Janet Langhart Cohen - Wife of Sec'y Defence is black & possible subject
William Cohen and his wife, Janet Langhart Cohen, are the definition of Washington power couple.
A former U.S. Senator for the state of Maine (1979-1997) and prior to that, serving three terms in the House of Representatives from Maine's Second Congressional District (1973-1979), William Cohen was selected by President Clinton and sworn in as U.S. Secretary of Defense in January of 1997.
Janet Langhart Cohen, a seasoned television journalist, has worked as a newscaster in Boston as well as having been a correspondent for Entertainment Tonight and Black Entertainment Television. Her duties now include serving as First Lady of the U.S. Armed Forces, as well as running her own business, Langhart Communications, which teaches "corporate captains how to become more media savvy," according to a Washington Post article.
The two met in 1974, and over the next two decades they maintained a distant, professional friendship. When Cohen divorced his wife in 1987 and Langhart lost her second husband to suicide in 1990, their friendship began to flourish. After the sudden death of his father in 1995, Cohen began to re-evaluate his life and his relationships, according to the Washington Post. He proposed to Janet shortly thereafter and the two were wed three weeks later on Valentine's Day, 1996.
The Cohens have spoken openly about their interracial relationship and they feel that while they do send a positive message to onlookers about race relations, "this is something that transcends race, that two people can love each other," says Sec. Cohen. The Washington Post reports, "To them, their union is testament that it's possible to scale the cultural walls that divide many Americans."
Photo by R. D. Ward. Courtesy of Defense Link.
A former U.S. Senator for the state of Maine (1979-1997) and prior to that, serving three terms in the House of Representatives from Maine's Second Congressional District (1973-1979), William Cohen was selected by President Clinton and sworn in as U.S. Secretary of Defense in January of 1997.
Janet Langhart Cohen, a seasoned television journalist, has worked as a newscaster in Boston as well as having been a correspondent for Entertainment Tonight and Black Entertainment Television. Her duties now include serving as First Lady of the U.S. Armed Forces, as well as running her own business, Langhart Communications, which teaches "corporate captains how to become more media savvy," according to a Washington Post article.
The two met in 1974, and over the next two decades they maintained a distant, professional friendship. When Cohen divorced his wife in 1987 and Langhart lost her second husband to suicide in 1990, their friendship began to flourish. After the sudden death of his father in 1995, Cohen began to re-evaluate his life and his relationships, according to the Washington Post. He proposed to Janet shortly thereafter and the two were wed three weeks later on Valentine's Day, 1996.
The Cohens have spoken openly about their interracial relationship and they feel that while they do send a positive message to onlookers about race relations, "this is something that transcends race, that two people can love each other," says Sec. Cohen. The Washington Post reports, "To them, their union is testament that it's possible to scale the cultural walls that divide many Americans."
Photo by R. D. Ward. Courtesy of Defense Link.
