William H. Gray

Democratic congressman from Philadelphia from 1979 to 1991, William H. Gray III (born 1941) became the highest-ranking African American leader in the history of the U.S. House of Representatives when colleagues elected him the House Whip on June 14, 1989.

William H. Gray III was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on August 20, 1941. He was the only son of Dr. William H. Gray, Jr., clergyman and educator, and Hazel Yates Gray, a high school teacher. Shortly after his birth Gray moved with his parents and an older sister, Marion, to St. Augustine, Florida, where his father served as president of Florida Normal and Industrial College. After a move to Tallahassee so his father could become the president of Florida A&M College, the Gray family moved to Philadelphia, where Dr. Gray became pastor of the Bright Hope Baptist Church.

During this time William, who lived with his family on the city's north side, attended public schools. He graduated from Simon Gratz High School in 1959 and enrolled in Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, majoring in sociology. Gray served as an intern for Pennsylvania Representative Robert N. C. Nix during his senior year in 1963. He also decided to become a minister at this time. In 1966, he secured a Master of Divinity degree from Drew Theological Seminary. While at Drew, Gray served as assistant pastor of the Union Baptist Church in Montclair, New Jersey. The same year he received his degree from Drew, Gray became senior minister of the Union Baptist Church and was installed by The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a close friend of the family.

During his pastorate at Union Baptist, Gray emerged as a leading community activist. He founded several nonprofit corporations, including the Union Housing Corporation, which developed housing for low-and middle-income African Americans. In 1970 Gray sued a Montclair landlord who, Gray contended, had refused him an apartment because of his race. In a landmark decision, the New Jersey Superior Court ruled in favor of Gray and awarded him financial damages as a victim of discrimination. He also pursued educational goals during this time and received a Master of Theology degree from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1970. That same year St. Peter's College in Jersey City, New Jersey, named him assistant professor. Previously he had taught at Jersey City College, Montclair State College, and Rutgers University.

After his father died in 1972, Gray was named pastor of the Bright Hope Baptist Church in Philadelphia, succeeding not only his father but also his grandfather, who had founded the 4,000-member church. A concern that the incumbent congressman from the Second Congressional District, the same Robert N.C. Nix with whom Gray interned years earlier, ignored the needs of African Americans in the congregation and the community helped persuade Gray to enter secular politics and run for that office as a Democrat in 1976. Though he lost to his old boss in the primary by 339 votes, he tried again in 1978 and defeated Nix, a ten-term incumbent, receiving 58 percent of the vote. In the general election in November he overwhelmed the Republican candidate, capturing 84 percent of the vote.

Early on, Gray established an impressive record as a congressman. During his first term in office colleagues elected Gray to the prestigious Steering and Policy Committee, charged with making committee assignments. He also landed a seat on the powerful Budget Committee, where he opposed President Ronald Reagan's budget cuts and worked with other members of the Black Caucus to expand social programs. In another committee assignment, Foreign Affairs, Gray successfully sponsored a bill that established the African Development Foundation, which provided American aid directly to African villages. This was the first time in the 20th century that a freshman congressman had secured congressional approval for a new program. Gray also pushed hard for sanctions against the apartheid government then in control of the nation of South Africa.

In 1981 Gray resigned from the Budget Committee and took a place on the House Appropriations Committee. But in 1983 he returned to the Budget Committee and a year later campaigned for the committee's chairmanship. By putting together a diverse regional and ideological coalition, Gray won and became chairman of the committee on February 4, 1985. Although some feared that the urban liberal would be unable to work with conservative Democrats, he proved them wrong. During his four years as budget chair Gray was successful as a coalition builder and in returning unity to the Democratic Party. To gain support from conservatives for a middle-of-the-road budget, Gray cut programs he personally favored. As a result of his willingness to compromise, Gray received the support of southern conservatives such as Texans Marvin Leath and Charles W. Stenholm, men who had earlier abandoned the Democratic budget and sided with Reagan Republicans. A tribute to Gray's abilities, the four budgets written under his leadership received a cumulative total of 919 Democratic votes in support with only 77 in opposition.

