Benjamin Payton

Benjamin Payton (Lawyer)
File:Benjamin Payton 1987.png
Born	1932 Orangeburg, South Carolina, USA
Died	28 September 2016 Estero, Florida,USA
Nationality	USA
Ethnicity	Afro-American
Alma mater	South Carolina State University,Harvard University,Columbia University, Yale University
Exposed	Tuskegee syphilis experiment
Academic administrator who was president of two historically black universities: Benedict College from 1967 to 1972 and Tuskegee University from 1981 to 2010. He attended the 1972 Bilderberg meeting before starting to work for the Ford Foundation.

Benjamin Payton, an African-American academic administrator who was president of two historically black universities: Benedict College in Columbia, South Carolina from 1967 to 1972 and Tuskegee University in Tuskegee, Alabama from 1981 to 2010. He attended the 1972 Bilderberg meeting before starting to work for the Ford Foundation.

Education

Payton was born on December 27, 1932, in Orangeburg, South Carolina.

Payton graduated from South Carolina State University, where he earned a bachelor's degree, followed by another bachelor's degree from Harvard University, a master's degree from Columbia University and a PhD from Yale University.

Career

Payton was president of Benedict College from 1967 to 1972.

Payton worked for the Ford Foundation - a foundation with a long history of collaborating with the CIA - from 1972 until 1981.

In June 1982 CIA director Bill Casey wrote a letter to Payton, asking him to join Casey and a small group of leaders of colleges and universities, discussing "how we in the Agency could better do our jobs and how we could further improve relations with academe."

Payton was president of Tuskegee University from 1981 to 2010. It was also thanks to his leadership that President Bill Clinton issued an apology to the university for the Tuskegee syphilis experiment in 1997.