More than four decades after his death, the name Joel W. Solomon remains familiar in the Chattanooga area because of the federal courthouse that bears his name. That same building has been in the news lately as local officials and the federal agency Solomon once led sparred over where to construct a replacement.
But while many Chattanoogans may know the name, they may not know about Solomon’s rise to prominence and the ruckus he caused while fighting corruption in two years as a member of then-President Jimmy Carter’s Cabinet.
The people he bothered and/or angered included the likes of then-House Speaker Tip O’Neill, D-Mass. At the same time, Solomon’s work, which came with Watergate still fresh in people’s memories, drew support from both Republicans and Democrats.
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