Forced to abandon the Budget chairmanship in the 101st Congress by a two-term rule, Gray next campaigned for the chairmanship of the House Democratic Caucus. On December 5, 1988, he trounced two opponents to become the first African American to win a top House leadership post. His meteoric rise to power did not end with this achievement, however. When the House Majority Whip, Representative Tony Coelho of California, resigned from office on June 15, 1989, Gray launched a campaign for that post. He withstood challenges from David E. Bonior of Michigan, who won this post following Gray's later resignation, and Beryl Anthony, Jr., of Arkansas, winning the number three leadership post in the House of Representatives on June 14, 1989. As the House Whip, Gray was the highest-ranking African American leader in the history of the House. Even before this success U.S. News and World Report had called him "one of the most successful Democrats of the 1980s."

Despite a heavy workload, Gray kept in close touch with his constituents. He continued to preach at least twice a month at the Bright Hope Baptist Church in Philadelphia, where his wife, Andrea Dash, and three sons, William H. 4th, Justin Yates, and Andrew Dash, lived in an integrated Mount Airy neighborhood. Articulate and well-informed, Gray continually won reelection to Congress by huge margins, gaining more than 90 percent of the vote in his 1988 and 1990 reelections. Based on his performance and his formidable political intuition, many thought Gray might become the first African American on a major party presidential ticket.

A New Direction

Gray continued to represent his district in Congress until the summer of 1991, when he gave up his seat to become president and chief executive officer of the United Negro College Fund (UNCF). Though he described his new post as "a higher calling" as well as "a step up in public service," his move from the political arena was lamented by people such as Kitty Dumas of Black Enterprise who said "his departure dashed the hopes of many in the Black community that one of their own might control the House by the turn of the century." A glimpse of Gray's rationale was evident during a 1996 speech at Harvard University in which he said, "I believe that education is the key. And I believe that those institutions that have been bridges in my community … like the historically Black colleges, are going to be needed more in the future than they ever have been."

During Gray's tenure as head of the UNCF, he made a brief return to politics, but as a short-term special advisor to the president, not an elected official. In May, 1994, he began service as an unpaid advisor to President Bill Clinton in the administration's effort to restore democracy to Haiti.

Further Reading

A biography of Gray's life appears in Contemporary Black Biography, Volume Three (1993). An analysis of Gray's role as Budget Committee chairman can be found in Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report (August 2, 1986). Additional information on his voting record can be found in the semi-annual edition of Barone, Ujifusa, and Matthews, The Almanac of American Politics.

minister (religion); executive; legislator

Personal Information

Born August 20, 1941, in Baton Rouge, LA; son of William H. (a minister and college president) and Hazel (maiden name, Yates; a high school teacher) Gray, Jr.; married Andrea Dash, April 17, 1971; children: William H. Gray IV, Justin Yates, Andrew Dash.
Education: Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, PA., B.A., 1963; attended Drew Theological School, University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, Oxford University, and Princeton Theological Seminary; earned master of divinity, 1966, and master of theology, 1970.

Career

Union Baptist Church, Montclair, NJ, assistant pastor, 1964-66, senior pastor 1966-72; St. Peter's College, Jersey City, NJ, assistant professor and director, 1970-74; Bright Hope Baptist Church, Philadelphia, PA, pastor, 1972--; U.S. Congressman, 1978-91; vice-chair of Congressional Black Caucus; president of United Negro College Fund (UNCF), 1991--. Lecturer at Jersey City State College, Montclair State College, and Rutgers University.

Life's Work

William H. Gray, III, a Baptist minister, was elected to Congress in 1978 and served for 13 years in the U.S. government before leaving to head the United Negro College Fund (UNCF). Despite some speculation in the media about Gray's having been involved in shady financial dealings--speculation that led to no formal charges--Gray's reputation with government figures in both the Democratic and Republican parties, as well as public interest groups and voters, remained very positive. His colleagues praised both his integrity and his cordiality. When he was the majority whip in the U.S. House of Representatives, his ability to forge coalitions and persuade other members to vote for measures he supported made him, according to Ebony' s Laura B. Randolph, "the highest-ranking Black in the history of the House of Representatives."

