Born into a middle-class family in Washington, D.C., Robert Clifton Weaver earned a doctorate in economics from Harvard University in 1934, and went on to serve in a number of public policy positions in the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration. In 1961, he was tapped by President John F. Kennedy as administrator of the Housing and Home Finance Administration, and five years later, in 1966, became the first African-American cabinet secretary in the White House when President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed him to lead the newly created Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Dr. Weaver died July 17, 1997 at the age of 89.

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