United States Secretary of Agriculture
| United States Secretary of Agriculture | |
|---|---|
 Seal of the Department | |
 Flag of the Secretary | |
| United States Department of Agriculture | |
| Style | Mr. Secretary (informal) The Honorable (formal) |
| Member of | Cabinet |
| Reports to | President of the United States |
| Seat | Jamie L. Whitten Building, Washington, D.C. |
| Appointer | The President with Senate advice and consent |
| Term length | No fixed term |
| Constituting instrument | 7 U.S.C. § 2202 |
| Formation | February 15, 1889 |
| First holder | Norman Jay Coleman |
| Succession | Ninth[1] |
| Deputy | Deputy Secretary of Agriculture |
| Salary | Executive Schedule, level I |
| Website | www |
The United States Secretary of Agriculture is the head of the United States Department of Agriculture. The position carries similar responsibilities to agriculture ministers of other governments.[2]
Secretaries of Agriculture
[change | change source]The following is a list of Secretaries of Agriculture, since the creation of the office in 1889.[3]
| No. | Portrait | Name | State of residence | Took office | Left office | President(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 
|
Isaac Newton | Pennsylvania | July 1, 1862 | June 19, 1867 | Abraham Lincoln | |
| Andrew Johnson | |||||||
| 2 | 
|
Horace Capron | December 4, 1867 | July 31, 1871 | |||
| Ulysses S. Grant | |||||||
| 3 | Frederick Watts | Pennsylvania | August 1, 1871 | 1877 | |||
| 4 | 
|
William Gates LeDuc | Minnesota | July 1, 1877 | 1881 | Rutherford B. Hayes | |
| 5 | 
|
George B. Loring | Massachusetts | July 1, 1881 | 1885 | James A. Garfield | |
| Chester A. Arthur | |||||||
| 6 | 
|
Norman Jay Coleman | Missouri | April 3, 1885 | February 14, 1889 | Grover Cleveland | |
The position of secretary of agriculture was created when the department was elevated to Cabinet status in 1889. The following is a list of secretaries of agriculture, since the creation of the office in 1889.[4]
- Parties
Democratic (14) Republican (18)
Status
Acting Secretary of Agriculture
Nominee for Secretary of Agriculture
| No. | Portrait | Name | State of residence | Took office | Left office | President(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
|
Norman Jay Coleman | Missouri | February 15, 1889 | March 6, 1889 | Grover Cleveland | |
| 2 | 
|
Jeremiah McLain Rusk | Wisconsin | March 6, 1889 | March 6, 1893 | Benjamin Harrison | |
| 3 | 
|
Julius Sterling Morton | Nebraska | March 7, 1893 | March 5, 1897 | Grover Cleveland | |
| 4 | 
|
James Wilson | Iowa | March 5, 1897 | March 3, 1913 | William McKinley | |
| Theodore Roosevelt | |||||||
| William Howard Taft | |||||||
| 5 | 
|
David F. Houston | Missouri | March 6, 1913 | February 2, 1920 | Woodrow Wilson | |
| 6 | 
|
Edwin T. Meredith | Iowa | February 2, 1920 | March 4, 1921 | ||
| 7 | 
|
Henry Cantwell Wallace | Iowa | March 5, 1921 | October 25, 1924 | Warren G. Harding | |
| Calvin Coolidge | |||||||
| 8 | 
|
Howard Mason Gore | West Virginia | November 22, 1924 | March 4, 1925 | ||
| 9 | 
|
William Marion Jardine | Kansas | March 5, 1925 | March 4, 1929 | ||
| 10 | 
|
Arthur M. Hyde | Missouri | March 6, 1929 | March 4, 1933 | Herbert Hoover | |
| 11 | 
|
Henry A. Wallace | Iowa | March 4, 1933 | September 4, 1940 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | |
| 12 | 
|
Claude R. Wickard | Indiana | September 5, 1940 | June 29, 1945 | ||
| Harry S. Truman | |||||||
| 13 | 
|
Clinton Presba Anderson | New Mexico | June 30, 1945 | May 10, 1948 | ||
| 14 | 
|
Charles F. Brannan | Colorado | June 2, 1948 | January 20, 1953 | ||
| 15 | 
|
Ezra Taft Benson | Utah | January 21, 1953 | January 20, 1961 | Dwight D. Eisenhower | |
| 16 | 
|
Orville Freeman | Minnesota | January 21, 1961 | January 20, 1969 | John F. Kennedy | |
| Lyndon B. Johnson | |||||||
| 17 | 
|
Clifford M. Hardin | Nebraska | January 21, 1969 | November 17, 1971 | Richard Nixon | |
| 18 | 
|
Earl Butz | Indiana | December 2, 1971 | October 4, 1976 | ||
| Gerald Ford | |||||||
| 19 | 
|
John Albert Knebel | Oklahoma | November 4, 1976 | January 20, 1977 | ||
| 20 | 
|
Robert Bergland | Minnesota | January 23, 1977 | January 20, 1981 | Jimmy Carter | |
| 21 | 
|
John Rusling Block | Illinois | January 23, 1981 | February 14, 1986 | Ronald Reagan | |
| 22 | 
|
Richard Edmund Lyng | California | March 7, 1986 | January 21, 1989 | ||
| 23 | 
|
Clayton Keith Yeutter | Nebraska | February 16, 1989 | March 1, 1991 | George H. W. Bush | |
| 24 | 
|
Edward Rell Madigan | Illinois | March 8, 1991 | January 20, 1993 | ||
| 25 | 
|
Mike Espy | Mississippi | January 22, 1993 | December 31, 1994 | Bill Clinton | |
| – | 
|
Richard Rominger Acting |
California | December 31, 1994 | March 30, 1995 | ||
| 26 | 
|
Dan Glickman | Kansas | March 30, 1995 | January 20, 2001 | ||
| 27 | 
|
Ann Veneman | California | January 20, 2001 | January 20, 2005 | George W. Bush | |
| 28 | 
|
Mike Johanns | Nebraska | January 21, 2005 | September 20, 2007 | ||
| – | 
|
Charles F. Conner Acting |
Indiana | September 20, 2007 | January 28, 2008 | ||
| 29 | 
|
Ed Schafer | North Dakota | January 28, 2008 | January 20, 2009 | ||
| 30 | 
|
Tom Vilsack | Iowa | January 20, 2009 | January 13, 2017 | Barack Obama | |
| – | 
|
Michael Scuse Acting |
Delaware | January 13, 2017 | January 20, 2017 | ||
| – | 
|
Mike Young Acting |
January 20, 2017 | April 25, 2017 | Donald Trump | ||
| 31 | 
|
Sonny Perdue | Georgia | April 25, 2017 | January 20, 2021 | ||
| – | 
|
Kevin Shea Acting |
January 20, 2021 | February 23, 2021 | Joe Biden | ||
| 32 | 
|
Tom Vilsack | Iowa | February 24, 2021 | Incumbent | ||
References
[change | change source]- ↑ "3 U.S. Code § 19 - Vacancy in offices of both President and Vice President; officers eligible to act". LII / Legal Information Institute.
- ↑ "Former Secretaries". United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved 2007-09-24.
- ↑ "Former Secretaries". United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved 2007-09-24.
- ↑ "Former Secretaries". U.S. Department of Agriculture. Retrieved 2018-10-26.