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Attorneys General of the United States |
The biographical information for Attorneys General Randolph (1st) through Smith (74th) was taken from Attorneys General of the United States, 1789-1985, U.S. Department of Justice, 1985. Information on the later Attorneys General was taken from press releases issued at the time of their appointments and Who's Who in American Politics.
Edmund Jennings Randolph
First Attorney General, 1789-1794
Edmund Jennings Randolph was born in Williamsburg, Virginia, on August 10, 1753. He attended the College of William and Mary and studied law in his father's office. He was a supporter of the Revolution and served as General George Washington's aide-de-camp in 1775. Randolph was a delegate to the Continental Congress and a member of the Constitutional Convention. He was elected Attorney General of Virginia in 1776, served until 1782 and served as Governor of Virginia from 1786-1788.
On September 26, 1789, Randolph was appointed the first Attorney General of the United States by President Washington. In 1794, he was appointed Secretary of State. He served in this position until 1795.
Randolph died on September 12, 1813, in Clarke County, Virginia.
William Bradford
Second Attorney General, 1794-1795
William Bradford was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on September 14,1755. He received the degrees of A.B. and A.M. from Princeton University, and studied law under Edward Shippen. He volunteered as a private in 1776 and subsequently attained the ranks of lieutenant colonel, deputy quartermaster general, deputy muster-master general and colonel in the Continental Army.
Bradford was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court in September 1779. In 1780 he was appointed Attorney General of Pennsylvania, serving for the next eleven years. He served as Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania from 1791 to 1794, when President Washington appointed him United States Attorney General. He died in office on August 23, 1795.
Charles Lee
Third Attorney General, 1795-1801
Charles Lee was born in Leesylania, Virginia, in 1758. He received the degree of AB at Princeton University in 1775. He went on to study law in Philadelphia with Jarod Ingersoll and was admitted to the bar in June of 1794. He was a delegate to the Continental Congress, a member of the Virginia Assembly and served as a naval officer in the District of Potomac.
President Washington appointed Lee Attorney General on December 10, 1795. He continued in office under President Adams, serving until March 4, 1801. Later Lee declined President Jefferson's offer of the position of Chief Justice of the United States. He died in Fauquier County, Virginia, on June 24, 1815.
Levi Lincoln
Fourth Attorney General, 1801-1805
Levi Lincoln was born in Hingham, Massachusetts, on May 15, 1749. He graduated from Harvard in 1772 and studied law under Joseph Hawley. When the Battle of Lexington occurred he volunteered to fight with the Minute Men. From 1775 to 1781, he served as clerk of the court and probate judge of Worcester County. Though elected to the Continental Congress in 1781, he declined to serve. Lincoln was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1796, and of the Senate in 1797. In 1800, he was elected to Congress and served until March 5, 1801, when President Jefferson appointed him Attorney General of the United States. He held the office until March 3, 1805. Lincoln was a member of the Council of Massachusetts in 1806, and served as Lieutenant Governor in 1807-1808. Upon the death of James Sullivan, he became Governor, but was not elected in 1809. In 1811 he was appointed Associate Justice of the Supreme Court but declined. He died in Worcester, Massachusetts on April 14, 1820.
John Breckenridge
Fifth Attorney General, 1805-1806
John Breckenridge was born in Augusta County, near Staunton, Virginia, on December 2, 1760. He studied at what is now Washington and Lee University and at the College of William and Mary. In 1780, he was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates, but because of his youth, was not permitted to serve. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1785.
He was elected Representative to the Third Congress, but resigned in 1792 before commencement of the congressional term to move to Kentucky. He served in the U.S. House and Senate, resigning in August 1805 to accept President Jefferson's offer of the post of Attorney General. He held the position until his death at Lexington, Kentucky, on December 14, 1806.
Caesar Augustus Rodney
Sixth Attorney General, 1807-1811
Rodney was born in Dover, Delaware, on January 4, 1772. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania in 1789, he studied law under Joseph B. McKean in Philadelphia and was admitted to the bar in 1793. He practiced law in Wilmington and New Castle for the next few years.
In 1796 he entered the Delaware House of Representatives. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1803 to 1805. A staunch supporter of Thomas Jefferson, he became his Attorney General on January 20, 1807, and continued in that post in Madison's administration. He resigned on December 5, 1811. During the War of 1812, he commanded a company of volunteers in defense of Baltimore. From 1821 to 1822, he was again a Representative in Congress from Delaware, and from 1822 to 1823 served as United States Senator. Rodney was appointed United States Minister to the Argentine Republic in 1823, where he died on June 10, 1824. He was buried in an English churchyard in Buenos Aires.
William Pinkney
Seventh Attorney General, 1811-1814
Pinkney was born in Annapolis, Maryland, on March 17, 1764. He studied law in the office of Judge Samuel Chase in Baltimore and was admitted to the bar in 1786. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention in 1788 and voted against ratification. He was a delegate to the Maryland House of Representatives from 1788 to 1792 and served as a member of the State executive council from 1792 to 1795.
In 1796, Pinkney served as a commissioner under Jay's Treaty to settle U.S. claims against Great Britain. He was sent to England in 1806 with James Monroe on a similar mission. He returned to the United States, settled in Baltimore, and in 1811, was elected to the State senate. On December 11, 1811, Madison appointed Pinkney Attorney General of the United States. He served until February 10, 1814. He commanded a battalion of riflemen in the War of 1812, and was wounded at Bladensburg, Maryland. He served in Congress in 1815 and 1816. From 1816 until 1818, he was Minister to Russia and Envoy to Naples. On his return in 1819, he was elected to the United States Senate. He died in office on February 25, 1822, in Washington, D.C.
Richard Rush
Eighth Attorney General, 1814-1817
Richard Rush, the youngest Attorney General, was born on August 29, 1780, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was the son of Dr. Benjamin Rush, who signed the Declaration of Independence. Rush entered Princeton in 1793 at the age of 13 and graduated in 1797. He went on to study law and was admitted to the bar in 1800. In 1811 he served as attorney general of Pennsylvania.
President Madison appointed him Comptroller of the Treasury. After declining the office of the Secretary of the Treasury, he was appointed Attorney General of the United States under President Monroe on February 10, 1814. For a short time in 1817, he also performed the duties of the Secretary of State, but was never formally appointed to that position. From 1817 to 1825, he served as Minister to England. He was recalled to be Secretary of the Treasury under President John Quincy Adams, and also was Adam's vice presidential running mate. In 1847 he was President Polk's choice for Minister to France, and held that office for two years. He also served on the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. He was author of A Residence in the Court of St. James, and other literary works. He died in Philadelphia on July 30, 1859.
William Wirt
Ninth Attorney General, 1817-1829
Born in Bladensburg, Maryland, on November 8, 1772, Wirt was educated in private schools, and for a time worked as a private tutor. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1792. He practiced law privately for a few years, became clerk of the Virginia House of Delegates in 1800, and in 1802 was chancellor of the Eastern District of Virginia. In 1807, President Jefferson appointed him prosecuting attorney in the trial of Aaron Burr. President Monroe appointed Wirt Attorney General in 1817. He also served in the cabinet of President John Quincy Adams, serving until 1829. At that time he moved to Baltimore and practiced law until his death on February 18, 1834.
Wirt wrote several books during his life, including Letters of a British Spy (1803) and Sketches of the Life and Character of Patrick Henry (1817).
John Macpherson Berrien
Tenth Attorney General, 1829-1831
John Macpherson Berrien was born near Princeton, New Jersey, on August 23, 1781. He graduated from Princeton University in 1796, was admitted to the Georgia bar at eighteen and began to practice law. Berrien served as judge of the Eastern District of Georgia from 1810 until 1821. He was captain of the Georgia Hussars, a volunteer company in the War of 1812.
In 1822 and 1823, he was a State Senator, and from 1824 to 1829 a United States Senator. President Jackson appointed him United States Attorney General in 1829. He served until 1831. He was reelected to the United States Senate in 1841, serving until 1852. He also served on the Smithsonian Board of Regents. He died in Savannah, Georgia, on January 1, 1856.
Roger Brooks Taney
Eleventh Attorney General, 1831-1833
Roger Brooke Taney was born in Calvert County, Maryland, on March 17, 1777. He graduated from Dickinson College in 1795, studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1799. That same year he was elected to one term with the Maryland House of Delegates.
Taney settled in Frederick, served five years in the State senate, moved to Baltimore in 1823, and in 1827 was chosen Attorney General for Maryland. President Jackson appointed him Attorney General of the United States on July 20, 1831. He resigned the position on September 23, 1833. Taney was then appointed Secretary of the Treasury. In 1835, President Jackson nominated Taney to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. He was confirmed by the Senate and held the office until his death on October 12, 1864, in Washington, DC
Benjamin Franklin Butler
Twelfth Attorney General, 1833-1838
Benjamin Franklin Butler was born in Kinderhook Landing, New York, on December 17, 1795. He studied at the Academy in Hudson, New York, read law with Martin Van Buren, and when admitted to the bar in 1817, became his partner. Butler was district attorney of Albany County from 1821 to 1824. He was appointed one of the three commissioners to revise the State statutes in 1825. Butler was a member of the State legislature from 1827 to 1833. In 1833, he served as commissioner for the State of New York to adjust the New Jersey boundary line.
