1. Claude Stout Brinegar was the third United States Secretary of Transportation, serving from February 2,1973, to February 1,1975.
15 Facts About Claude Brinegar
1. 2.
Claude Brinegar was Secretary of Transportation during the 1973 oil crisis.
3.
Claude Brinegar was born Claude Rawles Stout on December 16,1926, to Lyle Rawles Stout and Claude Leroy Stout in Rockport, California, a small lumber town on the coast, 25 miles north of Fort Bragg.
4.
Claude Brinegar legally took his stepfather's last name in 1951.
5.
Claude Brinegar joined the Union Oil Company in 1953 as an economic analyst and held several positions in economics, planning and research until 1965, when he was elected vice president for corporate planning.
6.
Claude Brinegar was appointed president of Pure Oil and remained in that position when Pure became Union 76.
7.
Claude Brinegar was elected senior vice president of the firm and a member of Union Oil's board of directors and executive committee.
8.
Claude Brinegar was nominated to the post of United States Secretary of Transportation by Richard Nixon.
9.
Dr Brinegar was the third person to take the post of Secretary of Transportation and followed John A Volpe, a former governor in Massachusetts.
10.
Claude Brinegar had never held political office before taking this post, but cited his education and experience as a consumer as credentials that made him suitable for the job.
11.
Claude Brinegar served under Gerald Ford, but when Ford announced he intended to seek the presidency, Brinegar resigned and returned to an executive position at Union Oil.
12.
Claude Brinegar was Secretary of Transportation during the Arab oil embargo in 1973 and was tasked with mitigating the crisis during this period.
13.
Claude Brinegar passed the Emergency Highway Conservation Act with president Nixon which set a speed limit of 55 miles an hour on all highways in order to reduce oil usage.
14.
Claude Brinegar died of natural causes aged 82 at a retirement home in Palo Alto, California, on March 13,2009.
15.
Claude Brinegar is survived by his wife, three children, and four grandchildren.