Callaway, Howard H. (Howard Hollis), 1927-2014

Howard Hollis "Bo" Callaway was born on April 2, 1927 in LaGrange, Georgia. He was a student at the Georgia Institute of Technology from 1944 to 1945, and he received a B.S. from the U.S. Military Academy in 1949. He as a 1st Lieutenant in the U.S. Army from 1949 to 1952. He was a member of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, 1953 to 1964; President of Callaway Gardens, 1953 to 1970; President of the Ida Cason Callaway Foundation, 1956 to 1970; Director of the Trust Company of Georgia, 1958 to 1964; Director of the Georgia Power Company, 1960 to 1964; and Chairman of the Freedom''s Foundation at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, 1966 to 1973. Callaway was also active in politics, serving as a U.S. Representative from Georgia, 1965 to 1966, and in 1966 he was also a Republican candidate for Governor of Georgia. From 1968 to 1973 he was a Republican National Committeeman from Georgia, and Vice Chairman of the Republican National Committee. From 1970 to 1973 he served as President of Interfinancial, Inc. and was a civilian aide to the Secretary of the Army. In 1973, President Richard Nixon appointed Callaway as Secretary of the Army, and he continued in that position into the Ford administration. During his tenure as Secretary of the Army, his major accomplishment was to "sell" the concept of an all-volunteer army and then preside over its implementation. Callaway resigned from his post in June 1975 to become chairman of President Ford''s newly-formed campaign organization, the President Ford Committee (PFC). He headed the PFC for nine months, but resigned in March 1976 after being accused by Democratic Senator Floyd Haskell that while serving as Secretary of the Army, he had furthered his family''s interests in a Colorado ski resort by persuading the Forest Service and the Civil Aeronautics Board to make rulings favorable to the resort. After leaving the PFC, Callaway devoted himself to disproving the charges leveled against him. He testified before Haskell''s committee investigating the charges and considered legal action against his accusers. In the end the Senate committee criticized Callaway only for "poor judgement," while a Justice Department investigation cleared him of any conflict-of-interest charges. Since 1976 he served as Chairman of the Board of the Crested Butte Mountain Resort in Colorado, but remained active in politics. He was a candidate for the Republication nomination to the U.S. Senate from Colorado in 1980, served as Chairman of the Colorado Republican Party from 1981 to 1987, and since 1987 he was Chairman of GOPAC, a Republican political action committee.

From the description of Callaway, Howard H. (Howard Hollis), 1927- (U.S. National Archives and Records Administration). naId: 10679494

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