Julius W. Becton Jr.
Julius W. Becton Jr., who was the Army’s highest-ranking Black officer for years and the first Black director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), died November 28.
Becton attended Muhlenberg in 1947 and 1948, between stints of active military duty, and was among the first Black students to attend the College. Becton received a Silver Star for his valorous actions in the Korean War and another during the Vietnam War. He spent 40 years as an officer, retiring at the rank of lieutenant general, and in 1985, President Ronald Reagan appointed him as the director of FEMA, a position he held for four years. He went on to serve as president of Prairie View A&M University and as CEO/superintendent of public schools in the District of Columbia. He received an honorary doctorate from Muhlenberg in 1988. In 2007, he was awarded the George Catlett Marshall Medal, the highest award presented by the Association of the U.S. Army.
