Victor Ashe
Encyclopedia
Victor Henderson Ashe II (born January 1, 1945) is the former United States Ambassador
to Poland
. From 1987 to 2003, he was mayor of Knoxville, Tennessee
. Ashe is a Republican
. Ambassador Ashe concluded his service as Ambassador to Poland on February 6, 2009.
, where he attended public school. He attended the Groton School
in Groton, Massachusetts and subsequently the Hotchkiss School
in Lakeville, CT. He graduated from Yale University
in 1967 with a BA in history. At Yale Ashe was a roommate of future President George W. Bush
. Along with Bush, Ashe was also a member of the Skull and Bones
society. In 1974 he earned his law degree from the University of Tennessee
College of Law. Before becoming an elected official, Ashe worked as an intern for Congressman Bill Brock
, and as a staff assistant for Senator Howard Baker
.
In 1968 Ashe was elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives
; he was only 23 years old at the time. The minimum age for state legislators was 30, so the Tennessee Supreme Court
stripped Ashe of that position. Ashe appointed his mother to replace him in the legislature. In 1975 he filled a State Senate seat held by his unelected mother, Martha Ashe; he was later elected to the position and served for nine years. He ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate
in 1984
against future Vice-President
Al Gore
.
From 1967 to 1973, during the Vietnam War
, Ashe was a member of the United States Marine Corps
Air Reserves. He was also the Executive Director of the Americans Outdoors Commission from 1985 until 1987.
of Knoxville in November 1987. He served 16 years as mayor, the longest term in the city’s history. As mayor, Ashe led several initiatives to improve Knoxville’s civic and financial footing. These initiatives focused on such things as waterfront development along the Tennessee River
and the building of a convention center to attract tourism and business. The latter was a cause for controversy, with many residents saying that the city of Knoxville
did not offer enough amenities to attract would-be events or shows to a convention center. Other initiatives included downtown redevelopment and sign and billboard control.
Ashe stressed diversity
within his administration, noting when he left office the growth of minorities and women on commissions and boards during his time as mayor. While Ashe often had the support of the city council
, he was unable to get it to institute a Police Advisory Review Committee to perform as a civilian review of police action, something which, in 1998, he felt was necessary to investigate the questionable deaths of three black men at the hands of police officers. At the time, hostility in the black community toward the police department was extremely high due to these deaths. Ashe circumvented the council and established the committee by executive order. Three years later, the council unanimously ratified the order, defusing growing protests for recall elections for Ashe and other councilors http://www.hellbenderpress.com/e?a=94.
After African-American city councilor Danny Mayfield died while in office, many felt that his widow deserved that seat. Mayor Ashe moved to appoint Raleigh Wynn, instead, in retaliation for Mayfield campaigning for mayor
Malone eventually sued mayor Ashe and city council, for holding secret meetings in violation of Tennessee Open Meetings Act http://www.state.tn.us/commerce/911/documents/StateSunshineAct.pdf.
Ashe was a strong supporter of parkland in the city, and during his tenure, parkland in Knoxville was increased from 700 to 1700 acres (7 km²) and 30 miles (48 km) of greenway
was added. He initiated a program called "Penny for the Parks" to create a trust fund that would use a one cent tax and federal matching money to commit $250,000 a year for city parks, greenways
and historic preservation
. After leaving office, Ashe was awarded a Cornelius Amory Pugsley Medal, which was granted by the American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration in recognition of his work on greenways
and public parks.
to Poland
in June 2004; during Ashe's tenure as mayor of Knoxville he, acting on the advice of Dr. Marek Pienkowski, helped to establish a sister city relationship with the city of Chełm, Poland, and led two delegations to that city.
One of the issues Ashe engaged in when he was appointed ambassador to Poland was the difficulty Poles have getting work and tourist visas
for the United States. After Ashe met with President George W. Bush
and Polish President Aleksander Kwaśniewski
in Washington
in 2005, Bush suggested that the visa rejection rate for Poles be lowered.
Ashe has also noted that Poland has a growing economy that offers many opportunities for US businesses. He is interested in having his own area of Knoxville and East Tennessee take advantage of such opportunities, and in 2005 advised a group of 16 Knoxville-area businesses to put together a trade mission to Poland.
On March 16, 2009 he was honoured by President of Poland Lech Kaczyński
with Commander's Cross with Star of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland, for his contribution to Polish-American cooperation. He was decorated on September 25, 2009 by Mariusz Handzlik
, undesecretary of state in President's Office.
Ambassadors from the United States
This is a list of ambassadors of the United States to individual nations of the world, to international organizations, to past nations, and ambassadors-at-large.Ambassadors are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate...
to Poland
Foreign relations of Poland
The Republic of Poland is a Central European country and member of the European Union and NATO, among others. In recent years, Poland has extended its responsibilities and position in European and Western affairs, supporting and establishing friendly foreign relations with both the West and with...