"Gray's dignified, intellectual style is very different from the kind of fiery personality usually associated with someone who is the minister of a large and influential Baptist church," a Black Enterprise correspondent reported in a 1989 profile. But this style has apparently been an important factor in Gray's success; even such House conservatives as Republican Jack Kemp have sung his praises. "He's got integrity," Kemp told Fortune's Nancy J. Perry. "You can trust him."

As chair of the House Budget Committee, Gray oversaw the first trillion dollar budget in U.S. history, managing to avoid some cuts in social spending sponsored by the administration of President Ronald Reagan. He was also a strong voice in Congress for sanctions against the racially discriminatory apartheid government of South Africa. He worked with the Congressional Black Caucus to fight what he perceived were assaults on civil rights and equal opportunities. As head of the UNCF, he vowed to bring the same resolve to his work on behalf of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

Gray was born in 1941 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. His father, Dr. William H. Gray, Jr., was a minister and college president; his mother, Hazel Yates Gray, taught high school. Shortly after William III's birth, the family--which also included William's sister Marion---moved to St. Augustine, Florida, where the elder Dr. Gray took over the presidency of Florida Normal and Industrial College. He later moved on to head Florida Agricultural and Mechanical College in Tallahassee. In 1949, Gray's father became pastor of Philadelphia's Bright Hope Baptist Church. It was here that William Gray III would come to maturity. He graduated from high school in 1959 and attended Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, earning a bachelor's degree in sociology in 1963. During his senior year, Gray served as an intern for Pennsylvania Congressman Robert N. C. Nix, but politics would not, for the moment, be his career.

After graduating from Franklin and Marshall, Gray became assistant pastor of Union Baptist Church in Montclair, New Jersey; he also attended New Jersey's Drew Theological School, earning a master of divinity degree in 1966. That same year civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr., appointed Gray senior minister of Union Baptist. Gray did further graduate study in theology at the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, Oxford University, and Princeton Theological Seminary. The latter institution conferred on him a master of theology degree in 1970.

As pastor of Union Baptist, Gray was active in working toward civil rights, assisting in the establishment of housing projects for blacks in the community as well as in other struggles. In 1970 he sued a landlord in Montclair who, Gray contended, had denied him an apartment because Gray was black. Eventually winning the case in the New Jersey Superior Court, Gray received financial damages and set an important precedent. Two years later, after his father's death, Gray became pastor at Bright Hope, using his position to advocate improved housing conditions for Philadelphia's poor. During this time he was also a lecturer at Rutgers University and several other academic institutions and served as assistant professor and director of New Jersey's St. Peter's College.

In 1971, Gray married Andrea Dash, a marketing consultant, with whom he would have three sons, William H. IV, Justin Yates, and Andrew Dash. Throughout his career he would always regret not having enough time for his family. When Ebony asked him in 1987 for his most "embarrassing moment," Gray related an anecdote about a disastrous family vacation: he and his wife received nearly identical leg injuries on the same day in separate accidents. "Friends who came to visit teased us about having had a violent confrontation," Gray recalled, adding, "I learned that when you neglect your family because of your busy schedule, getting together can be cataclysmic and injurious to your health. I also learned that I am to spend more time with my wife so that people will not think that when we do get together the meeting is a violent one."

In 1976 Gray moved into the political arena, challenging Nix for his congressional seat. He lost by a close vote and was encouraged to make a second try. An Ebony profile noted that Gray accused the veteran congressman of "exerting no real leadership" while his district suffered high unemployment and poor housing. In the 1978 primary he unseated Nix--a move that some black political figures saw as damaging to unity--and ran as the second congressional district's Democratic nominee, trouncing Republican Roland Atkins in the November election.