On November 15, 1833, President Jackson appointed Butler Attorney General of the United States, from which office he resigned in 1838. From that year until 1841 he was United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Butler was made principal professor at the University of New York in 1837. On November 8, 1858, he died in Paris, France.
Felix Grundy
Thirteenth Attorney General, 1838-1839
Grundy was born in Berkley County, Virginia, on September 11, 1777, and moved to Kentucky in 1780. Although he had little early formal education, he studied law and was admitted to the Kentucky bar in 1797. From 1799 to 1806, he was a member of the Kentucky Legislature. In 1806, he was appointed associate justiceship in the State Supreme Court of Errors and Appeals, was Chief Justice in 1807, resigned the same year and moved to Nashville.
Grundy was elected to Congress in 1811, was reelected in 1813 and resigned in 1815. In 1819, he was elected to the Tennessee Legislature, and in 1820 was commissioner to settle the boundary line between Tennessee and Kentucky. In 1829, he was appointed to a vacancy in the United States Senate and was reelected in 1833. President Van Buren appointed Grundy Attorney General of the United States on September 1, 1838. He resigned on December 1, 1839, to reenter the Senate. Grundy died in Nashville, Tennessee, on December 19, 1840.
Henry Dilworth Gilpin
Fourteenth Attorney General, 1840-1841
Henry Dilworth Gilpin was born in Lancaster, England, on April 14, 1801. He attended school near London from 1811 until 1816. After moving to the United States, he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1819. He read law with Joseph R. Ingersoll, and was admitted to the bar in 1822. Gilpin was appointed United States attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in 1832, and Solicitor of the United States Treasury in 1837. He was appointed Attorney General of the United States on January 11, 1840 by President Van Buren. He served until March of 1841. Gilpin died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on January 29, 1860.
John Jordan Crittenden
Fifteenth Attorney General, 1841
Twenty-Second Attorney General, 1850-1853
John Jordan Crittenden was born in Woodford County, Kentucky, on September 10, 1787. He graduated from William and Mary College in 1807, and practiced law in Woodford and Logan Counties. Crittenden was attorney general of the Illinois Territory from 1809 to 1810. He served as a volunteer in the War of 1812 (1812-1813). He was elected to the Kentucky State Legislature in 1811, and to the United States Senate in 1817. He served three years and resigned.
He was appointed United States attorney by President Adams in 1827, but was removed by President Jackson in 1829. Crittenden was reelected to the United States Senate in 1835. At the expiration of his term on March 5, 1841, he was appointed Attorney General of the United States by President Harrison. When Tyler became President, Crittenden resigned. He was appointed United States Senator in 1842, to complete a term that Clay had resigned. He was reelected at the expiration of term, then resigned from the Senate and was elected Governor of Kentucky in 1848. On July 22, 1850, President Fillmore appointed Crittenden Attorney General of the United States. In 1855 he was again elected Senator, and on the expiration of his term was elected Representative. He died near Frankfort, Kentucky, on July 26, 1863.
Hugh Swinton Legare
Sixteenth Attorney General, 1841-1843
Hugh Swinton Legare was born in Charleston, South Carolina, on January 2, 1797. He graduated from the College of South Carolina in 1814. For the next three years he studied law, then traveled in Europe, studying French in Paris, Roman law, philosophy, math and chemistry in Edinborough. Upon his return to South Carolina in 1820, he was elected to the South Carolina State Legislature. He served until 1822, and from 1824 to 1830 when he was elected State attorney general. In 1832, he was Charge d'Affaires at Brussels. Upon his return to the United States, he was elected to Congress. He served from 1837 until 1839. President Tyler appointed him Attorney General of the United States in 1841. He died in Boston, Massachusetts, on June 20, 1843, while attending ceremonies at the unveiling of the Bunker Hill Monument.
John Nelson
Seventeenth Attorney General, 1843-1845
Nelson was born in Frederick, Maryland, on June 1, 1791. He graduated from William and Mary College in 1811 and began practicing law in Maryland. (He also received an A.M. degree from Princeton University in 1825.)
From 1821 to 1823, Nelson served as a Representative in Congress from Maryland. In 1831, he was appointed Charge d'Affaires to the Two Sicilies. President Tyler appointed him Attorney General of the United States on July 1, 1843, and he served until March 3, 1845. He also served as Secretary of State ad interim during 1844. He died in Baltimore, Maryland, on January 8, 1860.
John Young Mason
Eighteenth Attorney General, 1845-1846
Mason was born in Greensville County, Virginia, on April 18, 1799. He graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1816. He was a Federal judge for the Eastern District of Virginia, and judge of the General Court of Virginia. For about ten years he served in the State legislature. Mason was elected Representative to Congress from Virginia from 1831 to 1837. He was a delegate to the conventions of 1830 and 1850-52, for revising the State constitution. On March 14, 1844, President Tyler appointed him Secretary of the Navy. On March 6, 1845, Mason was appointed Attorney General of the United States by President Polk, and held that office until September 9, 1846. Thereafter he was reappointed Secretary of the Navy by President Polk, and Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to France in October 1853 by President Pierce. He died in Paris, France on October 3, 1859.
Nathan Clifford
Nineteenth Attorney General, 1846-1848
Nathan Clifford was born in Rumney, New Hampshire on August 18, 1803. He studied at the Academy at Haverhill, New Hampshire, and afterwards at the Hampton Literary Institution. He studied law in a law office in his hometown after he graduated and was admitted to the bar in 1827. Clifford settled in York County, Maine, was a member of the Maine Legislature from 1830 to 1834, served as State attorney general from 1834 to 1838, and was elected to Congress for two terms. President Polk appointed him Attorney General of the United States on October 17, 1846. In 1848 Clifford was sent to Mexico as Commissioner of the United States to arrange the treaty with Mexico by which California was ceded. In 1858 he was appointed an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court by President Buchanan. He died in Cornish, Maine, on July 25, 1881.
Isaac Toucey
Twentieth Attorney General, 1848-1849
Born in Newton, Massachusetts, on November 5, 1796, Isaac Toucey received a classical education, studied law and was admitted to the bar at Hartford, Connecticut, in 1818. He was appointed State's attorney in 1822 and held that office until 1835. From 1835 to 1839 he was a Representative in Congress from Connecticut, was reappointed State's attorney in 1842 and served until 1844, and was Governor of the state from 1846 to 1857.
On June 21, 1848, President Polk appointed him Attorney General of the United States. He served until March 3, 1849. Toucey was a State senator in 1850, and United States Senator from 1852 to 1857. In March 1857, he became Secretary of the Navy and served until 1861. He died in Hartford Connecticut, on July 30, 1869.
Reverdy Johnson
Twenty-First Attorney General, 1849-1850
Reverdy Johnson was born in Annapolis Maryland, on May 21, 1796. He was educated
at St. John's College in Annapolis, graduating in 1811, read law with his father,
and was admitted to the bar in 1815. Johnson practiced law in Price George's
County, then moved to Baltimore in 1817. He was elected State senator for five
years in 1821, was reelected, but resigned after two years' service. In 1845,
Johnson was elected United States Senator, resigned on March 8, 1849, when he
was appointed Attorney General of the United States by President Taylor. He
resigned as Attorney General in 1850 when Fillmore became President. In 1861,
he was a member of the Peace Congress in Washington. He was appointed Minister
to Great Britain in 1868, and recalled by President Grant in 1869. He died in
Annapolis, Maryland, on February 10, 1876.
John Jordan Crittenden
Fifteenth Attorney General, 1841
Twenty-Second Attorney General, 1850-1853
John Jordan Crittenden was born in Woodford County, Kentucky, on September 10, 1787. He graduated from William and Mary College in 1807, and practiced law in Woodford and Logan Counties. Crittenden was attorney general of the Illinois Territory from 1809 to 1810. He served as a volunteer in the War of 1812 (1812-1813). He was elected to the Kentucky State Legislature in 1811, and to the United States Senate in 1817. He served three years and resigned.
He was appointed United States attorney by President Adams in 1827, but was removed by President Jackson in 1829. Crittenden was reelected to the United States Senate in 1835. At the expiration of his term on March 5, 1841, he was appointed Attorney General of the United States by President Harrison. When Tyler became President, Crittenden resigned. He was appointed United States Senator in 1842, to complete a term that Clay had resigned. He was reelected at the expiration of term, then resigned from the Senate and was elected Governor of Kentucky in 1848. On July 22, 1850, President Fillmore appointed Crittenden Attorney General of the United States. In 1855 he was again elected Senator, and on the expiration of his term was elected Representative. He died near Frankfort, Kentucky, on July 26, 1863.
