List of foreign-born United States Cabinet Secretaries

Last updated
Henry Kissinger.jpg
Albrightmadeleine.jpg
Henry Kissinger (left) and Madeleine Albright (right) - the highest-ranking Cabinet members born outside the United States; each held the post of Secretary of State. [1]

As of 2021, there have been 24 members appointed to the United States Cabinet who had been born outside the present-day United States.

Contents

Alexander Hamilton, one of the Founding Fathers who signed the United States Constitution, was the first Cabinet member to be born outside of the United States. [1] President George Washington appointed Hamilton, born in Nevis in 1755 or in 1757, as the United States' first Secretary of Treasury in 1789. [2] [3] Irish-born James McHenry, whom Washington appointed as Secretary of War in 1796 and who served the in same post in John Adams's administration, was the other foreign-born individual in Washington's cabinet. [4]

Albert Gallatin, born in the Republic of Geneva (in present-day Switzerland) in 1761, became the third foreign-born member of the Cabinet when named Secretary of Treasury by President Thomas Jefferson in 1801. [5] [6] Gallatin, his successor George Campbell, William Duane, Carl Schurz and James Wilson were the only foreign-born members to hold Cabinet positions in the 19th century. In the 20th century, nine foreign-born individuals were appointed to the Cabinet, including German-born Oscar Straus and Mexican-born George Romney (George Romney, born to American parents, became the father of former Governor of Massachusetts, 2012 Republican U.S. presidential candidate and current U.S. Senator from Utah Mitt Romney. [7] [8] ) During the 2001 to 2009 presidency of President George W. Bush, three foreign-born individuals became members of his Cabinet—Elaine Chao and Mel Martinez in 2001; Carlos Gutierrez in 2005. [1]

Jimmy Carter appointed German-born Michael Blumenthal to the Cabinet as his Secretary of the Treasury in 1977 Portrait of W. Michael Blumenthal.jpg
Jimmy Carter appointed German-born Michael Blumenthal to the Cabinet as his Secretary of the Treasury in 1977

The Department of Treasury has had the most foreign-born Secretaries, with five. The Department of Labor and the Department of the Interior follow with three, and the departments of Housing and Urban Development and State have each had two. Former Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and Madeleine Albright were the highest-ranking foreign-born Cabinet members ever in accordance to the United States presidential line of succession. [1] The majority of foreign-born Cabinet members were born in Europe. Most European-born Cabinet members originated from the United Kingdom and Germany (with five and four respectively), and the others were born in Ireland, Czechoslovakia, Switzerland and Italy. Four Cabinet members were born in the Americas, and one was born in Asia. The departments of Defense, Justice, Health and Human Services, and Education have not had foreign-born Secretaries.

Since most foreign-born Cabinet members are not natural-born citizens—meaning that they were not born in the United States or born abroad to American parents—they are ineligible to exercise the powers of the President of the United States in the event that "neither a President nor Vice President" is able to "discharge the powers and duties" of the presidency as specified in the Presidential Succession Act of 1947. [9] [10] A notable exception was HUD Secretary George W. Romney, who was a birthright U.S. citizen because his parents were U.S. citizens and, in fact, had been a candidate in the Republican presidential primaries the prior year.

Foreign-born Secretaries

Current departments

Numerical order represents the seniority of the Secretaries in the United States presidential line of succession.