. From 1987 to 2003, he was mayor of Knoxville, Tennessee
Knoxville, Tennessee
Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...
. Ashe is a Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
. Ambassador Ashe concluded his service as Ambassador to Poland on February 6, 2009.
Early career
Ashe was born in Knoxville, TennesseeKnoxville, Tennessee
Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...
, where he attended public school. He attended the Groton School
Groton School
Groton School is a private, Episcopal, college preparatory boarding school located in Groton, Massachusetts, U.S. It enrolls approximately 375 boys and girls, from the eighth through twelfth grades...
in Groton, Massachusetts and subsequently the Hotchkiss School
Hotchkiss School
The Hotchkiss School is an independent, coeducational American college preparatory boarding school located in Lakeville, Connecticut. Founded in 1891, the school enrolls students in grades 9 through 12 and a small number of postgraduates...
in Lakeville, CT. He graduated from Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
in 1967 with a BA in history. At Yale Ashe was a roommate of future President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
. Along with Bush, Ashe was also a member of the Skull and Bones
Skull and Bones
Skull and Bones is an undergraduate senior or secret society at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. It is a traditional peer society to Scroll and Key and Wolf's Head, as the three senior class 'landed societies' at Yale....
society. In 1974 he earned his law degree from the University of Tennessee
University of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee is a public land-grant university headquartered at Knoxville, Tennessee, United States...
College of Law. Before becoming an elected official, Ashe worked as an intern for Congressman Bill Brock
Bill Brock
William Emerson "Bill" Brock III is a former Republican United States senator from Tennessee, having served from 1971 to 1977. He is the grandson of William Emerson Brock I, who was a Democratic U.S. senator from Tennessee from 1929 to 1931.-Early life and career:Brock was a native of Chattanooga,...
, and as a staff assistant for Senator Howard Baker
Howard Baker
Howard Henry Baker, Jr. is a former Senate Majority Leader, Republican U.S. Senator from Tennessee, White House Chief of Staff, and a former United States Ambassador to Japan.Known in Washington, D.C...
.
In 1968 Ashe was elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives
Tennessee House of Representatives
The Tennessee House of Representatives is the lower house of the Tennessee General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee.-Constitutional requirements:...
; he was only 23 years old at the time. The minimum age for state legislators was 30, so the Tennessee Supreme Court
Tennessee Supreme Court
The Tennessee Supreme Court is the state supreme court of the state of Tennessee. Cornelia Clark is the current Chief Justice.Unlike other states, in which the state attorney general is directly elected or appointed by the governor or state legislature, the Tennessee Supreme Court appoints the...
stripped Ashe of that position. Ashe appointed his mother to replace him in the legislature. In 1975 he filled a State Senate seat held by his unelected mother, Martha Ashe; he was later elected to the position and served for nine years. He ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
in 1984
United States Senate elections, 1984
The 1984 elections to the United States Senate coincided with the landslide re-election of President Ronald Reagan in the 1984 presidential election...
against future Vice-President
Vice President of the United States
The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
Al Gore
Al Gore
Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. served as the 45th Vice President of the United States , under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for President in the 2000 U.S. presidential election....
.
From 1967 to 1973, during the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, Ashe was a member of the United States Marine Corps
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
Air Reserves. He was also the Executive Director of the Americans Outdoors Commission from 1985 until 1987.
Mayor
Ashe was elected to be the mayorMayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
of Knoxville in November 1987. He served 16 years as mayor, the longest term in the city’s history. As mayor, Ashe led several initiatives to improve Knoxville’s civic and financial footing. These initiatives focused on such things as waterfront development along the Tennessee River
Tennessee River
The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River. It is approximately 652 miles long and is located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. The river was once popularly known as the Cherokee River, among other names...
and the building of a convention center to attract tourism and business. The latter was a cause for controversy, with many residents saying that the city of Knoxville
Knoxville, Tennessee
Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...
did not offer enough amenities to attract would-be events or shows to a convention center. Other initiatives included downtown redevelopment and sign and billboard control.
Ashe stressed diversity
Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism is the appreciation, acceptance or promotion of multiple cultures, applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place, usually at the organizational level, e.g...
within his administration, noting when he left office the growth of minorities and women on commissions and boards during his time as mayor. While Ashe often had the support of the city council
City council
A city council or town council is the legislative body that governs a city, town, municipality or local government area.-Australia & NZ:Because of the differences in legislation between the States, the exact definition of a City Council varies...
, he was unable to get it to institute a Police Advisory Review Committee to perform as a civilian review of police action, something which, in 1998, he felt was necessary to investigate the questionable deaths of three black men at the hands of police officers. At the time, hostility in the black community toward the police department was extremely high due to these deaths. Ashe circumvented the council and established the committee by executive order. Three years later, the council unanimously ratified the order, defusing growing protests for recall elections for Ashe and other councilors http://www.hellbenderpress.com/e?a=94.
