List of people who have held multiple United States Cabinet-level positions
The Cabinet of the United States, which is the principal advisory body to the President of the United States, has had numerous permanent members serve as heads of multiple different federal executive departments, along with the Vice President or other cabinet-level positions, which can differ under each president. As the years progressed, some departments lost their original status in the president's cabinet, while other offices were established or reorganized as such. Unlike in many parliamentary cabinets, it is generally less common in the United States for officeholders to obtain multiple positions over the years.
Edmund Randolph became the first person to have served in two different presidential cabinet posts when he was appointed Secretary of State by President George Washington in 1794 after previously serving as Attorney General during Washington's first term in office. Patricia Roberts Harris was the first woman and the first person of color to serve multiple posts in a president's cabinet when President Jimmy Carter appointed her Secretary of Health and Human Services[a] in 1979, having earlier served as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development through the first half of Carter's administration.
Elliot Richardson held the most different positions within the presidential cabinet with four, having served as Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare;[a] Secretary of Defense; and Attorney General, all three under President Richard Nixon, as well as Secretary of Commerce for Nixon's successor, Gerald Ford.[1] That record was equaled by George Shultz, who served successively within the Nixon administration—first as Secretary of Labor, then in a cabinet-rank position as Director of the Office of Management and Budget, and finally as Secretary of the Treasury—before being appointed Secretary of State under President Ronald Reagan.[2]
List of multiple cabinet-level officeholders
[edit]The following list includes people who have led two or more different executive departments or other cabinet-level offices, which can vary under each president. The table below is organized by date of second appointment or election to such a position. Officeholders whose terms begin the same day are ranked alphabetically by last name.
No. | Image | Name | Office | Took office | Left office |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Edmund Randolph | Attorney General | September 26, 1789 | January 26, 1794 | |
Secretary of State | January 2, 1794 | August 20, 1795 | |||
2 | Timothy Pickering | Secretary of War | January 2, 1795 | December 10, 1795 | |
Secretary of State | December 10, 1795 | May 12, 1800 | |||
3 | Samuel Dexter | Secretary of War | June 1, 1800 | January 31, 1801 | |
Secretary of the Treasury | January 1, 1801 | May 13, 1801 | |||
4 | Robert Smith | Secretary of the Navy | July 27, 1801 | March 4, 1809 | |
Secretary of State | March 6, 1809 | April 1, 1811 | |||
5 | James Monroe | Secretary of State | April 6, 1811 | March 4, 1817 | |
Secretary of War | September 27, 1814 | March 2, 1815 | |||
6 | William H. Crawford | Secretary of War | August 1, 1815 | October 22, 1816 | |
Secretary of the Treasury | October 22, 1816 | March 6, 1825 | |||
7 | Richard Rush | Attorney General | February 10, 1814 | November 12, 1817 | |
Secretary of the Treasury | March 7, 1825 | March 5, 1829 | |||
8 | Louis McLane | Secretary of the Treasury | August 8, 1831 | May 29, 1833 | |
Secretary of State | May 29, 1833 | June 30, 1834 | |||
9 | Roger B. Taney | Attorney General | July 20, 1831 | November 14, 1833 | |
Secretary of the Treasury | September 23, 1833 | June 25, 1834 | |||
10 | Levi Woodbury | Secretary of the Navy | May 23, 1831 | June 30, 1834 | |
Secretary of the Treasury | July 1, 1834 | March 4, 1841 | |||