 *  denotes the first foreign-born secretary of that particular department
#SecretaryPositionYear
appointed		Country of birthPartyAdministrationRef.
Henry Kissinger * Secretary of State 1973 Germany Republican Richard Nixon [11] [12]
Gerald Ford
Madeleine Albright Secretary of State 1997 Czechoslovakia Democratic Bill Clinton [13] [14]
Alexander Hamilton * Secretary of the Treasury 1789 British West Indies
(Nevis)		 Federalist George Washington [2] [3]
Albert Gallatin Secretary of the Treasury 1801 Republic of Geneva (now Switzerland) Democratic-Republican Thomas Jefferson
George Campbell Secretary of the Treasury 1814 United Kingdom Democratic-Republican James Madison [15]
William Duane Secretary of the Treasury 1833 United Kingdom Democratic Andrew Jackson [16]
Michael Blumenthal Secretary of the Treasury 1977 Germany Democratic Jimmy Carter [17] [18]
 — [a] Secretary of Defense  — [a]  — [a]  — [a]  — [a]  —
 — [b] Attorney General  — [b]  — [b]  — [b]  — [b]  —
Carl Schurz * Secretary of the Interior 1877 Prussia Republican Rutherford B. Hayes [1] [19]
Franklin Knight Lane Secretary of the Interior 1913 Prince Edward Island Democratic Woodrow Wilson [20]
Sally Jewell Secretary of the Interior 2013 United Kingdom Democratic Barack Obama [21]
James Wilson * Secretary of Agriculture 1897 United Kingdom Republican William McKinley [22]
Theodore Roosevelt
William Howard Taft
Carlos Gutierrez * Secretary of Commerce 2005 Cuba Republican George W. Bush [23] [24]
William Bauchop Wilson * Secretary of Labor 1913 United Kingdom Democratic Woodrow Wilson [25]
James Davis Secretary of Labor 1921 United Kingdom Republican Warren G. Harding [26] [27]
Calvin Coolidge
Herbert Hoover
Elaine Chao Secretary of Labor 2001 Taiwan Republican George W. Bush [1] [28]
 — [c] Secretary of Health and Human Services  — [c]  — [c]  — [c]  — [c]  —
George W. Romney * Secretary of Housing and Urban Development 1969 Mexico Republican Richard Nixon [7]
Mel Martínez Secretary of Housing and Urban Development 2001 Cuba Republican George W. Bush [1]
Elaine Chao * Secretary of Transportation 2017 Taiwan Republican Donald Trump [29]
Jennifer Granholm* Secretary of Energy  2021 Canada   Democratic Joe Biden
 — [f] Secretary of Education  — [f]  — [f]  — [f]  — [f]  —
Robert Wilkie * Secretary of Veterans Affairs 2018 Germany Republican Donald Trump [30]
Alejandro Mayorkas* Secretary of Homeland Security 2021 Cuba   Democratic Joe Biden

Defunct departments

The departments are listed in order of their establishment (earliest first).

 *  denotes the first foreign-born secretary of that particular department
#SecretaryPositionYear
appointed		Country of birthPartyAdministrationRef.
 — [i] Postmaster General  — [i]  — [i]  — [i]  — [i]  —
 — [j] Secretary of the Navy  — [j]  — [j]  — [j]  — [j]  —
James McHenry * Secretary of War [k] 1796 Ireland Independent George Washington [4]
Federalist John Adams
Oscar Straus * Secretary of Commerce and Labor [l] 1906 Germany Republican Theodore Roosevelt [31]
Anthony Celebrezze * Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare [m] 1962 Italy Democratic John F. Kennedy [32]
Lyndon Johnson

Foreign-born individuals who have held cabinet-level positions

Madeleine Albright was the first foreign-born person to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. Albrightmadeleine.jpg
Madeleine Albright was the first foreign-born person to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.

The following list includes those who were born outside of the United States and have held cabinet-level positions other than the 15 executive departments. The table below is organized based on the time at which a foreign-born individual was appointed to a cabinet-level position.

 *  denotes the first foreign-born head of that particular cabinet-level position
SecretaryPositionYear
appointed		Country of birthPartyAdministrationRef.
Madeleine Albright * Ambassador to the United Nations [n] Czechoslovakia Democratic Bill Clinton [13] [14]
John Deutch * Director of Central Intelligence Belgium Democratic Bill Clinton [33] [34]
Samantha Power Ambassador to the United Nations [n] Republic of Ireland Democratic Barack Obama [35]
Maria Contreras-Sweet Administrator of the Small Business Administration Mexico Democratic Barack Obama [36]

See also

Notes

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