Seated in January of 1979, Gray decided to commute from his district rather than take up residence in Washington, D.C. He was appointed to several committees, including Foreign Affairs and his party's Steering and Policy Committee. He would eventually make headlines for his service on the Budget Committee, but he found his first term there deeply frustrating and often voted against his own committee's recommendations. In 1981, after the political shift brought about by the election of Republican President Ronald Reagan, Gray resigned from the Budget Committee.

Gray also became vice-chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, and during Reagan's two terms he worked to fight the conservative administration's social agenda. He returned to the Budget Committee in 1983 and gained notice for his political acumen and personal integrity. In 1985 he took on the role of committee chair. Republicans and Democrats alike praised Gray for his ability to bring opponents together to achieve consensus. He was particularly careful to court the approval of southern conservatives of both parties, reflecting in the New York Times that his experiences as a youth in Louisiana helped him to do this. Gray attributed his overall committee success to previous experience: "Any time you pastor a Black church," he remarked in Jet, "you learn the ropes--how to persuade, prod, negotiate, keep the peace and lead. This House job is no harder."

Gray felt the same way about the budgetary wisdom pundits predicted he wouldn't have; when a Fortune correspondent inquired about the source of his "financial training," Gray asked rhetorically: "Did you ever try to run a Baptist church?" Scholar Cornel West told Black Enterprise that Gray was "one of the new breed of sophisticated black clergy who can effectively work within the political system without losing their moral direction."

Perhaps Gray's cause celebre --and certainly his greatest foreign policy concern--was fighting the apartheid government of South Africa, which, prior to its dismantlement in the spring of 1992, denied political rights to the country's black majority. "The President of South Africa [P. W. Botha] said 'Every new investment is a brick in our continued existence,'" Gray declared in Fortune in 1987. "So why should the U.S. be shipping bricks? You don't stop Communism by getting in bed with racism." Gray and Texas Congressman Mickey Leland led the charge in the House for sanctions against Botha's regime. Despite the Reagan administration's stated policy of "constructive engagement" with South Africa's white minority government, Gray and his antiapartheid colleagues succeeded in pushing through sanctions in 1985 and 1986.

Also in 1986 Gray spoke out against the repeal of the Clark Amendment, which had banned U.S. covert action in Angola. "I do not want to see communism expand in southern Africa," he told Congress. "I have been there. I have been to each one of those front-line states. Every time the United States of America is perceived as siding with apartheid, what we do is strengthen the possibility of the expansion of communism." Even so, he continued, Communist expansion "is not the issue." The real matter "is majority rule, and freedom, and independence for people who are enslaved." That year Gray and Leland attacked a remark by Reagan's chief of staff, Donald Regan, who had asked whether American women were "prepared to give up all their jewelry" if U.S. sanctions affected South African diamond exportation. Gray called Regan's question a "new level in sexism," according to the New York Times. "I don't think American women want to enslave 28 million other human beings just to have their diamonds," he added.

In 1987, however, Gray and Leland took opposite sides on a Republican party-sponsored bill to punish the Communist government of Ethiopia economically because of its poor human rights record. While Leland, according to Black Enterprise, found the bill "scurrilous and absurd," Gray supported it, demonstrating to his Republican opponents that his anticommunist remarks would be backed up with action. Leland, on the other hand, suggested that the bill was mere ideological bullying by the United States. Nevertheless, Gray consistently pressed for aid to independent African states and was one of the U.S. representatives at the celebration of Zimbabwean independence in 1980, an event he recalled with exuberance years later.

