James Horace Burnley IV (born July 30, 1948) is an American politician and lawyer. He served as the United States Secretary of Transportation from 1987 until 1989, during the administration of President Ronald Reagan. He is a partner at Venable LLP in Washington, D.C. Early life Burnley was born in High Point, North Carolina, on July 30, 1948, to Dorothy Mary (Rockwell) and James H. Burnley III. He attended High Point Central High School from 1963 to 1966 and participated in the school's debate team in the National Forensic League. According to The New York Times, he was the only member of the team to earn a double ruby, the highest medal. He matriculated to Yale University and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude in 1970. He received his Juris Doctor from Harvard University in 1973. Administration In 1987, President Ronald Reagan chose Burnley, Dole's Deputy Secretary and the Department's former General Counsel, to be the nation's ninth Secretary of Transportation. Burnley served as Secretary of Transportation from 1987 to 1989. While number two at DOT, Burnley played a key role in negotiating the sale of Conrail, enabling the transfer of the Washington airports to a regional authority, and helped to assemble an ATC work force in the wake of the 1981 PATCO strike. He also helped to produce the department's policies on aviation safety and security. While Secretary, Burnley emphasized programs to eliminate drug use by issuing regulations requiring drug tests for employees in safety or security-sensitive positions in transportation-related industries. He also set up policies to encourage greater private-sector participation in meeting transportation needs, and supported Coast Guard efforts to upgrade equipment and facilities. In 1988, while Secretary, Burnley directed an investigation into Texas Air Corporation, and its subsidiaries, Continental Airlines and Eastern Airlines. Due to indications of increasing financial pressures at both carriers and FAA findings underlying a substantial proposed fine of Eastern Airlines, Burnley ordered an unprecedented review of the economic fitness and compliance with safety regulations of both major airlines. The review concluded that Texas Air and the two subsidiaries still met the DOT's economic fitness criteria. As to Eastern Airlines, the review determined that the acrimonious relationships between the company and its unions increased the risk that safety could be jeopardized. Burnley appointed former Secretary of Labor Bill Brock to "try to build the lines of communication and cooperation inside the