Robert Coldwell Wood

Robert Coldwell Wood ( born September 16, 1923 in St. Louis, Missouri, † April 1, 2005 in Boston, Massachusetts) was an American political scientist and politician who in 1969 for a short time as Minister of Construction of the United States under U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson officiated.

After Wood had received a scholarship to Princeton University, he had to interrupt his studies because there recorded his conscription into the army. He fought in the Second World War, took part in the Battle of the Bulge, was awarded the Bronze Star and rose to the rank of Sergeant. He then returned to Princeton back, graduated there and moved to Harvard. There he completed a master's degree in public administration as well as a master and finally a PhD in political science.

Following Wood taught 1959-1965 even political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He then joined in government services and was from 1966 to early 1969 as Deputy Minister of Construction ( Under Secretary ) Member of the Government. He was involved in the Model Cities Program in 1966 and the Fair Housing Act of 1968. Following the resignation of Robert C. Weaver, he moved on January 7, 1969 on Construction Minister in the Cabinet Johnson. Already 13 days later, on January 20, ended his short term of office, as Richard Nixon who succeeded Johnson as President.

Wood then returned to MIT, where he headed the Joint Center for Urban Studies, which the MIT and Harvard University jointly operated. At the same time he was head of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. From 1970 to 1977 he served as president of the University of Massachusetts; During this time, the university expanded by including the UMass Medical Center in Worcester and its campus in Boston. Wood also played an important role in laying the Presidential Library of John F. Kennedy to its current location in Boston's Columbia Point.

1986 Robert Wood received the Wiener Medal of Cybernetics of the American Society for Cybernetics. He died in 2005 and was survived by his wife, Margaret, and a son and two daughters. His daughter Maggie Hassan is since January 2013 Governor of the U.S. state of New Hampshire.