Winton M. Blount

Infobox US Cabinet official
name=Winton Malcolm Blount

---

order=59^th
title=United States Postmaster General
term_start=January 22, 1969
term_end=January 1, 1972
president=Richard Nixon
predecessor=W. Marvin Watson
successor=E. T. Klassen
birth_date=February 1, 1921
birth_place=Union Springs, Alabama
death_date=October 24, 2002 (aged 81)
death_place=Highlands, North Carolina
party=Republican

Winton Malcolm "Red" Blount, Jr. (February 1, 1921 – October 24, 2002) was the United States Postmaster General from 1969-1972. He is also known for founding the international construction giant Blount International, which he also was Chief Executive Office of.

He was the last Postmaster who led Post Office as an Executive Department and held cabinet-member rank.

Overview

Born in Union Springs, Alabama, Blount served in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II training as a B-29 pilot. However, the war ended before his training was complete.

Blount and his brother Houston started a building contractor company Blount Brothers Corp in 1946. Houston left in 1948 leaving Winton to serve as President and Chairman until entering public service in 1969. The company worked on such construction projects as the First Avenue Viaduct in Birmingham, Alabama, the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans and Cape Canaveral's Complex 39A which launched Apollo 11.

In 1952 he was appointed the Alabama Chairman of Citizens for Eisenhower, then in 1960 Southeastern Campaign Chairman for Richard Nixon's unsuccessful Presidential campaign against John F. Kennedy. 1961 saw him elected President of the Alabama Chamber of Commerce, then President of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in 1968.

In 1964 he was appointed by Lyndon B. Johnson to the National Citizens Committee for Community Relations, to advise the White House on the enforcement of the new Civil Rights Act of 1964 even though he had doubts about the new law.

In 1969 he was appointed United States Postmaster General by the Nixon administration and supervised the 1971 transition of the U.S. Post Office Department from a cabinet level department of the government to a special independent executive agency. Blount was the last Cabinet-level Postmaster General and served as the first head of the new U.S. Postal Service.

In 1972 he ran an unsuccessful campaign against John Sparkman as the Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate from Alabama. From May 1972 to November 1972, George W. Bush transferred from the Texas Air National Guard to assist Blount's Senate campaign as political director.

Blount returned to Blount International Inc. in 1973 becoming President again in 1974. From 1981-1984 Blount Inc. built King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

In 1980 he served as national chairman of John Connally's unsuccessful primary campaign, with the nomination being won by Ronald Reagan.

Retirement

In 1996 Greenwich Publishing Group published his autobiography called "Doing It My Way" that he had co-authored with Richard Blodgett.

In 1999 he sold Blount International to Lehman Brothers for $1.35 billion.

Blount died in Highlands, North Carolina at the age of 81.

Philanthropy

Blount and his wife Carolyn, were philanthropists and notable patrons of the arts. Together they founded the [http://www.blountculturalpark.org/ Blount Cultural Park] in Montgomery, Alabama, which is home to the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts and the Alabama Shakespeare Festival.

Also, an elementary school part of the Montgomery County School System, was completed in 2003 and was named Wynton M. Blount Elementary School. Blount Elementary is located on the city's rapidly-growing east side and is currently one of the largest elementary schools in the region.

The Blount Undergraduate Initiative, a liberal arts honors program for Blount Scholars, was started at the University of Alabama; the Blount Scholars reside in the Blount Living Learning Center on the campus.

The Winton M. Blount Center for Postal Studies and the Winton M. Blount Research Chair, both at the Smithsonian National Postal Museum, are funded by an endowment from the Blount estate.

References

* Blount, Winton M. (1996). "Doing It My Way". Greenwich Publishing Group. ISBN 0-944641-19-9.
* Blount Undergraduate Initiative, University of Alabama. http://www.as.ua.edu/blount/

External links

* [http://www.au.af.mil/au/goe/eaglebios/01bios/blount01.htm Bio]
* [http://www.blount.com/ Blount info]
* [http://www.oregonlive.com/business/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/business/1092743906240640.xml Maker of cutting tools finds keys to its renewal] - article in The Oregonian about Blount International
* Alabama Shakespeare Festival [http://www.asf.net}
* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=6919634 Winton M. Blount] at Find A Grave