By 1987 Gray was one of the most visible House Democrats. "As glowing careers of other Democrats explode and fade around him like supernovas," observed Perry in Fortune, "Bill Gray has become one of the party's fastest-rising stars." The article even noted Gray's slightly amused speculations about higher office: "Sure, Bill Gray would not mind being President of the U.S. at all," commented the congressman. "But is that his goal? No." A Business Week correspondent emphasized Gray's "remarkable ability to adjust his style to the situation at hand. He can sound like a technocrat one minute and a Bible-thumping preacher the next." Gray "is described by his colleagues as a superb politician," the New York Times reported, "adept at building coalitions and unafraid to risk rejection." He maintained this reputation throughout the decade--despite some criticism of his "glibness"--and by 1989 Black Enterprise predicted that "William H. Gray III will definitely be a force to be reckoned with in the 1990s."

Perhaps no one reckoned with the possibility that Gray would soon leave politics. In 1989 rumors of financial wrongdoing surfaced, fueled by a report by Rita Braver of CBS that unnamed Justice Department sources had begun a criminal investigation, with which Gray was not cooperating. Terry Eastland noted in American Spectator that the leak--neither confirmed nor denied by Justice Department officials until pressed by Gray into admitting he was not the target of the investigation--might have served the political agenda of President George Bush's administration. Loyalists of Bush's Attorney General Dick Thornburgh, Eastland wrote, "realized that if the talented Gray were Democratic whip, House Republicans would have a more difficult time challenging the Democratic majority."

Though formal charges were never made, Gray's political standing seemed to have been affected. He remained in Congress for some time afterward, pursuing his now-familiar agendas. In February of 1990 he spoke on behalf of the National Voter Registration Act, reminding those in favor of political caution that "making history is always risky business. But greatness is won in the margin of risk." In the speech Gray also commented that "We hear even in South Africa the first sound, however faint, of the end of apartheid." By 1992 the sound would become clearly audible as a white-only vote continued the reform efforts of South African president F. W. de Klerk.

Gray remained in Congress until June of 1991, when he announced his intention to give up his seat to head the UNCF. Time noted the rumors surrounding his resignation--that unspecified "investigations" might reveal wrongdoing--but conjectured that "the more plausible explanation is financial: leaving Congress will enable Gray to become a member of corporate boards and greatly increase his income."

Kitty Dumas of Black Enterprise pointed out that Gray's departure "left not only a void in the Democratic party leadership in the House of Representatives, but also in the Congressional Black Caucus." Dumas further commented that Gray might well have been "elected by his peers to serve as speaker by the year 2000. His departure dashed the hopes of many in the black community that one of their own might control the House by the turn of the century." Gray, however, was quoted in Black Enterprise as saying that the UNCF post was "a higher calling" and "a step up in public service." In an interview with the magazine a few months later, he said he wanted to make "a more focused contribution to the public policy by helping the education of African-American people at 41 Historically Black Colleges and Universities."

Gray immediately set high goals upon his acceptance of the UNCF position, aiming to "double [the organization's] annual contributions to [the 41 HBCUs]," meet donor Walter Annenberg's challenge gift by raising an additional $200 million, and "work with [HBCUs] to develop special projects that will enrich their curriculum, improve their academic standing and their ability to attract the best students," he told a Black Enterprise correspondent.

In addition, Gray stressed the need for the UNCF to function as "an advocacy group for higher education, but also [to] look at all the educational questions that African-Americans face." Gray emphasized that the UNCF could help respond to the scapegoating of Affirmative Action and other programs by "[articulating] real solutions to real problems in this society" and by helping to "develop a new generation of leaders out of the underprivileged and the underclass." UNCF board chairman Joseph D. Williams predicted that Gray would "be a major force in furthering the critical role of our traditionally black colleges and universities," as quoted in Black Enterprise.

In April of 1992, at a Michigan dinner for the Urban League, Gray reminded the guests that the struggle for equality was not over and that they must not be "lulled to sleep" by the success of some black politicians. "This will be the most pluralistic and diverse society in the westernized world," Gray remarked, according to the Oakland Press. "But if we don't get over problems of racism and see the real issues, the U.S. won't have a strong economy in the 21st century." For this minister-educator-politician, the struggles of his lifetime had not changed: religious morality, education and political change remained inseparable strands. And he continued to view his past experience as providing indelible lessons; "Life belongs to those who are always climbing," he told the Urban League, as cited in the Oakland Press. He went on to quote his grandmother, who once said, "Life for me ain't been crystal stairs ... and I'm still climbing."

