• Volpe Overview
  • How to Reach Volpe
  • Visiting Volpe
  • Mission
  • Why Volpe Is Unique
  • Volpe’s Team
  • History and John A. Volpe

John A. Volpe

A distinguished civic leader, federal administrator, and public servant, John A. Volpe always gave generously of himself. Following his graduation from the Wentworth Institute, where he majored in architectural construction, Volpe started his own construction business in Massachusetts.

In 1950, John Volpe entered politics as Deputy Chairman of the Massachusetts Republican State Committee, and received his first major public appointment in 1953. He served from 1956 to 1957 as the first Federal Highway Administrator, and was elected Governor of Massachusetts in 1960 for a two-year term. After losing by a narrow margin in 1962, Volpe returned to the governor's office in 1964. In 1966, Gov. Volpe was re-elected - for the first four-year term in Massachusetts - by the largest margin ever accorded a Massachusetts gubernatorial candidate (over 500,000 votes).

During Governor Volpe's third term as Massachusetts' governor, President Richard Nixon asked him to become a Cabinet member. On January 20, 1969, John Volpe became the second U.S. Secretary of Transportation.

In 1973, President Nixon appointed Secretary Volpe to the post of United States Ambassador to Italy, in which position he served, with distinction, until 1976.