Air Force Gen. Charles Brown becomes first black military service chief after unanimous Senate confirmation

Charles Brown.
(Image credit: Kevin Dietsch-Pool/Getty Image)

Gen. Charles Brown was confirmed Tuesday by the Senate as the Air Force's new chief of staff, making him the country's first-ever black service chief and the first black American to sit on the Joint Chiefs of Staff since Colin Powell was chair between 1989 and 1993, The Hill notes.

It was a pretty easy choice for the often contentious upper chamber, as it turns out — the Senate confirmed Brown unanimously, which is not a common sight in Washington, D.C.

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.