Richard C. Patterson, Jr. scrapbooks

Richard C. Patterson, Jr. was born January 29, 1886 in Omaha, Nebraska. He attended the University of Nebraska and worked in the mines of South Dakota before moving to the East Coast, where he graduated from Columbia University School of Mines with an engineering degree in 1912. In 1916-1919 he served in the U.S. military, first during General John J. Pershing's 1916 Mexican Expedition and then in France during World War I, rising to the rank of colonel. After the war, Patterson was the chief administrative officer for the American Commission to Negotiate Peace at Versailles and was a member of the committee that organized the American Legion in 1919.

Returning to the U.S. in 1920, Patterson joined the J.G. White Engineering Company and, shortly afterward, the E.I. duPont de Nemours Company, for which he worked in China. In 1924, he married Shelley McCutcheon Rodes, and they had one daughter. In 1927, Patterson was named New York City's Commissioner of Correction, a position he held until 1932. During his tenure as commissioner, Patterson oversaw the construction of the jail on Riker's Island and the establishment of formal training for prison guards, among other initiatives intended to improve New York's penal system. He resigned in 1932, returning to private industry as Executive Vice President of the National Broadcasting Company. He resigned from NBC in 1936, becoming Chairman of the Board of the Citizens Budget Commission in 1937.

In 1938, Patterson continued his career pattern of moving between private industry and governmental positions by joining President Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration in the Commerce Department as Assistant Secretary (1938-1939). After that brief stint, from 1939-1943 he was Chairman of Radio-Keith-Orpheum (RKO). In 1944, he returned to government as U.S. Ambassador to the Yugoslav government, first working with exiled King Peter in London and then with Marshal Tito after World War II. It was a contentious assignment at the dawn of the Cold War and Patterson resigned in 1947, becoming a director of General Aniline & Film Corporation. He returned yet again to government in 1948, named by President Harry Truman as U.S. Ambassador to Guatemala (1948-1950) and then Minister to Switzerland (1951-1953). He resigned from his ambassador post with the inauguration of the new, Republican Party administration under Eisenhower.

In January 1954, Patterson joined New York City Mayor Robert Wagner's administration as chair of the Reception Committee, a post known as New York's official "greeter" of dignitaries to the city. The post evolved over the next decade: in 1958, Patterson was appointed Commissioner of Commerce and Public Events with the merger of those roles and, when they were later split in 1962, Commissioner of Public Events. Patterson held the post until shortly before his death on September 30, 1966.

In addition to the above, Patterson held various directorships, trusteeships and advisory roles across a number of organizations, including the Temporary National Economic Commission (1938-39), New York State Chairman of the War Savings Staff (1941-43), president of the Traveller's Aid Society (1937-38), and several others. He was also a member of various clubs and organizations, including Augusta National Golf Club.

(The above note was based primarily on documents in the collection.)