Further Reading

Sources

• American Spectator, September 1989.
• Black Enterprise, July 1987; January 1989; September 1991; November 1991; February 1992.
• Business Week, September 7, 1987.
• Congressional Digest, April 1986; April 1990.
• Ebony, March 1979; September 1987; December 1989.
• Fortune, November 9, 1987.
• Jet, August 11, 1986; July 13, 1987; June 19, 1989.
• New York Times, January 5, 1985.
• Oakland Press, (Oakland County, MI), April 12, 1992.
• Time, July 1, 1991.

— Simon Glickman

(1885–1960)

William S. Gray, as author of the popular "Dick and Jane" series, arguably helped to define the field of reading education in the United States. Gray received a bachelor's degree from the University of Chicago in 1913, a master's degree from Teachers College, Columbia University, in 1914, and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1916. He was associated with the University of Chicago from the time he became an instructor in 1915 to his retirement as professor emeritus in 1950. Always interested in the education of teachers, he was dean of the college of education from 1917 to 1930 and head of the university's teacher preparation committee from 1933 through 1945.

Conducting and analyzing research studies to improve reading instruction was Gray's passion, and his work impacted virtually every aspect of the field. During his lifetime he authored more than 500 publications that examined the characteristics of all ages of readers, from young children to adults, as well as teaching procedures appropriate for the characteristics. He also developed a standardized reading test in 1915, which continues to be used into the twenty-first century, and he pioneered the diagnostic/remedial approach to reading difficulties.

Influence of Reform Movements

The underpinnings of Gray's approach to research and practice were formed in the first two decades of the twentieth century when his work and education brought him into contact with the reform movements transforming American education. In 1908, to prepare to become a teacher, he entered the Illinois State Normal School, the center of the Herbartian movement in North America: Charles De Garmo and Frank and Charles McMurry were among those who had taught or studied there. Herbartianism at the turn of the century was a scientific approach to education based on principles of learning. Gray adopted Herbartian principles and had the opportunity to apply them when he became principal of the training school at Illinois Normal following his graduation in 1910. The experience led to Gray's first publications: twelve articles on the teaching of geography, based on the principles of Herbartianism, which appeared in The School Century from May 1911 through June 1912.

Gray's incipient interest in a scientific approach to education was nurtured at the University of Chicago, where he worked primarily with Charles Judd, head of the department of education. Judd was a psychologist as well as educator who utilized scientific methods and measurement techniques to study education. While at Teachers College Gray worked with Edward L. Thorndike, who, even more so than Judd, was applying scientific principles, measurement techniques, and statistical procedures to education. Gray's life-long interest in reading assessment began to focus at this time. Thorndike was developing achievement scales in various subject areas, and Gray, for his master's thesis, developed a scale for reading. The test, Standardized Oral Reading Paragraphs, Grades 1 - 8, was published in 1915. This test continued to be used with only minor revisions until 1963; in 2001 the fourth edition of the Gray Oral Reading Test was issued.

Gray returned to the University of Chicago to study for a Ph.D. and immediately began to work for Judd, who was participating in a survey of the Cleveland schools. The survey was a major reform effort to bring scientific principles to bear on school improvement, and Judd asked Gray to assess reading achievement in the Cleveland schools. The experience gave Gray the opportunity to observe reading instruction in many classrooms and to refine his skills in reading assessment. He received his Ph.D. degree with a dissertation entitled "Studies of Elementary School Reading through Standardized Tests." His dissertation was published in 1917 as the first number in the Supplementary Educational Monographs of the University of Chicago.

