His career began in the military
His first taste of work life was in the US army, where he served from 1962 to 1967, and was in charge of several units that fought in Germany, South Korea, and the United States. He saw the military as a social leveler where African Americans got the system to give them the recognition they deserved.
Yearning to return to civilian life, Ronald applied to St. John’s Law School in 1967 when he finished serving in the military. While at law school, he took a temporary job as a social worker and later gained employment with the National Urban League through the intervention of his mother. This will later prove a crucial moment in his life and his eventual rise to national recognition. He started off as a job developer-trainee adviser at the League in 1968.
He maintained his interest in his legal education, graduated from St. John’s University Law School in 1970, and was called to the bar a year later. He was promoted five years later to the position of deputy executive director for programs and governmental affairs at the National Urban League and later appointed to the position of director of the League’s Washington office in 1973, before moving into full-time political advocacy. This provided him with firsthand experience to be actively involved in Washington politics.