Caleb Cushing
Twenty-Third Attorney General, 1853-1857
Caleb Cushing was born in Salisbury, Massachusetts, on January 17, 1800. He entered Harvard at age 13, graduating in 1817. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1821. He was a member of the Massachusetts Legislature in 1825, and in 1826 a member of the State senate. Cushing was elected to Congress in 1834 and served until 1843. In 1843, as Commissioner to China, he made the first treaty between that country and the United States. He was elected again to the Massachusetts Legislature. In 1847, Cushing raised a regiment for the Mexican War, at his own expense. From 1850 to 1852, he was again in the Massachusetts Legislature, then was appointed associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Court.
On March 7, 1853, he was appointed Attorney General of the United States by President Pierce. From 1857 to 1859, Cushing served in the State legislature, and in 1860 President Buchanan sent him to Charleston as Confidential Commissioner to the Secessionists of South Carolina. In 1866, he served as one of three commissioners to revise and codify the laws of Congress. Cushing was sent to Bogota in 1868 to negotiate the right-of-way for ships across the Isthmus of Panama. In 1872 he was counsel for the United States at the Geneva Convention, and from 1874 to 1877 Minister to Spain, appointed by President Grant He died in Newburysport, Massachusetts, on January 2, 1879.
Jeremiah Sullivan Black
Twenty-Fourth Attorney General, 1857-1860
Jeremiah Black was born in The Glades, Pennsylvania, on January 10, 1810, received a common school education, read law with Chauncey Forward and was admitted to the bar on December 3, 1830. In April 1842, he was made president judge of the court of common pleas of his district, a post he held for nine years. Black was elected chief justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania in 1851, and reelected in 1854, President Buchanan appointed Black Attorney General of the United States on March 6, 1857. In 1860 he was appointed Secretary of State, and in 1861 to the Supreme Court of the United States, but was not confirmed. He was, however, appointed Supreme Court Reporter in December 1861 and prepared Black's Reports, Volumes I and II. He died in York, Pennsylvania, on August 19, 1883.
Edwin McMasters Stanton
Twenty-Fifth Attorney General, 1860-1861
Stanton was born in Steubenville, Ohio, on December 19, 1814. He attended Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, studied law and commenced practice in Cadiz, Ohio. (He received an LL.D. degree from Yale in 1867.)
Stanton served from 1837 to 1839 as county prosecutor. In 1842, he was elected Reporter of the Decisions of the Supreme Court of the State of Ohio, an office which he held for three years. He moved to Washington to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States In 1858, he was sent by the Government to California to defend the United States interests in important land cases in Mexico. On December 20, 1860, he was appointed Attorney General of the United States by President Buchanan. In 1862, Stanton was appointed Secretary of War by President Lincoln, and was continued in that position by President Johnson until August 12, 1867, when he was suspended by the President. He was reinstated on January 14, 1868, by order of the Senate. On February 21, 1869, President Johnson made a second effort to remove him, but, by direction of the Senate, he continued in office. Stanton's friends in Congress prevailed upon Grant to offer him a justiceship of the Supreme Court of the United States. His nomination was confirmed on December 20, 1869, but he died on December 24 in Washington, D.C. without occupying his seat.
Edward Bates
Twenty-Sixth Attorney General, 1861-1864
Edward Bates was born in Belmont, Virginia, on September 4, 1793. He received his education at Charlotte Hall, Maryland, and from a private tutor. From February until October 1813 he served in the Virginia Militia at Norfolk. Bates emigrated to the Territory of Missouri in 1814 and soon entered the practice of law. In 1818 he was prosecuting attorney for the St. Louis circuit and in 1820 was elected delegate to the State constitutional convention. Towards the close of the same year he was appointed State's attorney of the State of Missouri and held the office for two years. In 1822 he was elected to the State legislature, and in 1824 became State's attorney for the Missouri District. In 1827 he was elected representative in Congress and served one term. Bates was in the legislature again in 1830 and 1834. In 1850 President Fillmore offered him the post of Secretary of War, which he declined. In 1853 he became judge of the St. Louis land court, presided over the Whig Convention in Baltimore in 1856, became prominent as an anti-slavery man, and in 1859 was considered for the Presidency. On March 5, 1861, Bates was appointed Attorney General of the United States by President Lincoln. He resigned in 1864, and returned to St. Louis, Missouri, where he died on March 25, 1869.
James Speed
Twenty-Seventh Attorney General, 1864-1866
James Speed was born in Jefferson County, Kentucky, on March 11, 1812. He graduated from St. Joseph's College in Kentucky, studied law at Transylvania University and was admitted to the bar at Louisville, in 1833. In 1847 Speed was elected to the State legislature, and in 1861 elected to the State senate. On December 2, 1864, President Lincoln appointed him Attorney General of the United States. He resigned in July 1866 and resumed the practice of his profession. Speed was a delegate to the Philadelphia "Loyalists' Convention" in 1866 and served as president of the Convention. He died in Jefferson County, Kentucky, on June 25, 1887.
Henry Stanbery
Twenty-Eighth Attorney General, 1866-1868
Born in New York, New York, on February 20, 1803, Henry Stanbery moved to Ohio in 1814. He graduated from Washington College, in Pennsylvania, in September of 1819, and studied law. He was admitted to the bar in Ohio in May 1824 and to the bar of the Supreme Court of the United States in 1832. In 1846 he was elected the first attorney general of Ohio by the State assembly. President Johnson appointed Stanbery Attorney General of the United States on July 23, 1866. He resigned on March 12, 1868, to defend President Johnson during his impeachment trial. At the conclusion of the trial, Johnson renominated him Attorney General and also to the Supreme Court, but the Senate did not confirm him. He died in New York City on June 26, 1881.
William Maxwell Evarts
Twenty-Ninth Attorney General, 1868-1869
Evarts was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on February 6, 1818. He graduated with honors from Yale in 1837. He studied law at Harvard Law School and in the office of Daniel Lord in New York City. He was admitted to the New York bar in 1841. From 1849 to 1853 he was Assistant District Attorney for the Southern District of New York. In 1868 he was principal counsel to President Johnson in his impeachment trial. On July 15, 1868, President Johnson appointed Evarts Attorney General of the United States, an office he held until March 3, 1869. In 1876 he was the chief counsel of the Republican Party before the Electoral Commission. Evarts served as Secretary of State under President Hayes (1877-1881). In 1881 he was the United States delegate to the International Monetary Conference at Paris. On March 4, 1885, he became United States Senator. Evarts died on February 28, 1901, in New York City.
Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar
Thirtieth Attorney General, 1869-1870
Ebenezer Hoar was born in Concord, Massachusetts, on February 21, 1816. He graduated from Harvard in 1835, studied law there, and received his LL.B. degree in 1839. He was admitted to the bar in 1840. He was Judge of the Court of Common Pleas in Boston from 1849 to 1855, and Associate Justice of the State Supreme Court from 1859 to 1869. President Grant appointed Hoar Attorney General of the United States on March 5, 1969. He was a member of the Joint High Commission which framed the Treaty of Washington with Great Britain in 1873 through 1875. From December 1873 to March 1875, Hoar was a Representative in Congress. He died on January 31, 1895 in Concord.
Amos Tappan Akerman
Thirty-First Attorney General, 1870-1872
Akerman was born in New Hampshire on February 23, 1821. He attended Phillips Exeter Academy, graduated from Dartmouth College in 1842, and was admitted to the bar. He moved to Elberson, Georgia, in 1850 to practice law. During the Civil War, Akerman served in the quartermaster's department of the Confederacy. Akerman was appointed District Attorney for Georgia in 1869. President Grant appointed him Attorney General of the United States on June 23, 1870, and he held that office until 1872. He died in Cartersville, Georgia, on December 21, 1880.
George Henry Williams
Thirty-Second Attorney General, 1871-1875
George Williams was born in New Lebanon, New York, on March 23, 1823. He received an academic education, studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1844. He moved to Iowa and began practicing law at Ft. Madison. In 1847, he was elected Judge of the First Judicial District of the State. He was appointed Chief Justice of the Territory of Oregon in 1853, reappointed in 1857 and resigned in 1857. He was a member of the Oregon Constitutional Convention which preceded the formation of the State government. From 1865-1871 Williams served as United States Senator from Oregon. In 1871 he was a member of the commission to settle the Alabama claims from the Treaty of Washington. On December 14, 1871, President Grant appointed him Attorney General of the United States. Williams was nominated to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States in 1873, but was never confirmed. He resigned the Attorney General post in 1875. He died on April 4, 1910, probably at Portland, Oregon.
Edwards Pierrepont
Thirty-Third Attorney General, 1875-1876
Pierrepont was born in North Haven, Connecticut, on March 4, 1817. He graduated from Yale and New Haven Law School, was admitted to the bar in 1840 and practiced law in Columbus, Ohio, from 1840 to 1845. He moved to New York and served as judge of the New York Supreme Court from 1857 to 1860.
In 1862 Pierrepont was made a member of the Military commission for the cases of State prisoners in the custody of the Federal military authorities, and in 1867 became a member of the State constitutional convention. From 1869 to 1870 he served as United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. President Grant appointed Pierrepont, Attorney General of the United States on April 26, 1875. He was an active member of the "Committee of Seventy." In 1876 he became Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States to Great Britain, serving until December 1, 1877. Pierrepont died in New York City on March 6, 1892, where he had lived after his return from England.
