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Carla Anderson Hills

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[disambiguation needed]

Carla Anderson Hills
Carla Anderson Hills in San Antonio, Texas (1992)
5th Chairwoman of the Council on Foreign Relations
Serving alongside: Robert E. Rubin
Incumbent
Assumed office
2007
PresidentRichard N. Haass
Preceded byPeter George Peterson
5th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
In office
March 10, 1975 – January 20, 1977
PresidentGerald Ford
Preceded byJames Thomas Lynn
Succeeded byPatricia Roberts Harris
10th United States Trade Representative
In office
1989–1993
PresidentGeorge H. W. Bush
Preceded byClayton Keith Yeutter
Succeeded byMickey Kantor
Personal details
Born (1934-01-03) January 3, 1934 (age 90)
Los Angeles, California
SpouseRoderick M. Hills
Children4
ResidenceWashington DC
Alma materOxford University
Stanford University
Yale Law School
Professionlaw

Carla Anderson Hills (born January 3, 1934) is an American lawyer and public figure. She served as United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the Gerald Ford administration, and as U.S. Trade Representative. She was the first woman to serve as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and the third woman to serve as a Cabinet officer in a U.S. Presidential Administration.[1]

Biography

Born in Los Angeles, she received her B.A. degree from Stanford University, after studying at Oxford University. She earned her LL.B. degree from Yale University Law School in 1958. Born Carla Anderson, she married Roderick M. Hills the same year.[2]

Career

Mrs. Hills was admitted to the California Bar in 1959, and served as an Assistant United States Attorney in Los Angeles from 1959 to 1961. From 1962 to 1974, she was a partner at Munger, Tolles, Hills, and Rickershauser of Los Angeles. In 1972, she was an adjunct professor at UCLA.[3] An authority on federal practice and anti-trust law, Mrs. Hills wrote of Federal Civil Practice and Antitrust Advisor.[4] She is a former president of the National Association of Women Lawyers.

She was an United States Assistant Attorney General heading the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice before being named HUD Secretary. She was first offered an appointment as assistant U.S. Attorney General by Elliot L. Richardson in 1973, but he resigned shortly thereafter during the Watergate scandal. The offer was renewed by his successor, William B. Saxbe, in 1974.

Hills' lack of relevant experience was somewhat controversial during the appointment hearings for her nomination to head the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. From 1978 through 1989 she was again a practicing attorney, and was chairman of the Urban Institute from 1983 through 1988.

U.S. Trade Rep. - NAFTA & GATT Negotiator

Hills served as U.S. Trade Representative (1989 - 1993) under President George Herbert Walker Bush. She was under pressure to implement the 1988 Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act to go after countries trading unfairly with the U.S. using the Act's new Section 301 which the New York Times called her "crowbar". 301 enabled the U.S. to impose tariffs as high as 100% and she initially went after Japan, Brazil and India, though the Bush administration later decided Japan had changed its ways.[1]

An advocate of free trade, she was the primary U.S. negotiator of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). On May 28, 1991, Rep. Esteban Torres (D-CA) complained to Hills in a letter that more Hispanics needed to be included in the NAFTA negotiations process.[5] In 2000, Mrs. Hills was awarded the The Mexican Order of the Aztec Eagle (La Orden Mexicana del Aguila Azteca) which is the highest honor conveyed to non-citizens by the Mexican government.[6] In fact, the first time Mexican-Americans were honored with this award was November 12, 1990, one of whom was the union leader, Cesar Chavez[7]

President George H.W. Bush's administration's real priority was to hammer out the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT) in the Uruguay Round. Hill was know as a strong negotiator and was appreciated. "Delegations from 97 countries [sought] ways to notch down everyone's tariffs and remove other obstacles to trade." "The 97 signatories to GATT account for two-thirds of the $3 trillion in merchandise traded each year. Since the original agreement in 1947, GATT has been altered six times..." but, "after the last GATT revision - the Tokyo Round, which started in 1976 - many American industries were outclassed by others".[1]

Since 1993 she has worked as a consultant and public speaker through Hills & Company International Consultants, which gives advice on investment, trade and risk issues abroad. She was one of the founders of the Forum for International Policy where she's a trustee.[8] Carla stepped down from Time Warner, Inc. with Ted Turner in 2006.[9] She now serves on international advisory boards for American International Group, the Coca-Cola Company, Gilead Sciences, Inc., J.P. Morgan Chase and Rolls Royce as well as the board of the U.S.-China Business Council[2].[10]

