Tyrone Brown (lawyer)

{{About||the gridiron football player|Tyrone Brown (gridiron football)|the prisoner from Texas|Tyrone Brown}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Tyrone Brown

| image =

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| caption = Former FCC Commissioner Tyrone Brown

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| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1942|11|5}}

| birth_place = Norfolk, Virginia, U.S.

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| president = Jimmy Carter
Ronald Reagan

| office = Commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission

| term_start = November 15, 1977

| term_end = January 31, 1981

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| education = Hamilton College (AB)
Cornell Law School (JD)

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| party = Democratic

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Tyrone Brown (born November 5, 1942) is an American attorney and retired government official. From 1977 to 1981, Brown served as a member of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Brown is currently a consulting counsel at Wiley Rein LLP, a law firm based in Washington, D.C.

Early life and education

Brown was born on November 5, 1942, in Norfolk, Virginia, and grew up in East Orange, New Jersey. In 1960, Brown graduated from East Orange High School.{{cite book |last1=Flannery |first1=Gerald V. |title=Commissioners of the FCC, 1927-1994 |date=1995 |publisher=University Press of America |isbn=081919669X |page=181 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xr-PSj-sp6YC&q=%22tyrone+brown%22+fcc&pg=PA181 |access-date=August 9, 2018}} He received an A.B. from Hamilton College.{{cite web |last1=Memmott |first1=Jim |title=1964 Class Annalists Letter |url=https://www.hamilton.edu/about/history/half-century-annalists-letters/1964 |website=Hamilton College |access-date=August 10, 2018}} In 1967, he graduated with a LL.B. with distinction from Cornell Law School, where he was Managing Editor of the Cornell Law Review.{{cite journal |title=Journal Staff-Managing Editor, Tyrone Brown |url=http://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/clr/vol52/iss2/6|journal=Cornell L. Rev. |date=1967 |volume=52 |issue=2|page=300 |access-date=August 9, 2018}}

Career

= Law career =

After graduation, he served as a law clerk for Chief Justice Earl Warren of the Supreme Court of the United States during the 1967-1968 Term.{{cite book |last1=Peppers |first1=Todd C. |title=Courtiers of the Marble Palace: The Rise and Influence of the Supreme Court Law Clerk |date=2006 |publisher=Stanford University Press |location=Palo Alto, CA |isbn=0804753822 |page=241, fn 13 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NxiMWr730EcC&q=tyrone+brown+cornell&pg=PA241 |access-date=August 10, 2018}}{{cite journal |last1=Booker |first1=Simeon |title=Tape USA-Tyrone Brown |journal=Jet Magazine |date=August 17, 1967|volume=XXXII|issue=19|page=13 |publisher=Johnson Publishing|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=47kDAAAAMBAJ&q=tyrone+brown+cornell&pg=PA13 |access-date=August 10, 2018}} In 1968, Brown joined Covington & Burling's Washington, D.C., office. From 1970, he held a series of federal government appointments and staff positions at the United States Senate, and then several corporate posts in publishing. From 1974 to 1977, he was an attorney at Caplin & Drysdale in Washington, D.C.

= Federal Communications Commission (FCC) =

In 1977, President Jimmy Carter appointed Brown to the Federal Communications Commission, succeeding Benjamin Hooks.{{cite web |title=Jimmy Carter-Federal Communications Commission Nomination of Tyrone Brown To Be a Member. |url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=32458 |website=American Presidency Project |publisher=University of California, Santa Barbara |access-date=August 9, 2018 |date=June 11, 1979}}{{cite book |title=Brown Takes Over Hooks' FCC Seat |date=January 1978 |publisher=Black Enterprise Magazine |page=12 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RJ2gUHrXCFsC&q=tyrone+brown+cornell&pg=PA12 |access-date=August 10, 2018}} Initially, Brown declined the offer for the 21 months left on the term over concern on reappointment.{{cite journal |title=FCC Replaces Hooks with a Black-Atty Tyrone Brown |journal=Jet Magazine |date=October 6, 1977 |volume=53 |issue=3 |page=5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mLsDAAAAMBAJ&q=tyrone+brown+cornell&pg=PA5 |access-date=August 10, 2018 |publisher=Johnson Publishing}} Hamilton Jordan, an aide to Carter, persuaded Brown to accept. After approval by the Senate, Brown began his term on November 15, 1977, while continuing his participation in civil rights advocacy.{{cite book |last1=Zarkin |first1=Kimberly |last2=Zarkin |first2=Michael J. |title=The Federal Communications Commission: Front Line in the Culture and Regulation Wars |date=2006 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=0313334161 |page=162 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KZ33mq1mLmAC&q=%22tyrone+brown%22+fcc&pg=PA162 |access-date=August 9, 2018}}{{cite news |last1=Whitaker |first1=Joseph D. |title=Lawyers' Group Here Works for Civil Rights in South Africa |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1977/12/19/lawyers-group-here-works-for-civil-rights-in-south-africa/d609c235-ed63-452c-bbb8-b6ce5cabde73/ |access-date=August 9, 2018 |newspaper=Washington Post |date=December 19, 1977}}