Alphonso Taft
Thirty-Fourth Attorney General, 1876-1877
Alphonso Taft was born in Townshend, Vermont, on November 5, 1810. He graduated from Yale College in 1833. Taft was a tutor at Ellington High School in Connecticut for two years, and then for two years at Yale College. While teaching, he studied law and was admitted to the bar at New Haven, Connecticut, in 1838. He settled in Cincinnati in 1839, and was a member of the city council for three years, and a member of the boards of trustees of the University of Cincinnati and of Yale College. He received a degree of LL.D. from Yale in 1867.
Taft was an unsuccessful candidate for Congress in 1856. In 1866 he was appointed to fill a vacancy on the bench of the Superior Court of Cincinnati, was elected and reelected unanimously, then resigned in 1872. In March 1876, Taft was appointed Secretary of War by President Grant, and on May 22, 1876, became Attorney General of the United States. At the expiration of his term of office, on March 11, 1877, he resumed the practice of law. Taft was U.S. Minister to Austria in 1882, and Minister to Russia from August 22, 1884 through August 1885. He died in San Diego, California, on May 21, 1891.
Charles Devens
Thirty-Fifth Attorney General, 1877-1881
Devens was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts, on April 4, 1820. He graduated from Harvard in 1838, studied law at Cambridge, and practiced from 1841 to 1849. He was State senator in 1848 and 1849. From 1849 until 1853 he served as United States Marshal for the District of Massachusetts. Then in 1854 he resumed the practice of law in Worcester. Devens served during the Civil War as major of an independent battalion of rifles. He also served as colonel of the 15th Massachusetts Volunteers, as brigadier general and brevet major general, and was wounded at the battles of Fair Oaks and Chancellorsville. Mustered out in 1866, he resumed the practice of his profession. In April 1867, Devens was appointed Justice of the Superior Court of the State and in 1873 a Justice of the State Supreme Court. On March 12, 1877, he was appointed Attorney General of the United States by President Hayes. In 1881 Devens was reappointed Justice of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts. He died in Boston on January 7, 1891.
(Isaac) Wayne MacVeagh
Thirty-Sixth Attorney General, 1881
Wayne MacVeagh was born in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, on April 19, 1833. He attended school in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, then went to Yale College where he graduated, tenth in his class, in 1853. He studied law in West Chester, Pennsylvania, and was admitted to the bar in 1856. He served in the Union army during the Civil War as an infantry captain and as a major in the cavalry. He was compelled to resign from the military because of ill health.
MacVeagh served as chairman of the Republican States Central Committee of Pennsylvania in 1863, and was appointed United States Minister to Turkey in 1870. He served for one year. On March 5, 1881, President Garfield appointed him Attorney General of the United States. He was continued under Arthur's administration, but resigned on October 24, 1881. MacVeagh died on January 11, 1917 in Washington, D.C.
Benjamin Harris Brewster
Thirty-Seventh Attorney General, 1881-1885
Benjamin Brewster was born in Salem County, New Jersey, on October 13, 1816. He graduated from Princeton College in 1834. In the same year he entered as a student in the law office of Eli K. Price of Philadelphia and in 1838 was admitted to the bar. In 1846 Brewster was appointed commissioner, by President Polk, to adjudicate the claims of the Cherokee Indians against the United States Government. He was appointed Attorney General of the State of Pennsylvania in 1867 by Governor Geary. President Arthur appointed Brewster Attorney General of the United States on December 19, 1881, and he held that office until the accession of Grover Cleveland to the Presidency in 1885. He died in Philadelphia on April 4, 1888.
Augustus Hill Garland
Thirty-Eighth Attorney General, 1885-1889
Augustus Garland was born in Tipton County, Tennessee, on June 11, 1832. He received his education at St. Mary's College, Lebanon, Kentucky, and at St. Joseph's College, Bardstown, Kentucky. He studied law and in 1850 was admitted to the bar. He practiced law in Washington, Arkansas, for six years. Garland's first public position was that of delegate to the convention called by his State to consider relations with the Federal Union after President Lincoln's election. He was elected a member of the Confederate Provisional Congress which assembled in 1861. He was a member of the House of Representatives of the First Congress of the Confederate States, and then a member of the Senate.
Garland was elected to the United States Senate in 1866, but was not permitted to take his seat as Arkansas had not been readmitted to the Union. In 1874 he was for a time Acting Secretary of State for Arkansas, and in the same year elected Governor for that State. He was elected to the United States Senate without opposition in 1876, and reelected without opposition. President Cleveland appointed Garland Attorney General of the United States in 1885, a position he retained until the close of that administration. He died on January 26, 1899, in Washington, DC, while arguing a case before the Supreme Court.
William Henry Harrison Miller
Thirty-Ninth Attorney General, 1889-1893
Born in Augusta, Oneida County, New York on September 6, 1840, William Miller attended country schools and Whitestown Seminary, and graduated from Hamilton College in 1861. He studied law in the office of Chief Justice Waite, and was admitted to the bar at Peru, Indiana, in 1865. Miller practiced in that city for a short time, and also held the office of county school examiner. For many years, and particularly during the campaign of 1888, he was a confidential advisor to General Harrison. On March 5, 1889, President Harrison appointed Miller Attorney General of the United States. He served in that capacity until March 6, 1893. He returned to private life until his death on May 25, 1917, in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Richard Olney
Fortieth Attorney General, 1893-1895
Olney was born in Oxford, Worcester County, Massachusetts, on September 15, 1835. He prepared for college at Leicester Academy in Worcester County, graduated from Brown University in 1856, and received the degree of LL.B. from Harvard Law School in 1858. Olney was admitted to the bar in 1859 and entered the office of Honorable Benjamin F. Thomas of Boston. He served as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1874. On March 6, 1893, President Cleveland appointed him Attorney General of the United States. On June 8, 1895, Olney was appointed Secretary of State to fill the vacancy created by the death of Secretary Walter Q. Gresham. He took the oath of office on June 10, 1895. Olney died on April 9, 1917.
Judson Harmon
Forty-First Attorney General, 1895-1897
Born in Hamilton County, Ohio, on February 3, 1846, Harmon graduated in 1866 from Denison University, Granville, Ohio. In 1869 he graduated from the Law School of Cincinnati College, was admitted to the bar, and entered into the practice of law. Harmon was elected judge of the common pleas court in 1876, but was unseated four month later after a State senate contest. Two hears later, he was elected judge of the superior court of Cincinnati, reelected in 1883, and resigned in 1887 to resume the practice of law. He was appointed Attorney General of the United States by President Cleveland on June 8, 1895, and served until March 5, 1897. In the fall of 1908, Harmon was elected Governor of Ohio. He was re-elected in 1910, defeating Warren G. Harding. He died on February 22, 1927, in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Joseph McKenna
Forty-Second Attorney General, 1897-1898
Joseph McKenna was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on August 10, 1843. He attended St. Joseph's College and graduated from the Collegiate Institute at Benicia, California, in 1865. McKenna was admitted to the bar in 1865. Beginning in March 1866, he was twice elected district attorney for Solano County. He served in the lower house of the legislature in the 1875 and 1876 sessions. McKenna was elected to Congress for four terms, and resigned in 1892 to accept an appointment by President Benjamin Harrison as United States Circuit Judge. On March 5, 1897, he was appointed Attorney General of the United States by President McKinley, and served in that capacity until January 25, 1898. McKenna was appointed an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States to succeed Justice Field, and took his seat on January 26, 1898. He died on November 21, 1926, in Washington, D.C.
John William Griggs
Forty-Third Attorney General, 1898-1901
John Griggs was born in Newton, New Jersey, on July 10, 1849. He prepared for college in Newton, graduated from Lafayette College in 1868, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1871. He practiced law in Paterson, New Jersey. Griggs was a member of the General Assembly of New Jersey in 1876 and 1877. Elected State senator for Passaic in 1882, he was reelected in 1885. He served as president of the New Jersey Senate in 1886, and was elected Governor of New Jersey in November 1895. He resigned the Governorship to accept President McKinley's appointment of Attorney General of the United States, and served in that position from January 25, 1898 until March 29, 1901. He was one of the first members appointed to the Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Hague, and served from 1901 to 1912. Griggs died on November 28, 1927, in Paterson, New Jersey.
Philander Chase Knox
Forty-Fourth Attorney General, 1901-1904
Philander Knox was born on May 6, 1853, in Brownsville, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Mount Union College, Alliance, Ohio in 1872, entered the law office of H. B. Swope in Pittsburgh and was admitted to the bar in 1875. Knox was appointed Attorney General of the United States by President McKinley on April 5, 1901, and continued in that office under President Roosevelt until June 30, 1904. Governor Pennypacker appointed Knox to fill the United States Senate post vacated by the death of Honorable M. S. Quay. He took the seat on July 1, 1904 and in January of 1905 was elected by the legislature for a full term. Knox resigned his Senate seat to become Secretary of State under President Taft in 1909. He was reelected to the Senate in 1916. During his Senate career, he was responsible for drafting legislation which created the Department of Commerce, Department of Labor and for giving the Interstate Commerce Commission regulatory authority over railroad rates. Knox died in Washington, D.C. on October 12, 1921.