During the "Economy of Time" reform movement in the second decade of the twentieth century, Gray, by then dean of the college of education at the University of Chicago, used scientific methods to determine the most successful method of teaching reading. Gray identified the following components:(1) selecting content of interest and significance to students; (2) developing independent word-recognition skills by word study and phonetic analysis after the student has acquired a basic vocabulary through content reading; and (3) providing a system of phonics that will naturally lead to accurate analysis of longer words encountered past the second grade. Gray became an advocate of the sight method of teaching reading, and had the opportunity to directly impact classroom practice in 1930 when he became a coauthor, with William H. Elson, of a popular basal reading series titled the Elson BasicReaders, published by Scott, Foresman and Company. In 1936 these became the Elson-Gray Basic Read-ers; in 1940 he became first author of the renamed Basic Readers. These "Dick and Jane" readers became widely used throughout America.

Literacy Efforts

Gray's assessment experience made him aware of student reading difficulties and the necessity to fit instruction to the perceived weaknesses of students. In 1922 this led to an influential book titled Remedial Cases in Reading: Their Diagnosis and Correction. This book marked the beginning of a diagnostic/prescriptive approach to individual differences that remained in practice at the beginning of the twenty-first century.

Gray had a continuing interest in adult literacy, publishing The Reading Interests and Habits of Adults in 1929 and Maturity in Reading: Its Nature and Appraisal in 1956. He was also involved with literacy on an international level, working particularly with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). This led to The Teaching of Reading and Writing: An International Survey, first published in 1956. He was also a founder of the International Reading Association, serving as its first president in 1955 - 1956.

Biographical information and a complete list of Gray's publications are included in a 1985 publication of the International Reading Association: William S. Gray: Teacher, Scholar, Leader, edited by Jennifer A. Stevenson. This document is also available as ERIC No. ED 255902.

Bibliography

Gilstad, June R. 1985. "William S. Gray (1885 - 1960): First IRA President." Reading Research Quarterly (summer):509 - 511.

Gray, William S. 1919. "Principles of Method in Teaching Reading, As Derived from Scientific Investigation." In The Eighteenth Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, Part II: Fourth Report of the Committee on Economy of Time in Education, ed. Guy Montrose Whipple. Bloomington, IL: Public School Publishing.

Gray, William S. 1948. On Their Own in Reading: How to Give Children Independence in Attacking New Words. Chicago: Scott, Foresman.

Gray, William S., and Arbuthnot, Mary Hill. 1940 - 1948. Basic Readers. Chicago: Scott, Foresman.

Stevenson, Jennifer A., ed. 1985. William S. Gray: Teacher, Scholar, Leader. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

— GERALD W. JORGENSON

From 1979 to 1991 William H. Gray III served as U.S. representative from Pennsylvania's Second Congressional District. Gray, a liberal Democrat, chaired the powerful House Budget Committee during his last six years in Congress. In those years, he fought against the administrations of Republican presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush to preserve Democratic spending priorities. An African American, Gray also became a leader on U.S. policy toward Africa. He helped create and pass laws that imposed harsh sanctions on South Africa for its policies of apartheid, or racial segregation.

Gray was born August 20, 1941, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. His father, William H. Gray, Jr., was a clergyman and an educator who served as president of Florida Normal and Industrial College, in St. Augustine, and of Florida A&M College, in Tallahassee. His mother, Hazel Yates Gray, worked as a high school teacher. In 1949, the family moved to Philadelphia, where Gray's father became pastor of Bright Hope Baptist Church. Gray's grandfather had served in the same post since 1925, and Gray would follow his grandfather and father to the Bright Hope pulpit in 1972.

Gray attended Franklin and Marshall College, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where he served an internship in the office of Representative Robert N.C. Nix, Jr. (D-Pa.). Although Gray felt stimulated by his brief experience in politics, he followed his father and grandfather into the ministry after his graduation in 1963. In 1964, he became assistant pastor of the Union Baptist Church, in Montclair, New Jersey. He went on to earn a master of divinity degree from Drew Theological School, in Madison, New Jersey, in 1966, and a master of theology degree from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1970.