One of his goals as commissioner was to increase minority ownership of broadcasting stations.{{cite book |title=Brown Becomes Visible as Newest FCC Member |date=March 16, 1978 |publisher=Jet Magazine-Johnson Publishing Company |page=19 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Pb8DAAAAMBAJ&q=%22tyrone+brown%22+fcc&pg=PA19 |access-date=August 9, 2018}} In 1978, he opposed dropping "public interest" from the FCC's consideration for broadcast licenses.{{cite news |last1=Shifrin |first1=Carole |title=FCC Members Oppose Executive Branch Unit |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/1978/07/19/fcc-members-oppose-executive-branch-unit/ba8fc3f0-f3b3-49d1-a5c2-3bc227e91b63/ |access-date=August 10, 2018 |newspaper=Washington Post |date=July 19, 1978}} On June 11, 1979, Carter nominated Brown for reappointment to the FCC for a seven-year term and he was confirmed.{{cite book |last1=Carter |first1=Jimmy |title=Federal Communications Commission-Nomination of Tyrone Brown to be a Member, in Public Papers of the President, Jimmy Carter|date=June 11, 1979 |publisher=Best Books on |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wVTVAwAAQBAJ&q=tyrone+brown+re-appointment+fcc&pg=PA1021 |access-date=August 10, 2018|isbn= 1623767725}} On January 31, 1981, Brown resigned from the Commission following the election of President Ronald Reagan, and was replaced by Mark S. Fowler.{{cite news |last1=Holsendolph |first1=Ernest |title=Brown, F.C.C. Democrat, to Resign From Agency |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/01/09/business/brown-fcc-democrat-to-resign-from-agency.html |access-date=August 9, 2018 |work=New York Times |date=January 9, 1981}}{{cite news |last1=Hodge |first1=Paul |title=FCC to Move Headquarters to Rosslyn |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1981/02/12/fcc-to-move-headquarters-to-rosslyn/0716b47d-913e-45de-a0a3-9ff64c884ca0/ |access-date=August 10, 2018 |newspaper=Washington Post |date=February 12, 1981}}{{cite journal |title=Brown Resigns |journal=Black Enterprise Magazine |date=April 1981 |volume=11 |issue=9 |pages=15–16 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ebmY1m3g-E0C&q=ronald+reagan+announces+replace+on+fcc+commissioner+for+tyrone+brown&pg=PA16 |access-date=August 10, 2018|last1=Earl g. Graves |first1=Ltd }}{{cite news |title=President Reagan Friday nominated Washington lawyer Mark S. Fowler |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/03/13/President-Reagan-Friday-nominated-Washington-lawyer-Mark-S-Fowler/7240353307600/ |access-date=August 10, 2018 |work=UPI.com |agency=United Press International |date=March 13, 1981}}

= Post-FCC career =

Later, Brown practiced law at Steptoe & Johnson and at Wiley Rein LLP, as well as serving as president of the Media Access Project from 2010 to 2013.{{cite web |title=Tyrone Brown to Leave Wiley Rein for Media Access Project |url=http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2010/03/tyrone-brown-to-leave-wiley-rein-for-media-access-project.html |website=The Blog of LegalTimes |access-date=August 9, 2018 |date=March 24, 2010}}{{cite news |last1=Kang |first1=Cecilia |title=Media Access Project CEO Brown asks FCC about price competition |url=http://voices.washingtonpost.com/posttech/2010/03/media_access_project_ceo_brown.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120528062240/http://voices.washingtonpost.com/posttech/2010/03/media_access_project_ceo_brown.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 28, 2012 |access-date=August 9, 2018 |newspaper=Washington Post |date=March 25, 2010}}{{cite news |last1=Castillo |first1=Michelle |title=FCC Passes Ruling To Protect Net Neutrality |url=https://techland.time.com/2010/12/21/fcc-passes-ruling-to-protect-net-neutrality/ |access-date=August 9, 2018 |work=Time Magazine |date=December 21, 2010}}

References

External links

{{C-SPAN|12909}}
[https://catalog.princeton.edu/catalog/10361886 The HistoryMakers video oral history with Tyrone Brown] (2016).
[https://ecommons.cornell.edu/handle/1813/13175 Interview of Tyrone Brown] (15:52 mins), Cornell Law School, April 14, 1988.

{{Succession box

|before= Benjamin Hooks

|title=Commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission

|years= November 15, 1977–January 31, 1981

|after= Mark S. Fowler

}}

Category:1942 births

Category:Living people

Category:East Orange High School alumni

Category:Politicians from East Orange, New Jersey

Category:Politicians from Norfolk, Virginia

Category:20th-century American lawyers