On his way to an affirmative action meeting with the Boston Redevelopment Authority on April 5, 1976, African-American attorney Theodore Landsmark was physically assaulted by anti-busing demonstrators on City Hall plaza. One of the demonstrators swung an American flag at him. Landsmark's flag flogging and resulting injuries became a national symbol of racial intolerance in Boston. At the time of the attack, Landsmark was director of the Contractors Association of Boston. Since that time he has held a succession of key government posts: the first African-American appointed as director of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (1977); director of the Mayor's Office of Jobs and Community Services (1989): director for the Safe Neighborhoods Program for the city of Boston (1990).