John frohnmayer biography

John Frohnmayer (born June 1, 1942) is an.
John Frohnmayer was the fifth chair of the National Endowment for the Arts, appointed by President George HW Bush in 1989.
John Frohnmayer holds academic degrees in American history, ethics and law from Stanford, Chicago and Oregon.

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Leaving Town Alive: Confessions of an Arts Warrior

"Brimming with optimism, John Frohnmayer journeyed to Washington, D.C., in 1989 to serve a cause he believed in deeply: the arts in America. Appointed by President Bush to be chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, he was abruptly fired two and a half years later in a storm of front-page controversy." "Leaving Town Alive is Frohnmayer's lively and startlingly candid account of his trial by fire in the brutal world of power politics. Taking over the NEA amid the uproar about Robert Mapplethorpe's sexually explicit photographs, Frohnmayer stood at the center of the emotional debate over public funding for the arts. On the left were staunch defenders of free speech and the artists whose confrontational works came under attack. On the right were Jesse Helms and the fundamentalist proponents of traditional values." "At first Frohnmayer assumed that he could negotiate anything and that everyone had the best interests of the country at heart. He was wrong: the White House, for instance, just wanted the problem of "offensive

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Otto Frohnmayer was a prominent attorney, civic leader, and philanthropist who played an important role in Medford’s transformation from a small rail and fruit-growing city into the region’s medical and financial hub. Over seven decades, he and his family helped bring art, culture, and a strong sense of civic pride to many Southern Oregon projects.

Otto John Frohnmayer was born in Germany on October 22, 1905, the son of Bernard and Sophie Yetter Frohnmayer. When Otto was an infant, the family immigrated to Oregon, where Bernard worked as a watchmaker and toolmaker. Otto was educated in Portland public schools, graduating from Washington High School before enrolling at Multnomah College and then transferring to the University of Oregon, where he graduated with a B.S. degree in 1929. Frohnmayer earned a law degree from the University of Oregon Law School in 1933, working odd jobs that included a stint as a hotel bellhop. He then moved to Medford, where he joined the successful law practice of Porter J. Neff as an associate. He married MarAbel Braden, a music teacher from Albany, in

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John Frohnmayer (1989-92)

John Frohnmayer was the fifth chair of the National Endowment for the Arts, appointed by President George H. W. Bush in 1989. Prior to the NEA, Frohnmayer was a successful lawyer—specializing in the First Amendment, an art collector, and chairman of the Oregon State Arts Commission. He had studied for the ministry before choosing law as a profession.

The NEA was in the midst of controversies surrounding its funding of various projects when he took office, notably surrounding a Robert Mapplethorpe exhibit, which would lead to Congressional action and a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 1998, National Endowment for the Arts v. Finley. Frohnmayer's focus on art education was largely overshadowed by the contentious partisan politics surrounding the agency. Among the programs started under his leadership was the Rural Arts Initiative, which helped rural arts organizations to develop artistically and administratively.

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