While working as a minister, Gray became active in community projects, winning particularly high praise for his efforts to improve housing for low-income African Americans. In 1970, he brought suit against a landlord in Montclair who had refused to rent to him because of his race. The New Jersey Superior Court awarded Gray financial damages in a decision that set a national precedent (Gray v. Serruto Builders, Inc., 110 N.J. Super. 297, 265 A.2d 404 [1970]). Gray also served as a lecturer at several New Jersey colleges and as an assistant professor at Saint Peter's College, in Jersey City, New Jersey.

After his father's death in 1972, Gray became pastor of Bright Hope Baptist Church and continued his involvement in community politics. Convinced that he could accomplish more in a position of greater power, Gray decided to challenge his former employer, Nix, in 1976 for the Democratic nomination to represent Pennsylvania's Second Congressional District. He lost the primary by only 339 votes. In 1978, he challenged Nix in the primary again and won, and then earned a decisive victory over his Republican opponent in the general election.

In the House, Gray became a member of the Foreign Affairs, District of Columbia, and Budget Committees and was an active member of the Congressional Black Caucus. On the Budget Committee, he brokered crucial budget compromises between the House and Senate and developed a keen understanding of the intricacies of the federal government's money matters. An unapologetic liberal, he fought doggedly against the conservative policies of President Reagan.

On January 4, 1985, Gray was elected chairman of the powerful Budget Committee. During budget negotiations that year, he salvaged many programs that the Reagan administration and the Republican-controlled Congress sought to cancel, including Urban Development Action grants and the Appalachian Development Program. He also froze the defense budget at the previous year's level in order to reduce the budget deficit. Gray opposed the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act (also known as the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act) (1 §251 et seq. [2 U.S.C.A. §901 et seq.]), however, calling it a "flawed doomsday machine" that would destroy worthwhile programs. The law mandated automatic budget cuts unless specific deficit-reduction targets were met. Gray argued that the act led to budget padding and discouraged efficient management.

In 1987, Gray whittled the budget deficit down to $137 billion, $7 billion under the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings ceiling. He accomplished this through military spending reductions and tax increases. In negotiations for the budget of fiscal year 1989—the year in which the federal budget first exceeded $1 trillion— Gray successfully lobbied for more tax increases to meet the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings targets.

Gray worked throughout his congressional career to increase aid to black Africa. In 1980, he became the first rookie member of Congress to create a new government program, when he sponsored the bill that established the African Development Foundation (22 U.S.C.A. 290h-1). The foundation sent aid directly to African villages. In 1984, he sponsored legislation that sent emergency food aid to Ethiopia. Gray also exerted a great deal of influence over African affairs, authoring and promoting passage of the Anti-Apartheid Act (22 U.S.C.A. §5001 et seq.), which imposed economic sanctions on South Africa for its policies of racial segregation. The act passed in 1986 over President Reagan's veto. In addition, Gray worked to foster better relations between African and Jewish Americans.

As he rose in the House, Gray became increasingly influential in the Democratic party. In 1988, he chaired the panel that drafted the party platform at the Democratic National Convention. The following year, he was named to the powerful position of House majority whip.

Gray encountered difficulties when unconfirmed rumors of financial wrongdoing surfaced in 1988. He left Congress in 1991, surprising many who had predicted that he would continue to rise in the House. The same year, he became president of the United Negro College Fund.

Following his congressional career, Gray has continued to be active in public affairs. In 1994, President Bill Clinton appointed him envoy to Haiti. Gray advocated using economic sanctions against that country's military dictatorship in order to restore President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to power.

Gray was awarded the Martin Luther King, Jr., Award for Public Service in 1985. He has received honorary degrees from more than fifty colleges. Despite his heavy work schedule over the years, he has continued to preach sermons at Bright Hope Baptist Church, in Philadelphia, at least two Sundays a month.

Gray married Andrea Dash in 1971. The couple has three sons.

• Occupation: Actor
• Active: '50s-'70s
• Major Genres: Western, Drama

Biography

Charles H. Gray was an American character actor on stage and in films during the '50s and '60s. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

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