William Henry Moody
Forty-Fifth Attorney General, 1904-1906
William Moody was born on December 23, 1853, in Newbury, Massachusetts. In 1872 he graduated from Phillips Academy, in 1876 from Harvard University, and studied law in the office of Richard Henry Dana, Jr. Moody served as district attorney for the Eastern District of Massachusetts from 1890 to 1895. He was elected to the 54th Congress to fill a vacancy, and to the 55th, 56th, and 57th Congresses. He was appointed Secretary of the Navy and assumed the duties of that office on May 1, 1902. He served in that position until appointed Attorney General of the United States by President Roosevelt on July 1, 1904. He left the office of Attorney General on December 17, 1906, to become Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. During a five-year period he served the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the Government. Moody resigned in 1910 because of ill health and died on July 2, 1917, in Haverhill, Massachusetts.
Charles Joseph Bonaparte
Forty-Sixth Attorney General, 1906-1909
Charles Bonaparte was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on June 9, 1851. He graduated from Harvard College in 1871 and from Harvard Law School in 1874. He was admitted to the Maryland bar. Bonaparte was appointed a member of the Board of Indian Commissioners in 1902. For a number of years he was a member of the Board of Overseers of Harvard College, and was one of the organizers and president of the National Municipal League. For several years he was chairman of the Council of the National Civil Service Reform League. Bonaparte was a presidential elector for Maryland on the Republican ticket in 1904, the only republican elected. On July 1, 1905, he was appointed Secretary of the Navy. President Roosevelt appointed him Attorney General of the United States on December 17, 1906, which office he held until March 4, 1909. He died at his estate Bella Vista, near Baltimore, on June 28, 1921.
George Woodward Wickersham
Forty-Seventh Attorney General, 1909-1913
George Wickersham was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on September 19, 1858. He graduated from the law department of the University of Pennsylvania with the degree of LL.B. in 1880. In 1901 that university conferred upon him the honorary degree of master of arts. Previous to graduation, he had been admitted to the Philadelphia bar and practiced there until 1882, when he moved to New York City. In 1883 Wickersham entered the old established law firm of Strong and Cadwalader, and became a partner in the firm four years later. He held the office of Attorney General of the United States from March 5, 1909, to March 5, 1913, in President Taft's administration. Wickersham was named by President Wilson to serve on the War Trade Board to Cuba soon after the United States entered World War I. In 1929 President Hoover named him to the National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement. He died in New York City on January 25, 1936.
James Clark McReynolds
Forty-Eighth Attorney General, 1913-1914
Born in Elkton, Kentucky, on February 3, 1862, James McReynolds received a B.S. from Vanderbilt University in 1882, and graduated from the University of Virginia law department in 1884. He practiced law in Nashville, Tennessee, for many years, and was a professor at Vanderbilt Law School from 1900 to 1903. He was appointed Assistant Attorney General of the United States by Theodore Roosevelt and served from 1903 to 1907. Thereafter he moved to New York to engage in private practice. He was retained by the Government in matters relating to enforcement of antitrust laws, particularly in proceedings against the Tobacco Trust and the combination of the anthracite coal railroads. McReynolds was appointed Attorney General of the United States by President Wilson on March 5, 1913, and remained until August 29, 1914, when named Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. He served on the Supreme Court from 1914 to 1941. He died in 1946.
Thomas Watt Gregory
Forty-Ninth Attorney General, 1914-1919
Thomas Gregory was born in Crawfordsville, Mississippi, on November 6, 1861. He graduated from Southwestern Presbyterian University in 1883, and was a special student at the University of Virginia in 1884. He began the practice of law in Austin, Texas, in 1885. For eight years he was a regent of the University of Texas. He declined appointment as assistant attorney general of Texas in 1892, and an appointment to the State bench in 1896. Gregory was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention at St. Louis and State delegate at large to the Baltimore convention. He was appointed Special Assistant to the Attorney General on May 20, 1913, in the investigation and proceedings against the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Company. On August 29, 1914, President Wilson appointed him Attorney General of the United States, and he held that office until March 4, 1919. Gregory was a member of Wilson's Second Industrial Conference in 1919 and 1920. He died on February 26, 1933.
Alexander Mitchell Palmer
Fiftieth Attorney General, 1919-1921
Palmer was born in Moosehead, Pennsylvania, on May 4, 1872. In 1891 he received his AB degree from Swarthmore College and studied law at Swarthmore, Lafayette, and George Washington University. He was admitted to the bar in 1893, practiced with Honorable John B. Storm until 1901, and then alone. Palmer was a Member of Congress from 1909 to 1915. He was appointed judge of the United States Court of Claims in April 1915 and resigned that post on September 1, 1915. From October 22, 1917, to March 1919, he was alien property custodian under the "Trading with the Enemy Act." Palmer was a delegate at large to the Democratic National Conventions in 1912 and 1916, and a member of the executive committee of the Democratic National Committee from 1912 to 1920. He was appointed Attorney General of the United State by President Wilson on March 5, 1919, and remained until March 5, 1921. At the Democratic National Convention at San Francisco in 1920, Palmer received 267 nominating votes for President. He died on May 11, 1936.
Harry Micajah Daugherty
Fifty-First Attorney General, 1921-1924
Born in Washington Court House, Ohio, on January 16, 1860, Harry Daugherty attended the public schools there, then received his college education at the University of Michigan and graduated from the law department in 1881. He practiced law in Washington Court House until 1893, when he moved to Columbus, Ohio. He served as a member of the Ohio General Assembly from 1890 to 1894. In 1902 he organized the law firm of Daugherty, Todd & Rarey, of which he was senior member until he severed his connection upon being appointed Attorney General of the United States on March 4, 1921. Daugherty served under Presidents Harding and Coolidge until March 28, 1924, when he resigned. He was acquitted of charges to defraud the United States Government in the Teapot Dome Scandal. With Thomas Dixon, he was author of The Inside Story of the Harding Tragedy (1932). He died on October 12, 1941, in Columbus, Ohio.
Harlan Fiske Stone
Fifty-Second Attorney General, 1924-1925
Harlan Fiske Stone was born in Chesterfield, New Hampshire, on October 11, 1872. He graduated from Amherst College with a B.S. Degree in 1894, Columbia Law School in 1898, and was admitted to the New York bar. He became a member of the law firm of Wilmer & Canfield, and later of its successor, Saterlee, Canfield & Stone. While practicing law, he lectured at Columbia Law School from 1899 to 1902. He was professor of law from 1902 to 1905, and dean of Columbia Law School from 1910 to 1923. He then resigned and joined the law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell in New York. Stone was appointed Attorney General of the United States by President Coolidge on April 7, 1924, and held that office until March 2, 1925. He served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1941 until his death on April 22, 1946, in Washington, D.C.
John Garibaldi Sargent
Fifty-Third Attorney General, 1925-1929
John Sargent was born in Ludlow, Vermont, on October 12, 1860. He earned a B.A. Degree from Tufts College in 1887, and an M.A. in 1912. He studied law in the interim and was admitted to the Vermont bar in 1890. Sargent joined the firm of Stickney , Sargent & Skeels, then served as State's attorney in Windsor County, Vermont, until 1900.
He served as secretary for civil and military affairs of Vermont from 1900 to 1902, and as attorney general of Vermont from 1900 to 1902, and as attorney general of Vermont from 1908 to 1912. President Coolidge appointed Sargent Attorney General of the United States on March 17, 1925, and he remained in that office until March 5, 1929. Sargent was also chairman of the Vermont Commission on Uniform State Laws, and a trustee of the Black River Academy. He died on March 5, 1939, in Ludlow, Vermont.
William DeWitt Mitchell
Fifty-Fourth Attorney General, 1929-1933
Mitchell was born in Winona, Minnesota, on September 9, 1874. He received his A.B. from the University of Minnesota in 1895, his LL.B. from that institution in 1896, and was admitted to the Minnesota bar. He began practicing law in St. Paul. Mitchell served as an infantry officer during the Spanish American War and World War I. On June 4, 1925, he was appointed Solicitor General of the United States. President Hoover appointed him Attorney General of the United States on March 4, 1929, and he held that office until March 4, 1933. Mitchell returned to New York City to practice law. He was named chairman of the Committee on Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and chief counsel of the joint congressional committee investigating the Pearl Harbor disaster. He died on August 24, 1955, in Syosset, New York.
