Eric Holder

Eric H. Holder, Jr. has been selected as the next U.S. Attorney General by President-elect Obama. You will hear about his experiences as a D.C. Superior Court judge, U.S. Attorney and Deputy U.S. Attorney General in the media and during Senate confirmation hearings.

But Mr. Holder’s primary qualification is obvious: He is a graduate of New York City’s famed Stuyvesant High School, the public institution which has produced so many of our country’s political, scientific, and cultural leaders, including three Nobel laureates, actress Lucy Liu (劉玉玲), Obama advisor David Axelrod, food writer Mark Bittman, Thelonious Monk (a drop-out), and the writer/editor of NotionsCapital.

My first year there… That year is the most difficult year I’ve ever had in an educational setting. Forget about the first year of law school, the first year of college… That year in Stuyvesant really kind of gave me confidence in a way. Having gotten through it, I became convinced that there was almost nothing I could not do educationally, intellectually.
– Eric H. Holder Jr. ’69, Campaign for Stuyvesant (via Wikiquote)

 There is a down side to Mr. Holder’s appointment: It probably rules out a Cabinet position for General Colin Powell. The reason is manifestly obvious. Sadly, many people in this country will simply not stand for a Presidential Cabinet that contains two guys from the Bronx.

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Yes, Stuyvesant athletic teams really are called the Peglegs; attempts to rename them “the Mobility Challengers” fell on deaf ears were rejected.

Read the book about Stuyvesant High School by Medill’s Alec Klein, former Washington Post reporter.