11 | Abel P. Upshur | Secretary of the Navy | October 11, 1841 | July 23, 1843 | |
Secretary of State | July 24, 1843 | February 28, 1844 | |||
12 | John C. Calhoun | Secretary of War | December 8, 1817 | March 4, 1825 | |
Secretary of State | April 1, 1844 | March 10, 1845 | |||
13 | John Y. Mason | Secretary of the Navy | March 26, 1844 | March 4, 1845 | |
September 10, 1846 | March 4, 1849 | ||||
Attorney General | March 5, 1845 | October 16, 1846 | |||
14 | Thomas Ewing | Secretary of the Treasury | March 4, 1841 | September 11, 1841 | |
Secretary of the Interior | March 8, 1849 | July 22, 1850 | |||
15 | William L. Marcy | Secretary of War | March 6, 1845 | March 4, 1849 | |
Secretary of State | March 7, 1853 | March 6, 1857 | |||
16 | Lewis Cass | Secretary of War | August 1, 1831 | October 4, 1836 | |
Secretary of State | March 6, 1857 | December 14, 1860 | |||
17 | Isaac Toucey | Attorney General | June 21, 1848 | March 3, 1849 | |
Secretary of the Navy | March 7, 1857 | March 4, 1861 | |||
18 | Jeremiah S. Black | Attorney General | March 6, 1857 | December 16, 1860 | |
Secretary of State | December 17, 1860 | March 5, 1861 | |||
19 | Joseph Holt | Postmaster General | March 9, 1859 | December 31, 1860 | |
Secretary of War | January 18, 1861 | March 5, 1861 | |||
20 | Edwin Stanton | Attorney General | December 20, 1860 | March 4, 1861 | |
Secretary of War | January 20, 1862 | May 28, 1868 | |||
21 | Alphonso Taft | Secretary of War | March 8, 1876 | May 22, 1876 | |
Attorney General | May 22, 1876 | March 4, 1877 | |||
22 | William M. Evarts | Attorney General | July 17, 1868 | March 4, 1869 | |
Secretary of State | March 12, 1877 | March 7, 1881 | |||
23 | Walter Q. Gresham | Postmaster General | April 9, 1883 | September 4, 1884 | |
Secretary of the Treasury | September 5, 1884 | October 28, 1884 | |||
Secretary of State | March 7, 1893 | May 28, 1895 | |||
24 | William Freeman Vilas | Postmaster General | March 6, 1885 | January 6, 1888 | |
Secretary of the Interior | January 16, 1888 | March 6, 1889 | |||
25 | Richard Olney | Attorney General | March 6, 1893 | June 10, 1895 | |
Secretary of State | June 10, 1895 | March 5, 1897 | |||
26 | John Sherman | Secretary of the Treasury | March 10, 1877 | March 3, 1881 | |
Secretary of State | March 6, 1897 | April 27, 1898 | |||
27 | William Henry Moody | Secretary of the Navy | May 1, 1902 | June 30, 1904 | |
Attorney General | July 1, 1904 | December 12, 1906 | |||
28 | Elihu Root | Secretary of War | August 1, 1899 | January 31, 1904 | |
Secretary of State | July 19, 1905 | January 27, 1909 | |||
29 | Charles Joseph Bonaparte | Secretary of the Navy | July 1, 1905 | December 16, 1906 | |
Attorney General | December 17, 1906 | March 4, 1909 | |||
30 | Victor H. Metcalf | Secretary of Commerce and Labor[b] | July 1, 1904 | December 16, 1906 | |
Secretary of the Navy | December 17, 1906 | November 30, 1908 | |||
31 | George B. Cortelyou | Secretary of Commerce and Labor[b] | February 18, 1903 | June 30, 1904 | |
Postmaster General | March 6, 1905 | January 14, 1907 | |||
Secretary of the Treasury | March 4, 1907 | March 7, 1909 | |||
32 | Philander C. Knox | Attorney General | April 5, 1901 | June 30, 1904 | |
Secretary of State | March 6, 1909 | March 5, 1913 | |||
32 | George von Lengerke Meyer | Postmaster General | January 15, 1907 | March 4, 1909 | |
Secretary of the Navy | March 6, 1909 | March 4, 1913 | |||
34 | David F. Houston | Secretary of Agriculture | March 6, 1913 | February 2, 1920 | |
Secretary of the Treasury | February 2, 1920 | March 3, 1921 | |||
35 | Hubert Work | Postmaster General | March 4, 1922 | March 4, 1923 | |
Secretary of the Interior | March 4, 1923 | July 24, 1928 | |||
36 | Henry L. Stimson | Secretary of War | May 22, 1911 | May 4, 1913 | |
July 10, 1940 | September 21, 1945 | ||||
Secretary of State | March 28, 1929 | March 4, 1933 | |||
37 | Henry A. Wallace | Secretary of Agriculture | March 4, 1933 | September 4, 1940 | |
