Ron Brown: chairman of the Democratic National Committee; he will help plot his party's political course

Ebony, May, 1989

Ron Brown

Ron Brown Chairman Of The Democratic National Committee

He will help plot his Party's political course

In the first quarter of 1989, racial barriers toppled again as three Black pioneers forged new paths in politics, religion and athletics. On the following pages we present the stories of Ron Brown, first Black chairman of the Democratic National Committee; Barbara C. Harris, the first woman bishop in the Episcopal Church, and Bill White, the first Black president of baseball's National League.

RONALD HARMON BROWN, the new chairman of the Democratic National Committee, says his party "is not in shambles" despite the fact that only one full-term Democratic president has occupied the White House in the last 25 years. But Brown believes he has the political savvy to fuse a coalition of Blacks, Hispanics and Southern Whites, and bring in enough new voters to regain the White House in 1992.

It is a tall order, but Brown, the first Black to head a major national political party, feels what is needed is for the Democrats, not the Republicans, to define the principles of what they stand for, and develop a universal strategy that goes beyond Democratic control of Congress all the way to the office of President of the United States.

"We have allowed our adversaries to define who we are," says Brown, 47, an astute lawyer and master of compromise and negotiation. "And in politics, as in life, when you allow your opponent to set the ground rules, it's hard to win. We've got to be willing to stand up and define ourselves as that caring party, that party of hope and opportunity. In the 1940s, '50s, and '60s, if you asked someone what a Democrat was, they could tell you. Now it has become harder.

"And when you get to the presidential level, we've got to be a party that is preceived of as being tough on drugs, crime and national security. Those are the issues in presidential politics that turn out to be the threshold issues."

The only child born to the late William Brown and Gloria Brown-Carter, Brown grew up in Harlem's famous Theresa Hotel, a gathering post for many entertainers, sports figures, lawyers and doctors. His father was the manager. Both parents were graduates of Howard University, and they saw nothing less than a quality education for their son. After attending an elementary school for gifted children and a private high school, Brown went to Middlebury College, a small liberal arts school in Vermont. He joined the ROTC and was accepted into Sigma Phi Epsilon, a fraternity that went against its parent organization's policy of racial segregation. The college chapter lost its charter, but Middlebury officials intervened and barred any fraternity from enforcing racial policies.

After graduation, Brown served three years in the Army, both in Germany and Korea. In 1967 he ran a job-training program for the National Urban League while attending law school at night at St. John's University in New York. He moved to Washington and for 12 years headed the District's Urban League office. His chance to play big league politics came in 1980 when he worked as a deputy campaign manager on Sen. Ted Kennedy's presidential campaign. After serving a brief stint as chief counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee, he was offered a partnership in the lobby-law firm of Patton, Boggs and Blow. He also served as deputy chairman of the DNC during Charles Manatt's tenure.

Last spring, Democratic presidential candidate Jesse Jackson tabbed Brown to be his convention manager. He was credited with smoothing the rough spots between the Jackson campaign and that of the Party's nominee, Michael Dukakis.

Though Brown received plaudits for his efforts, when he announced his intentions to seek the chairmanship of the Democratic Party, the press implied he was seeking the post as a Jackson surrogate. He responded that he was "running as his own man," and competed against four Whites who eventually dropped out of the race. He was elected to the chairmanship by acclamation.

"Jesse is my friend [and] I am proud of our relationship. I am never going to disrespect Jesse Jackson or disavow him, our relationship or his constituency, which is mammoth," says Brown. "It's a constituency that the Democratic Party is going to need if we are going to be successful. I expect that he's going to be a significant force in the Democratic Party. He's earned that right."

Brown, a father of two who enjoys playing basketball, tennis and skiing, says his biggest challenge over the next four years will be to strike a delicate balance between the party's traditional core constituency and retrieving those disenchanted Democrats who have defected to the Republican Party in five of the last six presidential contests. "Diversity is the strength of the Democratic Party," Brown says. "It's the strength of this country. With the right kind of message and definition and common purpose...we've got a real opportunity to win that White House. That's the name of this game."

PHOTO : Following his election as the first Black to head a major national political party, Ron