After African-American city councilor Danny Mayfield died while in office, many felt that his widow deserved that seat. Mayor Ashe moved to appoint Raleigh Wynn, instead, in retaliation for Mayfield campaigning for mayor
"The night it all came down I could not stop shivering. It changed the way I viewed a lot of things. For the first time, sitting on Council [with mayor Victor Ashe], I really felt I was in the presence of evil. I had disagreed with people on many occasions and felt strongly about many things, but I never ever had felt something I could describe as the presence of evil. Until that night. There was just darkness. Hopelessness. But never, until Danny's death and the appointment of someone other than his wife, and knowing the orchestration that took place to make it happen, did I realize that I could never again go back to that body without carrying with me my belief that they were capable of the worst possible actions."
—City Councilwoman Carlene Malone, Metro Pulse, "Malone Alone", December 13, 2001
Malone eventually sued mayor Ashe and city council, for holding secret meetings in violation of Tennessee Open Meetings Act http://www.state.tn.us/commerce/911/documents/StateSunshineAct.pdf.
Parkland and public domain
As mayor, Ashe favored preserving buildings that had possible historic value, at one point threatening to put historic zoning restrictions on a building its owners wished to demolish.Ashe was a strong supporter of parkland in the city, and during his tenure, parkland in Knoxville was increased from 700 to 1700 acres (7 km²) and 30 miles (48 km) of greenway
Greenway
-People:* Barney Greenway , British death metal vocalist* Brian Greenway , Canadian guitarist and vocalist* Chad Greenway , American football player* Francis Greenway , Australian architect...
was added. He initiated a program called "Penny for the Parks" to create a trust fund that would use a one cent tax and federal matching money to commit $250,000 a year for city parks, greenways
Greenways
Greenways is a set of three short atmospheric piano works composed by John Ireland in 1937; entitled The Cherry Tree, Cypress and The Palm and May. They were written when the composer was 57 and are amongst the last sets of piano works he wrote.Greenways sets out to depict in music quotations from...
and historic preservation
Historic preservation
Historic preservation is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance...
. After leaving office, Ashe was awarded a Cornelius Amory Pugsley Medal, which was granted by the American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration in recognition of his work on greenways
Greenways
Greenways is a set of three short atmospheric piano works composed by John Ireland in 1937; entitled The Cherry Tree, Cypress and The Palm and May. They were written when the composer was 57 and are amongst the last sets of piano works he wrote.Greenways sets out to depict in music quotations from...
and public parks.
Ambassador to Poland
Ashe was sworn in as a US ambassadorAmbassador
An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....
to Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
in June 2004; during Ashe's tenure as mayor of Knoxville he, acting on the advice of Dr. Marek Pienkowski, helped to establish a sister city relationship with the city of Chełm, Poland, and led two delegations to that city.
One of the issues Ashe engaged in when he was appointed ambassador to Poland was the difficulty Poles have getting work and tourist visas
Visa (document)
A visa is a document showing that a person is authorized to enter the territory for which it was issued, subject to permission of an immigration official at the time of actual entry. The authorization may be a document, but more commonly it is a stamp endorsed in the applicant's passport...
for the United States. After Ashe met with President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
and Polish President Aleksander Kwaśniewski
Aleksander Kwasniewski
Aleksander Kwaśniewski is a Polish politician who served as the President of Poland from 1995 to 2005. He was born in Białogard, and during communist rule he was active in the Socialist Union of Polish Students and was the Minister for Sport in the communist government in the 1980s...
in Washington
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
in 2005, Bush suggested that the visa rejection rate for Poles be lowered.
Ashe has also noted that Poland has a growing economy that offers many opportunities for US businesses. He is interested in having his own area of Knoxville and East Tennessee take advantage of such opportunities, and in 2005 advised a group of 16 Knoxville-area businesses to put together a trade mission to Poland.
On March 16, 2009 he was honoured by President of Poland Lech Kaczyński
Lech Kaczynski
Lech Aleksander Kaczyński was Polish lawyer and politician who served as the President of Poland from 2005 until 2010 and as Mayor of Warsaw from 2002 until 22 December 2005. Before he became a president, he was also a member of the party Prawo i Sprawiedliwość...
with Commander's Cross with Star of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland, for his contribution to Polish-American cooperation. He was decorated on September 25, 2009 by Mariusz Handzlik
Mariusz Handzlik
Mariusz Handzlik was a Polish diplomat, the Undersecretary of State in the Office of the President of the Republic of Poland and since October, 2008 in charge of foreign policy....
, undesecretary of state in President's Office.