank of Lieutenant Commander (LCDR) during his last 10 years of service.[11]
Social Security Administration
He initially retired to Dumont, New Jersey and practiced law in New York, with a focus on family law and defending Coast Guardsmen accused of violating the UCMJ or of federal crimes.In July 1990 he was appointed a federal administrative law judge by the Social Security Administration during the administration of President George H.W. Bush. He was assigned to the Ninth Region of the Social Security Office of Hearings and Appeals in California.[12] He resided in Downey City, CA, where he was president of the Downey Sister City Association for seven years, and an International Peace Ambassador.
Retirement
In April 2009 he retired from the Social Security Administration Administration and devoted himself to philanthropic endeavors. The Steverson Collection at www.ekmk.hu and the Steverson Collection Book Club[13] were his major attempts to improve literacy and to spread American culture in the non-English speaking countries of Europe. He donated his extensive personal collection of new, used, and rare English books to the American Corners of Hungary. In April 2009 he was awarded the Cultural Diplomacy Award by the American Ambassabor. He is married and divides his time between the United States and Hungary where he provides technical advice to the American Corner of the U. S. Embassy for the Steverson Collection and the Steverson Collection Book Club. [14]Bibliography
- The Case of CDR Benjamin Strickland: Unrestricted Coast Guard Chronicles (UCGC) Volume 01 Number 01 (Volume 1) (2015)
- CONDUCT UNBECOMING an Officer and a Lady: A Case That Will Live In Infamy. The Conviction of Webster Smith (2011)[15]
- SocialNsecurity: Confessions of a Social Security Judge (2010)[16]
Awards and decorations
The State Department Cultural Diplomacy Award is designed to honor distinguished representatives of American culture whose efforts and artistry advance America's goals of mutual understanding and the deepening of friendship between the United States and others.1. Coast Guard Unit Commendation Ribbon 2. Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation Ribbon 3. National Defense Service Medal 4. Antarctic Service Medal 5. Coast Guard Sea Service Ribbon 6. USCG Expert Rifle Ribbon 7. USCG Expert Pistol Ribbon
References
- "Alum pens book about Social Security System", USCGA Alumni Association, Retrieved on August 30, 2015.
External links
- Integration of the Armed Forces 1940-1965, chapter 20 Limited Response to Discrimination - includes info about President John F. Kennedy's personal involvement with the first attempts to desegregate the USCG Academy, which was a direct cause of London Steverson's admission into the Academy.
- "PROMISES, PROMISES: For blacks, Coast Guard Academy numbers lag despite decades of effort", Fox News, September 8, 2010, Retrieved on August 30, 2015.
- "Notable Alumni", List of George Washington University People, George Washington University Wiki, Retrieved on August 30, 2015.
Labels: First Black Cadets
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