In 2008, Yale University granted her an honorary degree and she has received several others.[11]

North American Community

In 2005, Carla Hills participated in [Independent Task Force on North America |The Task Force on the Future of North America] which produced a controversial report called, Building a North American Community sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations. The general sense was to strengthen trading relationships between the U.S., Canada and Mexico by making trade more efficient, planning for North American infrastructure, fast tracking borders and even some language integration. For example, it was recommended to “assist elementary and secondary schools in teaching about North America.” (page 29) “Develop teacher exchange and training programs for elementary and secondary school teachers. This would assist in removing language barriers and give some students a greater sense of a North American identity. Greater efforts should also be made to recruit Mexican language teachers to teach Spanish in the United States and Canada.”[12]

While the report recommends against a bureaucratic union such as the European Union and says countries can retain their sovereignty it sounds more like semantics given what would be produced with recommendations to "Develop a North American Border Pass...Lay the groundwork for the freer flow of people within North America. The three governments should commit themselves to the long-term goal of dramatically diminishing the need for the current intensity of the governments’ physical control of cross-border traffic, travel, and trade within North America...the elimination of most controls over the temporary movement of these travelers within North America...The governments of Canada, Mexico, and the United States should articulate as their long-term goal a common security perimeter for North America."[13]

Affiliations

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Louis Uchitelle (June 10, 1990), A Crowbar for Carla Hills, New York Times, retrieved 2009-02-07
  2. ^ "Carla Anderson Hills". Retrieved 2009-02-07.
  3. ^ "International Crisis Group - Carla A. Hills". Retrieved 2009-02-07.
  4. ^ Hills, Carla A. (1978). Antitrust Advisor: 1984 Cumulative Supplement. Colorado Springs: Shepard's, Inc. ISBN 9780070567016. {{cite book}}: Check |authorlink= value (help); External link in |authorlink= (help)
  5. ^ Hamm, Patricia H. (July 1, 1996), Chicanos, NAFTA and U.S.-Mexico Relations: A 1988-1993 Chronology (PDF), Center for Research on Latinos in a Global Society (University of California, Irvine), p. 14, retrieved 2009-02-07
  6. ^ "Hills Program on Governance, Roderick M. & Carla A. Hills". Retrieved 2009-02-07.
  7. ^ Hamm, Patricia H. (July 1, 1996), Chicanos, NAFTA and U.S.-Mexico Relations: A 1988-1993 Chronology (PDF), Center for Research on Latinos in a Global Society (University of California, Irvine), p. 8, retrieved 2009-02-07
  8. ^ a b "The Forum for International Policy, trustees". Retrieved 2009-02-07.
  9. ^ "Ted Turner and Carla A. Hills to Step Down from Time Warner's Board of Directors". February 24, 2006. Retrieved 2009-02-07.
  10. ^ "Carla A. Hills Profile - Forbes.com". Retrieved 2009-02-07.
  11. ^ Yale University gives ex-Beatle honorary doctorate in music RepublicanAmerican, 2008-05-26, retrieved 2008-05-26
  12. ^ Pastor, Robert A.; Hills, Carla A.; Jones, James R.; Manley, John P.; Niles, Thomas M.T.; Cunningham, Nelson W.; Weld, William F.; Yzaguirre, Raul H. (2005). Building a North American Community (PDF). Council on Foreign Relations Press. pp. 29–30. ISBN 0876093489. Retrieved 2009-02-07. {{cite book}}: Check |authorlink= value (help); External link in |authorlink= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  13. ^ Pastor, Robert A.; Hills, Carla A.; Jones, James R.; Manley, John P.; Niles, Thomas M.T.; Cunningham, Nelson W.; Weld, William F.; Yzaguirre, Raul H. (2005). Building a North American Community (PDF). Council on Foreign Relations Press. pp. 8–10. ISBN 0876093489. Retrieved 2009-02-07. {{cite book}}: Check |authorlink= value (help); External link in |authorlink= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  14. ^ Board of Directors, Council on Foreign Relations, retrieved 2008-05-26
  15. ^ [1], National Committee on United States-China Relations, retrieved 2008-07-04
  16. ^ Inter-American Dialogue BoD, dead as of 2008-05-26 archive.org, version of 2007-05-06 retrieved 2008-05-26
Political offices
Preceded by U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
1975–1977 		Succeeded by
Government offices
Preceded by United States Trade Representative
1989 – 1993 		Succeeded by
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