GOP Affirmative Action Hero Dies
By Eric Stradford
WI Contributing writer
Thursday, July 21, 2005

Dr. Arthur Allen Fletcher died July 12 in Washington, DC. He was 80.

Fletcher suffered from heart failure.

A proud Republican, Dr. Fletcher advised presidents and served as an assistant secretary of labor in the Nixon administration.

He crafted the Revised Philadelphia Plan, considered one of the most effective law enforcement plans designed to regulate wrongful conduct of employers and contractors. It encouraged appropriate conduct by withholding federal funds from contractors not in compliance with fair employment practices when working on government projects.

Dr. Fletcher led this effort, targeting Philadelphia as a "test case" because the craft unions and the construction industry there were among the most egregious offenders against equal opportunity laws - openly hostile toward letting Blacks into their closed circle, according to his son, Paul Fletcher. The Philadelphia order included definite "goals and timetables...not quotas,” his son added.

The first reference to affirmative action took place on March 6, 1961. It was Executive Order 10925 by President John F. Kennedy, but it only sought and applauded voluntary compliance. On July 2, 1964, the Civil Rights Act was signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson. Further. Under President Johnson, a new Sept. 24, 1965 Executive Order 11246 attempted to enforce affirmative action for the first time by requiring government contractors to actually take affirmative steps toward hiring prospective minority employees in all aspects of work. On Oct. 13, 1967, the Executive Order was amended to cover discrimination on the basis of gender.
Confronted with conduct not exemplary of the behavior Executive Order, in 1969 Dr. Fletcher, serving as assistant secretary of labor conceived of and implemented his plan.

Dr. Fletcher, a former pro football player, political appointee, historian, lecturer and ordained minister, championed the protection of individual rights afforded by the United States Constitution and utilized affirmative action to defend those rights for more than 60 years.

An African American appointee in the Nixon and Ford Administrations, in 1989, he was approached by bi-partisan members of the U.S. Congress and asked to accept the chairmanship of the United States Civil Rights Commission. He served for three years.
Fletcher also was involved in international affairs and served as a delegate to the United Nations. He advised presidents on the treatment of US troops in foreign nations.

Early in his early career, Dr. Fletcher was a candidate for public office for an Assembly seat for the California State Legislature (1962), for Lt. Governor of the State of Washington (1968), and for Mayor of the District of Columbia (1978).

Fletcher was a beloved husband, father, and grandfather. His son Arthur Fletcher Jr. died in 1973; his son Phillip Fletcher died in 1989; and his daughter Phyllis Fletcher died in 1990. He is survived by his wife of 40 years, Bernyce Hassan-Fletcher of Washington; three children, Joan Fletcher of Washington, Sylvia Fletcher of Sacramento and Paul Fletcher of Fort Lauderdale; 16 grandchildren; 17 great-grandchildren; and two great-great-grandchildren.

Fletcher's son, Paul, last week issued the following statement on behalf of the Fletcher family. "Yesterday morning my father, Arthur A. Fletcher, died. My father lived a very successful life and all of