Homer Stille Cummings
Fifty-Fifth Attorney General, 1933-1939
Homer Cummings was born in Chicago, Illinois, on April 30, 1870. He received his Ph.B. from Yale University in 1891 and his LL.B. in 1893. He was admitted to the Connecticut bar the same year and practice in Stamford, Connecticut, until March 4, 1933. Cummings was a member of the New York bar, and was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States and a number of Federal district courts. He served as mayor of Stamford for three term, corporation counsel from 1908 to 1912, and delegate at large to the Democratic National conventions of 1900, 1904, 1924, 1932, 1936, 1940 and 1944. Cummings was a candidate for Congressman at Large from Connecticut in 1902 and for United States Senator in 1916. From July 1, 1914, to November 1, 1924, he was State's attorney for Fairfield County, Connecticut, and in 1930 chairman of the committee on State Prison Conditions. Cummings was appointed Attorney General of the United States by President Roosevelt on March 4, 1933, and served until January 2, 1939. He was a member of many prestigious legal groups and associations. He was responsible for improving the American prison system, and established Alcatraz Island prison in San Francisco Bay in 1934. Cummings died on September 10, 1956.
Frank Murphy
Fifty-Sixth Attorney General, 1939-1940
Born on April 13, 1890, in Harbor Beach, Michigan, Frank Murphy received his LL.B. from the University of Michigan Law School in 1914 and was admitted to the Michigan bar in the same year. Murphy enlisted in the United States Army and served as an officer during World War I. He was an assistant United States attorney in the Eastern District of Michigan from 1919 to 1920 and briefly taught law at the University of Detroit. He was elected mayor of Detroit, Michigan, in 1930 and 1932, and was the first president of the United States Association of Mayors, Murphy served as Governor-General of the Philippine Islands in 1933, and first United States High commissioner to the Philippines from 1935 to 1936. Elected Governor of Michigan in 1936, he served through 1938. On January 2, 1930, he was appointed Attorney General of the United States by President Roosevelt. The next year, on January 4, 1940, Murphy was appointed Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He died on July 19, 1949, in Detroit, Michigan.
Robert Houghwout Jackson
Fifty-Seventh Attorney General, 1940-1941
Robert H. Jackson was born in Spring Creek, Pennsylvania, on February 13, 1892. He earned a B.A. degree from Chatauqua Institute, an LL.D. degree from National University in 1938, and was admitted to the bar in 1913. He was president of the Western New York Federation of Bar Associations from 1928 to 1939, a member of the New York State Commission to Investigate the Administration of Justice, a member of the board of directors of the New York Emergency Script Corporation in 1933, and chairman of the National Conference of Bar Association Delegates from 1933 to 1934. He was General Counsel for the Bureau of Internal Revenue in 1934. His service with the Department of Justice included appointments as an Assistant Attorney General of the Tax Division on February 26, 1936, Assistant Attorney General of the Antitrust Division on January 21, 1937, and Solicitor General of the United States on March 4, 1938. On January 18, 1940, President Roosevelt appointed Jackson Attorney General of the United States. He was appointed Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States on July 11, 1941, also by Roosevelt. At the close of World War II in 1945, President Truman appointed Jackson as United States representative in meetings with the "Big Three" powers, England, Russia, and France, to negotiate agreement for the international trials of German criminals. Justice Jackson was chief counsel of the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg. He was an author, lecturer, and a trustee of George Washington University and Union College. He died on October 9, 1954.
Francis Biddle
Fifty-Eighth Attorney General, 1941-1945
Biddle was born in Paris, France, on May 9, 1886. He earned his B.A. degree from Harvard in 1909 and his LL.B. degree from Harvard Law School in 1911. He was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in 1912, and to practice before the Supreme Court in 1927. From 1922 to 1926 he was special assistant United States attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. He served as chairman of the National Labor Relations Board in 1934 through 1935 and from 1938 through 1939 was Class C director and deputy chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank. Also from 1938 to 1939 he was chief counsel of the special joint congressional committee to investigate the Tennessee Valley Authority. Biddle was judge of the United States Circuit of Appeals, Third Circuit, from 1939-1940. From 1940 to 1941 he was Solicitor General of the United States. President Roosevelt appointed Biddle Attorney General of the United States on September 5, 1941, and he remained in that office until June 30, 1945. At one time he was private secretary to Justice Oliver Wendell Homes and wrote Mr. Justice Holmes as a result of this experience. He was a prolific author, principally on legal themes. He died on October 4, 1968, at Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
Thomas Campbell Clark
Fifty-Ninth Attorney General, 1945-1949
Tom Campbell Clark was born in Dallas, Texas, on September 23, 1899. He earned an A.B. degree from the University of Texas, an LL.B. from that university in 1922 and in the same year was admitted to the Texas bar. From 1922 to 1927 he was a member of his father's law firm, Clark and Clark. In 1927 he was civil district attorney for Dallas County, Texas. Clark was a special attorney in the Bureau of War Risk Litigation, Department of Justice, in 1937. He was a special assistant to the Assistant Attorney General assigned to the Antitrust Division in 1938. From 1940 to 1942 he served as Chief, West Coast Offices, in the Antitrust Division of Justice. In 1942 he was named coordinator of Alien Enemy Control of the Western Defense Command, and Chief Civilian Staff for Japanese War Relocation. In 1943 he was Chief, War Frauds Unit, and first assistant to the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust Division, Department of Justice. In August 1943 he was named Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department's Criminal Division. President Truman appointed Clark Attorney General of the United States on July 1, 1945. He held that office until 1949 when he was appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States. Justice Clark retired from the Bench in 1967. He died in New York City on June 13, 1977.
James Howard McGrath
Sixtieth Attorney General, 1949-1952
J. Howard McGrath was born in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, on November 28, 1903. He received his Ph.B. From Providence College in 1926, and LL.B. from Boston University in 1929. He was admitted to the Rhode Island bar in 1929, and later years was the recipient of numerous honorary degrees. From 1930 to 1934 he was city solicitor of Central Falls, Rhode Island. He served as United States district attorney for 1935 to 1940. From 1940 until 1945 he was Governor of Rhode Island. McGrath served as Solicitor General of the States from 1945 to 1946. He was elected United States Senator from Rhode Island in 1946. President Truman appointed McGrath Attorney General of the United States on August 24, 1949. He resigned from that office on April 7, 1952 and entered the private practice of law. He died on September 2, 1966.
James Patrick McGranery
Sixty-First Attorney General, 1952-1953
James P. McGranery was born in Philadelphia, on July 8, 1895. He served in World War I as an observation pilot with the Air Force. He graduated from Temple University Law School in 1928, and was admitted to the bar that same year. McGranery was appointed chairman of the Registration Commission by Governor Earle for the city of Philadelphia in 1934. He was a Member of Congress serving in the 75th through 78th sessions. In November 1943, he was appointed assistant to the Attorney General and was responsible for supervising the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Immigration and Naturalization Service, Bureau of Prisons, and various divisions. The he served as United Stated Federal Court judge for the Western District of Pennsylvania. In 1946 he was awarded the Medal of Merit by President Truman. On may 27, 1952, President Truman appointed McGranery Attorney General of the United States. He served in that capacity until January 20, 1953. He died on December 23, 1962.
Herbert Brownell
Sixty-Second Attorney General, 1953-1957
Herbert Brownell was born in Peru, Nebraska, on February 20, 1904. He earned an AB degree from the University of Nebraska in 1924, graduated from Yale University School of Law in 1927, and was admitted to the New York bar that same year. He practiced law with the firm of Root, Clark, Buckner & Ballantine. He served as chairman of the Republic National committee, and a member of the New York State Bar Association, the New York City Bar Association, and many professional and learned societies. Appointed Attorney General of the United States by President Eisenhower on January 21, 1953, he remained in office until November 8, 1957. After that he served as the United States member to the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague.
William Pierce Rogers
Sixty-Third Attorney General, 1957-1961
William Rogers was born in Norfolk, New York, on June 23, 1913. He graduated from Colgate University in 1934, and received an LL.B. degree at Cornell Law School in 1937. While at Cornell, he was editor of the Cornell Law Quarterly. He became a member of the American, Federal, District of Columbia, New York State, and New York City bar associations, the American Judicature Society, and many other professional organizations. From 1937 to 1938 he practiced law in New York, and from 1938 to 1942 was assistant district attorney for New York County. From 1942 to 1946 he served as lieutenant commander in the United States Navy. From 1946 to 1947 he returned to the district attorney's office in New York County, from 1947 to 1948 he was the chief counsel of the Senate War Investigating Committee, from 1949 to 1950 he was chief counsel of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, and from 1950 to 1952 returned to the private practice of law. Rogers served as Deputy Attorney General from 1953 to 1957 and was appointed Attorney General of the United States on November 8, 1957, by President Eisenhower. He remained until January 20. 1961. He was United States representative to the Twentieth General Assembly of the United Nations in 1967, and then resumed the private practice of law. In 1969 President Nixon named him Secretary of State, an office he held until 1973, when he again returned to private practice. Rogers died on January 2, 2001.