Vice President | January 20, 1941 | January 20, 1945 | |||
Secretary of Commerce | March 2, 1945 | September 20, 1946 | |||
38 | James Forrestal | Secretary of the Navy | May 19, 1944 | September 17, 1947 | |
Secretary of Defense | September 17, 1947 | March 28, 1949 | |||
39 | Kenneth Claiborne Royall | Secretary of War | July 19, 1947 | September 18, 1947 | |
Secretary of the Army | September 18, 1947 | April 27, 1949 | |||
40 | George Marshall | Secretary of State | January 21, 1947 | January 20, 1949 | |
Secretary of Defense | September 21, 1950 | September 12, 1951 | |||
41 | Arthur Goldberg | Secretary of Labor | January 21, 1961 | September 20, 1962 | |
United States Ambassador to the United Nations | July 28, 1965 | June 24, 1968 | |||
42 | Maurice Stans | Director of the Bureau of the Budget[c] | March 18, 1958 | January 21, 1961 | |
Secretary of Commerce | January 21, 1969 | February 15, 1972 | |||
43 | William P. Rogers | Attorney General | October 23, 1957 | January 20, 1961 | |
Secretary of State | January 22, 1969 | September 3, 1973 | |||
44 | Robert Finch | Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare[a] | January 21, 1969 | June 23, 1970 | |
Counselor to the President | June 23, 1970 | December 15, 1972 | |||
45 | George Shultz | Secretary of Labor | January 22, 1969 | July 1, 1970 | |
Director of the Management and Budget[c] | July 1, 1970 | June 11, 1972 | |||
Secretary of the Treasury | June 12, 1972 | May 8, 1974 | |||
Secretary of State | July 16, 1982 | January 20, 1989 | |||
46 | Caspar Weinberger | Director of the Management and Budget | June 12, 1972 | February 1, 1973 | |
Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare[a] | February 12, 1973 | August 8, 1975 | |||
Secretary of Defense | January 21, 1981 | November 23, 1987 | |||
47 | Elliot Richardson | Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare[a] | June 24, 1970 | January 29, 1973 | |
Secretary of Defense | January 30, 1973 | May 24, 1973 | |||
Attorney General | May 25, 1973 | October 20, 1973 | |||
Secretary of Commerce | February 2, 1976 | January 20, 1977 | |||
48 | Donald Rumsfeld | Counselor to the President | December 11, 1970 | October 15, 1971 | |
White House Chief of Staff | September 21, 1974 | November 20, 1975 | |||
Secretary of Defense | November 20, 1975 | January 20, 1977 | |||
January 20, 2001 | December 18, 2006 | ||||
49 | James Thomas Lynn | Secretary of Housing and Urban Development | February 2, 1973 | February 5, 1975 | |
Director of the Management and Budget | February 10, 1975 | January 20, 1977 | |||
50 | Frederick B. Dent | Secretary of Commerce | February 2, 1973 | March 26, 1975 | |
United States Trade Representative | March 26, 1975 | January 20, 1977 | |||
51 | Rogers Morton | Secretary of the Interior | January 29, 1971 | April 30, 1975 | |
Secretary of Commerce | May 1, 1975 | February 2, 1976 | |||
Counselor to the President | February 2, 1976 | April 1, 1976 | |||
52 | Daniel Patrick Moynihan | Counselor to the President | November 5, 1969 | December 31, 1970 | |
United States Ambassador to the United Nations | June 30, 1975 | February 2, 1976 | |||
53 | James R. Schlesinger | Secretary of Defense | July 2, 1973 | November 19, 1975 | |
Secretary of Energy | August 9, 1977 | August 23, 1979 | |||
54 | Patricia Roberts Harris | Secretary of Housing and Urban Development | January 23, 1977 | September 10, 1979 | |
Secretary of Health and Human Services[a] | August 3, 1979 | January 20, 1981 | |||
55 | George H. W. Bush | United States Ambassador to the United Nations | March 1, 1971 | January 18, 1973 | |
Vice President | January 20, 1981 | January 20, 1989 | |||
56 | Donald P. Hodel | Secretary of Energy | November 5, 1982 | February 7, 1985 | |
Secretary of the Interior | February 8, 1985 | January 20, 1989 | |||
57 | Edwin Meese | Counselor to the President | January 20, 1981 | February 25, 1985 | |
Attorney General | February 25, 1985 | August 12, 1988 | |||
58 | Bill Brock | United States Trade Representative | January 23, 1981 | April 29, 1985 | |
Secretary of Labor | April 29, 1985 | October 31, 1987 | |||
59 | James Baker | Secretary of the Treasury | February 4, 1985 | August 17, 1988 | |
Secretary of State | January 25, 1989 | August 23, 1992 | |||
60 | Elizabeth Dole | Secretary of Transportation | February 7, 1983 | September 30, 1987 | |
Secretary of Labor | January 25, 1989 | November 23, 1990 | |||
61 | Carla Anderson Hills | Secretary of Housing and Urban Development | March 10, 1975 | January 20, 1977 | |
United States Trade Representative | February 6, 1989 | January 20, 1993 | |||
62 | Clayton Yeutter | United States Trade Representative | July 1, 1985 | January 20, 1989 | |
Secretary of Agriculture | February 16, 1989 | March 1, 1991 | |||
Counselor to the President | February 1, 1992 | January 20, 1993 | |||
63 | Dick Cheney | White House Chief of Staff | November 21, 1975 | January 20, 1977 | |
Secretary of Defense | March 21, 1989 | January 20, 1993 | |||
Vice President | January 20, 2001 | January 20, 2009 | |||
64 | Leon Panetta | Director of the Management and Budget | January 21, 1993 | July 17, 1994 | |
White House Chief of Staff | July 17, 1994 | January 20, 1997 | |||
Secretary of Defense | July 1, 2011 | February 26, 2013 | |||
65 | Mickey Kantor | United States Trade Representative | January 21, 1993 | April 12, 1996 | |
Secretary of Commerce | April 12, 1996 | January 21, 1997 | |||
66 | Erskine Bowles | Administrator of the Small Business Administration | May 7, 1993 | October 3, 1994 | |
White House Chief of Staff | January 20, 1997 | October 20, 1998 | |||
67 | Madeleine Albright | United States Ambassador to the United Nations | January 27, 1993 | January 21, 1997 | |
Secretary of State | January 23, 1997 | January 20, 2001 | |||
68 | Federico Peña | Secretary of Transportation | January 21, 1993 | February 14, 1997 | |
Secretary of Energy | March 12, 1997 | June 30, 1998 | |||
69 | Bill Richardson | United States Ambassador to the United Nations | February 18, 1997 | August 18, 1998 | |
Secretary of Energy | August 18, 1998 | January 20, 2001 | |||
70 | Andrew Card | Secretary of Transportation | February 24, 1992 | January 20, 1993 | |
White House Chief of Staff | January 20, 2001 | April 14, 2006 | |||
71 | Norman Mineta | Secretary of Commerce | July 20, 2000 | January 20, 2001 | |
Secretary of Transportation | January 25, 2001 | July 7, 2006 | |||
72 | Mike Leavitt | Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency | November 6, 2003 | January 26, 2005 | |
Secretary of Health and Human Services | January 26, 2005 | January 20, 2009 | |||
73 | Joshua Bolten | Director of the Management and Budget | June 6, 2003 | April 14, 2006 | |
White House Chief of Staff | April 14, 2006 | January 20, 2009 | |||
74 | Rob Portman | United States Trade Representative | May 17, 2005 | May 29, 2006 | |
Director of the Management and Budget | May 29, 2006 | June 19, 2007 | |||
75 | William M. Daley | Secretary of Commerce | January 30, 1997 | July 19, 2000 | |
White House Chief of Staff | January 13, 2011 | January 27, 2012 | |||
76 | Jack Lew | Director of the Management and Budget | May 21, 1998 | January 19, 2001 | |
White House Chief of Staff | January 27, 2012 | January 20, 2013 | |||
Secretary of the Treasury | February 28, 2013 | January 20, 2017 | |||
77 | Sylvia Mathews Burwell | Director of the Management and Budget | April 24, 2013 | June 9, 2014 | |
Secretary of Health and Human Services | June 9, 2014 | January 20, 2017 | |||
78 | Shaun Donovan | Secretary of Housing and Urban Development | January 26, 2009 | July 28, 2014 | |
Director of the Management and Budget | August 5, 2014 | January 20, 2017 | |||
79 | Elaine Chao | Secretary of Labor | January 29, 2001 | January 20, 2009 | |