Robert Francis Kennedy
Sixty-Fourth Attorney General, 1961-1964
Robert Kennedy was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on November 20, 1925. He served with the United States Naval Reserve from 1944 to 1946. He earned a BA degree from Harvard University in 1948, was a correspondent on The Boston Post, and in 1951 graduated from the University of Virginia Law School. Kennedy was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1951, and began to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States in 1955. He joined the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice as an attorney in 1951. In 1952 he served as campaign manager for his brother's (Congressman John F. Kennedy) election to the United States Senate. He was assistant counsel to the Hoover Commission in 1953. In 1953 he became assistant counsel to the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, chief counsel to the minority in 1954, and chief counsel and staff director in 1955. From 1957 to 1960 Kennedy was chief counsel of the Senate Select Committee on Improper Activities in the Labor or Management Field. He managed John F. Kennedy's Presidential campaign. On January 21, 1961, President Kennedy appointed him Attorney General of the United States, and he held the office until September 3, 1964. Kennedy was elected to the United States Senate from New York in 1965. He was assassinated in Los Angeles, California, on June 6, 1968, while campaigning for the Presidency of the United States.
Nicholas deBelleville Katzenbach
Sixty-Fifth Attorney General, 1965-1966
Katzenbach was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on January 17, 1922. He graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy, received his BA cum laude from Princeton University in 1945, and in 1947 his LL.B. cum laude from Yale University Law School. From 1947 to 1949 he was a Rhodes scholar at Oxford. He was admitted to the New Jersey bar in 1950 and the Connecticut bar in 1955. He was an associate in the law firm of Katzenbach, Gildea and Rudner in 1950. From 1950 to1952 he was attorney-advisor in the Office of General Counsel to the Secretary of the Air Force. Katzenbach was an associate professor of law at Yale from 1952 to 1956, and a professor of law at the University of Chicago from 1956 to 1960. He served in the Department of Justice as Assistant Attorney General of the Office of Legal Counsel in 1961-1962, and as Deputy Attorney General from 1962 to 1965. President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Katzenbach Attorney General of the United States on February 11, 1965, and he held the office until October 2, 1966. He also served as Under Secretary of State from 1966 to 1969.
Ramsey Clark
Sixty-Sixth Attorney General, 1967-1969
Ramsey Clark, the son of Tom C. Clark, the Fifty-ninth Attorney General, was born in Dallas, Texas, on December 18, 1927. He served in the United States Marine Corps in 1945 and 1946, then earned a BA degree from the University of Texas in 1949, an MA and a J.D. from the University of Chicago in 1950. He was admitted to the Texas bar in 1951, and to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States in 1956. From 1951 to 1961 Clark was an associate and partner in the law firm of Clark, Reed and Clark. He served in the Department of Justice as Assistant Attorney General of the Lands Division from 1961 to 1965, and as Deputy Attorney General from 1965 to 1967. Clark was director of the American Judicature Society in 1963. From 1964 to 1965 he was national president of the Federal Bar Association. On March 2, 1967, President Johnson appointed him Attorney General of the United States. He served in that capacity until January 20, 1969.
John Newton Mitchell
Sixty-Seventh Attorney General, 1969-1972
John Mitchell was born in Detroit, Michigan, on September 5, 1913. His education included Fordham University from 1932 to 1934, an LL.B. degree from Fordham in 1938, and postgraduate study at St. John's University Law School in 1938 and 1939. He was admitted to the New York State bar in 1938. Mitchell was an associate in the law firm of Caldwell and Raymond from 1938 to 1942. He served in the United States Navy during World War II and then became a partner in the law firm of Caldwell, Trimble and Mitchell from 1942 to 1966, and a partner in the law firm of Nixon, Mudge, Rose, Guthrie, Alexander and Mitchell from 1967 to 1968. He was a member of the American Bar Association. President Richard M. Nixon appointed Mitchell Attorney General of the United States on January 21, 1969. He served in that capacity until March 1, 1972, when he resigned to head the committee for the reelection of President Nixon. Mitchell died on November 9, 1988.
Richard Gordon Kleindienst
Sixty-Eighth Attorney General, 1972-1973
Richard Kleindienst was born in Winslow, Arizona, on August 5, 1923. He received his BA degree from Harvard in 1947 and graduated from Harvard Law School in 1950. He served in the United States Army air force from 1943 to 1946. Kleindienst was in the Arizona House of Representatives from 1953 through 1954. From 1958 to 1969 he was a partner in the law firm of Shimmel, Hill, Kleindienst & Bishop. He held the office of Deputy Attorney General of the United States from January 31, 1969 to June 11, 1972. Kleindienst was appointed Attorney General of the United States by President Richard Nixon on June 12, 1972. He resigned on May 25, 1973, and returned to the private practice of law. He died on February 3, 2000.
Elliot Lee Richardson
Sixty-Ninth Attorney General, 1973
Elliot Richardson was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on July 20, 1920. He graduated cum laude from Harvard in 1941, served in the United States Army from 1942 to 1945, and graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1947, where he was president of the Law Review. For a year he was law clerk to Judge Learned Hand of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The following year he served as law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter. From 1949 to 1953, and again from 1955 to 1956, he practiced law in Boston. In 1953 and 1954, Richardson was assistant to Massachusetts Senator Leverett Saltonstall, who was then chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. He served as Assistant Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare for Legislation from 1957 to 1959, and as Acting Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare from April to July 1958. He was United States attorney for Massachusetts from 1959 to 1961, and in 1961 served as a special assistant to the Attorney General of the United States. In 1964 he was elected Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts, and from 1966 to 1969 he served as attorney general of the State. Richardson was Under Secretary of State from January 24, 1969 until he assumed leadership of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare as Secretary from June 24, 1970, to January 29, 1973. He served as Secretary of Defense from January 30, 1973, to May 24, 1973. President Nixon appointed him Attorney General of the United States on May 25, 1973, from which post he resigned on October 20, 1973. President Ford chose Richardson as Ambassador to Britain in 1975, and then on February 2, 1976, appointed him Secretary of Commerce. Richardson died on December 31, 1999.
William Bart Saxbe
Seventieth Attorney General, 1974-1975
William Saxbe was born in Mechanicsburg, Ohio, on June 24, 1916. He earned his BA degree from Ohio State University in 1940, his LL.B. from that institution in 1948, and was admitted to the Ohio bar that same year. He was on active military duty from 1940 to 1945, and was recalled into service 1951-1952 during the Korean War. Saxbe was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives in 1946, reelected three times, and served as speaker of the house in 1953 and 1954. He then returned to private practice. In 1956 he was elected attorney general of the state of Ohio and reelected in 1962 and 1966, serving as the State's chief legal officer longer than any attorney general in Ohio history. Saxbe served as United States Senator from Ohio from 1969 until January 3, 1974. President Richard Nixon appointed him Attorney General of the United States on January 4, 1974. He resigned on February 1, 1975, to become Ambassador to India and served in that position until 1977.
Edward Hirsch Levi
Seventy-First Attorney General, 1975-1977
Edward H. Levi was born in Chicago, Illinois, on June 26, 1911. He received his Ph.B. degree from the University of Chicago in 1932 and his JD degree there in 1935. He received his J.S.D. Degree in 1938 from Yale University, where he had been a Sterling fellow in 1935 and 1936. Levi was named assistant professor of law at the University of Chicago in 1936, the year he was admitted to the Illinois bar. From 1940 to 1945 he took a leave of absence from the university to be a special assistant to the Attorney General of the United States. He served in the Justice Department's Antitrust Division, was head of the Consent Decree Section and then first assistant in 1943 and 1945. Levi was first assistant in the Department's War Division for eight months in 1943. In 1944 he was Chairman of the Interdepartmental Committee on Monopolies and Cartels. He returned to the University of Chicago Law School in 1945 as a professor, was named dean of the law school in 1950, provost of the university in 1962, and appointed its president on November 14, 1968. During those years Levi also served the Federal Government as chief counsel to the Subcommittee on Monopoly Power of the House Judiciary Committee in 1950, and as a member of the White House Central Group on Domestic Affairs in 1964 and the White House Task Force on Education in 1966 and 1967. In addition, he was a member of the Presidents' Task Force on Priorities in Higher Education in 1969 and 1970. He also was a member of the National Commission on Productivity and the National Council on the Humanities. On February 7, 1975, President Ford appointed him Attorney General of the United States. Levi died on March 7, 2000.
Griffin Boyette Bell
Seventy-Second Attorney General, 1977-1979
Griffin B. Bell was born in Americus, Georgia, on October 31, 1918. He attended Georgia Southwestern College, and received an LL.B. degree cum laude from Mercer University Law School in Macon, Georgia. In addition, he received the Order of the Coif from Vanderbilt Law School, and honorary degrees from a number of colleges and universities. Mr. Bell served in the U.S. Army from 1941 to 1946, attaining the rank of major. He was admitted to the Georgia bar in 1947, and practiced in Savannah and Rome, Georgia, before joining the Atlanta law firm of King & Spaulding in 1953. From January 1959 to October 1961, Bell also held the honorary position of chief of staff to Georgia Governor Ernest Vandiver. In 1961 President Kennedy appointed him to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. In March 1976, he returned to King & Spaulding as a senior partner. He resigned from the firm on December 31, 1976, after being nominated for the office of Attorney General by President Carter. Confirmed by the Senate on January 25, 1977, Bell was sworn in on January 26, receiving the oath of office from Chief Justice Warren E. Burger. During his career, Bell served as Chairman of the Committee on Innovation and Development of the Federal Judicial Center, of the American Bar Association's Division of Judicial Administration and Pound Conference Follow-Up Task Force. His memberships have included the American Bar Association's Commission on Standards of Judicial Administration, the Board of Directors of the Federal Judicial Center, the American College of Trial Lawyers, and the Visiting Committee of the Vanderbilt Law School. He is also a trustee of Mercer University.