Secretary of Transportation | January 31, 2017 | January 11, 2021 | |||
80 | John F. Kelly | Secretary of Homeland Security | January 20, 2017 | July 31, 2017 | |
White House Chief of Staff | July 31, 2017 | January 2, 2019 | |||
81 | Mike Pompeo | Director of the Central Intelligence Agency | January 23, 2017 | April 26, 2018 | |
Secretary of State | April 26, 2018 | January 20, 2021 | |||
82 | Janet Yellen | Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers | February 18, 1997 | August 3, 1999 | |
Secretary of the Treasury | January 26, 2021 | Incumbent | |||
83 | Denis McDonough | White House Chief of Staff | January 20, 2013 | January 20, 2017 | |
Secretary of Veterans Affairs | February 9, 2021 | Incumbent |
Former permanent cabinet members
[edit]- The Secretary of War became defunct when the Department of War was split between the Department of the Army and the Department of the Air Force by the National Security Act of 1947, and both were absorbed into the Department of Defense in 1949.
- The Postmaster General ceased to be a member of the cabinet when the Post Office Department was re-organized into the United States Postal Service (USPS) by the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970, a special agency independent of the executive branch.
- The Secretaries of the Army, Navy, and Air Force ceased to be members of the cabinet when their particular departments was absorbed into the Department of Defense in 1949.
Cabinet-level positions
[edit]The following positions have intermittently been raised to cabinet rank:
- Vice President (1921–1923, 1929–present)
- Ambassador to the United Nations (1953–1989, 1993–2001, 2009–2018, 2021–present)
- Director of the Office of Management and Budget (1953–1961, 1969–present)
- White House Chief of Staff (1953–1961, 1974–1977, 1993–present)
- Counselor to the President (1969–1977, 1981–1985, 1992–1993)
- United States Trade Representative (1975–present)
- Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers (1977–1981, 1993–2001, 2009–2017, 2021–present)
- Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (1993–present)
- Administrator of the Small Business Administration (1994–2001, 2012–present)
- Director of National Intelligence (2017–present)
- Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (2017–2021, 2023–present)
See also
[edit]- Cabinet reshuffle
- List of people who have served in all three branches of the United States federal government
Notes
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f The position was established the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare on April 11, 1953; thereafter became the Secretary of Health and Human Services on May 4, 1980.[4]
- ^ a b The position was established the Secretary of Commerce and Labor on February 18, 1903; thereafter became the Secretary of Commerce on March 5, 1913.[3]
- ^ a b The position was established the Director of the Bureau of the Budget on June 23, 1921; thereafter became the Director of the Management and Budget on July 1, 1970.
References
[edit]- ^ "Richardson Confirmed For 4th Cabinet Post". The New York Times. December 12, 1975. Archived from the original on March 11, 2023. Retrieved January 20, 2023.
- ^ Abramowitz, Michael; Hoffman, David E. (February 7, 2021). "George P. Shultz, counsel and Cabinet member for two Republican presidents, dies at 100". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on November 5, 2022. Retrieved February 8, 2021.
- ^ "Origins: 1776-1913". United States Department of Commerce. December 20, 2022. Archived from the original on December 22, 2022. Retrieved September 20, 2022.
- ^ "HHS Historical Highlights". United States Department of Health and Human Services. June 19, 2016. Archived from the original on May 22, 2015. Retrieved September 20, 2022.
External links
[edit]- The Cabinet - Provided by the White House. Retrieved March 23, 2022.