Benjamin R. Civiletti
Seventy-Third Attorney General, 1979-1981
Benjamin R. Civiletti was born in Peekskill, New York, on July 17, 1935. He graduated from the Irving School in Tarrytown, New York, in 1953, from Johns Hopkins University with an AB degree in 1957, and from the University of Maryland School of Law with an LL.B. degree in 1961. He was a law clerk for the Honorable W. Calvin Chesnut, judge of the U.S. District Court, during 1961 and 1962 and was an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Maryland from September 1962 to October 1964. He was admitted to the Maryland state bar in 1961 and to the bar of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1965. From 1964 through 1968, he was an associate with the law firm of Venabel, Baetjer and Howard in Baltimore, Maryland. He became a partner in 1969 and head of the Litigation Department in 1971, specializing in both criminal and civil litigation. Before becoming Attorney General, Civiletti held two key positions in the Justice Department: Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Criminal Division from March 10, 1977, to May 16, 1978, and Deputy Attorney General from May 16, 1978 to August 15, 1979. He was sworn in as the 73d Attorney General of the United States on August 16, 1979, and served until January 19, 1981.
William French Smith
Seventy-Fourth Attorney General, 1981-1985
William French Smith was born on August 26, 1917, in Wilton, New Hampshire. He received his AB degree, summa cum laude, from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1939, and his LL.B. degree from the Harvard Law School in 1942. From 1942 to 1946, Mr. Smith served in the U.S. Naval Reserve, reaching the rank of lieutenant. In 1946 he joined the law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in Los Angeles, where he was a senior partner when appointed Attorney General by President Reagan. Smith was a member of the American Law Institute, American Judicature Society, and the Institute of Judicial Administration's Board of Fellows, as well as a fellow of the American Bar Foundation. He was sworn in as the 74th Attorney General on January 23, 1981 by the Chief Justice. He resigned in February 1985 after serving over four years. Smith died on October 29, 1990.
Edwin Meese III
Seventy-Fifth Attorney General, 1985-1988
Edwin Meese was born in 1931 in Oakland, California. He graduated from Yale University in 1953, and received a law degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 1958. From 1959 to 1967, Meese served as Deputy District Attorney of Alameda County, California. He joined Governor Reagan's staff in California as Legal Affairs Secretary in 1967 and then served as Executive Assistant and Chief of Staff from 1969 through 1974. From 1977 to 1981, Mr. Meese was a Professor of Law at the University of San Diego, where he also was Director of the Center for Criminal Justice Policy and Management.
From 1981 until 1985, Mr. Meese held the position of Counselor to President Reagan. He was appointed Attorney General by President Reagan in 1985. Mr. Meese is currently a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, DC and is the author of With Reagan: The Inside Story, published in 1992.
Dick Thornburgh
Seventy-Sixth Attorney General, 1988-1991
Dick Thornburgh was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1932. He received an engineering degree from Yale University in 1954 and a LL.B. from the University of Pittsburgh in 1957.
Thornburgh was United States Attorney for Western Pennsylvania from 1969 to 1975. From 1975 to 1977 he served as Assistant Attorney General of the United States in charge of the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice during the administration of President Gerald Ford. While in this position, he established the Public Integrity Section to spearhead the Justice Department's actions against corrupt public officials. Mr. Thornburgh served two terms as Governor of Pennsylvania. He was elected in 1978 and re-elected in 1982. From 1987 to 1988 he was Director of the Institute of Politics at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Thornburgh was appointed Attorney General by President Reagan in 1988, and continued in this position under President Bush. After leaving the Department of Justice, he served as Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1992-1993 before returning to private law practice.
William P. Barr
Seventy-Seventh Attorney General, 1991-1993
William Barr was born in 1950 in New York. He received his BA and MA degrees, in 1971 and 1973 respectively, from Columbia University. He received his JD degrees with highest honors in 1977 from George Washington University. From 1973 to 1977, he was employed by the Central Intelligence Agency. Barr was a law clerk to Judge Malcolm Wilkey of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1977 through 1978. He served on the Domestic Policy staff at the White House from 1982 to 1983. He was also in private practice for nine years, with the Washington law firm of Shaw, Pitman, Potts, and Trowbridge.
At the Department of Justice, Barr served in the positions of Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel from 1989 to 1990, Deputy Attorney General from May 1990 to August 1991 and Acting Attorney General for three months. He was appointed Attorney General by President Bush in 1991. After resigning as Attorney General, he returned to private practice.
Janet Reno
Seventy-Eighth Attorney General, 1993-2001
Janet Reno was born in 1938 in Miami, Florida. She attended Cornell University and graduated in 1960 with a degree in chemistry. In 1960, she enrolled at Harvard Law School, one of only sixteen women in a class of more than 500 students. She received her LL.B. from Harvard in 1963. She was named staff director of the Judiciary Committee of the Florida House of Representatives in 1971, and in 1973 accepted a position with the Dade County State Attorney's Office. In 1978, after the current state attorney stepped down, she was appointed by Governor Reubin Askew as State Attorney for Dade County. She was then elected to this position 5 times.
Janet Reno, the first woman Attorney General, was nominated by President Clinton in 1993. She was also the longest serving Attorney General in the twentieth century. After resigning in 2001, she returned to her home in Miami.
John Ashcroft
Seventy-Ninth Attorney General, 2001-2005
John Ashcroft was born in Chicago, Illinois on May 9, 1942. Raised in Springfield, Missouri, he attended public schools until enrolling at Yale university, where he graduated with honors in 1964. He received his Juris Doctor from the University of Chicago in 1967. His career of public service began in 1973 as Missouri Auditor and he was later elected to two terms as the state's Attorney General. Ashcroft served as Governor of Missouri from 1985-1993. Nominated by President George W. Bush, Ashcroft served as U.S. Attorney General from 2001- February 2005.
Alberto R. Gonzales
Eightieth Attorney General, 2005-2007
Alberto Gonzales was born in San Antonio, Texas and raised in Houston. He is a graduate of Texas public schools, Rice University, and Harvard Law School. Gonzales served in the United States Air Force between 1973 and 1975, and attended the United States Air Force Academy between 1975 and 1977. Prior to his tenure at the Department of Justice, he was commissioned as Counsel to President George W. Bush, and he was a Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas. Before his appointment to the Texas Supreme Court in 1999, he served as Texas' 100th Secretary of State. Among his many duties as Secretary of State, Gonzales was a senior advisor to then Governor Bush, chief elections officer, and the Governor's lead liaison on Mexico and border issues.
He and his wife, Rebecca Turner Gonzales, have three sons.
Michael B. Mukasey
Eighty-First Attorney General, 2007-
Michael Mukasey was born in the Bronx, New York, in 1941 and graduated from Columbia College and Yale Law School, where he was on the Board of Editors of the Yale Law Journal. Prior to becoming Attorney General, he had a lengthy career as an attorney, including service as an Assistant United States Attorney from 1972 to 1976 in New York. From 1975 to 1976 he also served as chief of his district's Official Corruption Unit. From 1976 to 1987 he was an associate, and then member, of the firm Patterson, Belknap, Webb & Tyler.
Mukasey was appointed to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York by President Ronald Reagan in 1988 and served until 2006, the last six years as chief judge. During that time, Judge Mukasey presided over hundreds of cases, including the trial of Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman and 11 co-defendants charged with conspiring to blow up numerous sites in New York. Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, he was widely praised for the speed with which the federal courthouse, located just blocks from the site of the World Trade Center, returned to normal operation.
Upon his retirement from the bench, Mukasey returned to Patterson, Belknap, Webb & Tyler, in the firm's litigation group. Judge Mukasey has received numerous awards over the years, including the Learned Hand Medal for Excellence in Federal Jurisprudence from the Federal Bar Council, the William Tendy Award from the Fiske Association, awards from the Seymour Association, the Respect for Law Alliance, and the Ari Halberstam Award from the Jewish Children's Museum. He also received an honorary degree from the Brooklyn Law School.
Mukasey's professional and civic activities have included service as a director of the William Nelson Cromwell Foundation and as a director of the Jewish Children's Museum. He has also been a lecturer in law at the Columbia Law School. He was a member of the Automation and Technology Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States; was chairman of the Committee on Public Access to Information and Proceedings of the New York State Bar Association; was a member of the Federal Courts Committee and the Communications Law Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York; and was a member of the American Bar Association.
Judge Mukasey was nominated to be Attorney General by President George W. Bush on September 17, 2007, and confirmed by the United States Senate on November 8. He entered duty on November 9. He and his wife, Susan, have two grown children, Marc and Jessica, and two grandsons.
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