Treasurer of the United States | |
---|---|
Incumbent Vacant since January 14, 2020 | |
Appointer | The President |
Formation | September 6, 1777 |
The Treasurer of the United States is an official in the United States Department of the Treasury who was originally charged with the receipt and custody of government funds, though many of these functions have been taken over by different bureaus of the Department. The Treasurer remains the depositary officer of the United States with regard to deposits of gold, Special Drawing Rights, and financial gifts to the Library of Congress. [1] [2] As such, the office has nominal oversight of the United States Bullion Depository. The Treasurer's signature appears together with that of the Secretary of the Treasury on all Federal Reserve Notes.
Responsibility for oversight of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the United States Mint, and the United States Savings Bonds Division (now the Savings Bond Marketing Office within the Bureau of the Public Debt) was assigned to the Treasurer in 1981. In 2002 the Office of the Treasurer underwent a major reorganization that removed these formal oversight duties. The Treasurer now advises the Director of the Mint, the Director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the Secretary, and the Deputy Secretary of the Treasury on matters relating to coinage, currency and the production of other instruments by the United States. [3]
President Harry S. Truman appointed Georgia Neese Clark as the first female Treasurer in 1949. Since then, every subsequent Treasurer has been a woman, and seven of the past eleven Treasurers have also been Hispanic.
The requirement of Senate confirmation for the appointment was dropped in August 2012. [4]
In the last 100 years, the length of time the office has been vacant totals more than 4,000 days or eleven years.
No. | Name | Term of office | President(s) served under |
---|---|---|---|
1 | ![]() ![]() Michael Hillegas | July 29, 1775 – September 11, 1789 (14 years, 44 days) | George Washington (also served under Confederation Congress) |
Hillegas served jointly with George Clymer until August 6, 1776. The title of the office was "Treasurer of the United Colonies" until May 1777. [5] | |||
2 | Samuel Meredith | September 11, 1789 – December 1, 1801 (12 years, 81 days) | George Washington John Adams Thomas Jefferson |
3 | ![]() Thomas T. Tucker | December 1, 1801 – May 2, 1828 (26 years, 153 days) (served the longest term) | Thomas Jefferson James Madison James Monroe John Quincy Adams |
33 days vacant | |||
4 | ![]() William Clark | June 4, 1828 – May 26, 1829 (356 days) | John Quincy Adams Andrew Jackson |
5 | John Campbell | May 26, 1829 – July 20, 1839 (10 years, 55 days) | Andrew Jackson Martin Van Buren |
2 days vacant | |||
6 | William Selden | July 22, 1839 – November 23, 1850 (11 years, 124 days) | Martin Van Buren William Henry Harrison John Tyler James K. Polk Zachary Taylor Millard Fillmore |
4 days vacant | |||
7 | ![]() John Sloane | November 27, 1850 – April 1, 1853 (2 years, 125 days) | Millard Fillmore Franklin Pierce |
3 days vacant | |||
8 | Samuel L. Casey | April 4, 1853 – December 22, 1859 (6 years, 262 days) | Franklin Pierce James Buchanan |
68 days vacant | |||
9 | ![]() William C. Price | February 28, 1860 – March 21, 1861 (1 year, 21 days) | James Buchanan Abraham Lincoln |
10 | ![]() ![]() Francis E. Spinner | March 16, 1861 – July 30, 1875 (14 years, 136 days) | Abraham Lincoln Andrew Johnson Ulysses S. Grant |
11 | ![]() ![]() John C. New | June 30, 1875 – July 1, 1876 (1 year, 1 day) | Ulysses S. Grant |
12 | ![]() ![]() A. U. Wyman | July 1, 1876 – June 30, 1877 (364 days) | Ulysses S. Grant Rutherford B. Hayes |
13 | ![]() ![]() James Gilfillan | July 1, 1877 – March 31, 1883 (5 years, 273 days) | Rutherford B. Hayes James A. Garfield Chester A. Arthur |
14 | ![]() ![]() A. U. Wyman | April 1, 1883 – April 30, 1885 (2 years, 29 days) | Chester A. Arthur Grover Cleveland |
15 | ![]() Conrad N. Jordan | May 1, 1885 – March 23, 1887 (1 year, 326 days) | Grover Cleveland |
62 days vacant | |||
16 | ![]() ![]() James W. Hyatt | May 24, 1887 – May 10, 1889 (1 year, 351 days) | Grover Cleveland Benjamin Harrison |
17 | ![]() ![]() James N. Huston | May 11, 1889 – April 24, 1891 (1 year, 348 days) | Benjamin Harrison |
18 | ![]() Enos H. Nebecker | April 25, 1891 – May 31, 1893 (2 years, 36 days) | Benjamin Harrison Grover Cleveland |
19 | ![]() ![]() Daniel N. Morgan | June 1, 1893 – June 30, 1897 (4 years, 29 days) | Grover Cleveland William McKinley |
20 | ![]() ![]() Ellis H. Roberts | July 1, 1897 – June 30, 1905 (7 years, 364 days) | William McKinley Theodore Roosevelt |
21 | ![]() Charles H. Treat | July 1, 1905 – October 30, 1909 (4 years, 121 days) | Theodore Roosevelt William Howard Taft |
22 | ![]() ![]() Lee McClung | November 1, 1909 – November 21, 1912 (3 years, 20 days) | William Howard Taft |
23 | ![]() ![]() Carmi A. Thompson | November 22, 1912 – March 31, 1913 (129 days) (served the shortest term) | William Howard Taft Woodrow Wilson |
24 | ![]() ![]() John Burke | April 1, 1913 – January 5, 1921 (7 years, 279 days) | Woodrow Wilson |
117 days vacant | |||
25 | ![]() ![]() Frank White | May 2, 1921 – May 1, 1928 (6 years, 365 days) | Warren G. Harding Calvin Coolidge |
30 days vacant | |||
26 | ![]() Harold Theodore Tate | May 31, 1928 – January 17, 1929 (231 days) | Calvin Coolidge |
27 | ![]() W. O. Woods | January 18, 1929 – May 31, 1933 (4 years, 133 days) | Calvin Coolidge Herbert Hoover Franklin Delano Roosevelt |
28 | ![]() ![]() William Alexander Julian | June 1, 1933 – May 29, 1949 (15 years, 362 days) | Franklin D. Roosevelt Harry S. Truman |
23 days vacant | |||
29 | ![]() ![]() Georgia Neese Clark | June 21, 1949 – January 27, 1953 (3 years, 220 days) | Harry S. Truman Dwight D. Eisenhower |
30 | ![]() Ivy Baker Priest | January 28, 1953 – January 29, 1961 (8 years, 1 day) | Dwight D. Eisenhower John F. Kennedy |
31 | ![]() Elizabeth Rudel Smith | January 30, 1961 – April 13, 1962 (1 year, 73 days) | John F. Kennedy |
265 days vacant | |||
32 | ![]() ![]() Kathryn O'Hay Granahan | January 3, 1963 – November 22, 1966 (3 years, 323 days) | John F. Kennedy Lyndon B. Johnson |
898 days vacant | |||
33 | Dorothy Andrews Elston [6] | May 8, 1969 – July 3, 1971 (2 years, 56 days) | Richard Nixon |
167 days vacant | |||
34 | ![]() ![]() Romana Acosta Bañuelos | December 17, 1971 – February 14, 1974 (2 years, 59 days) | Richard Nixon |
127 days vacant | |||
35 | ![]() Francine Irving Neff | June 21, 1974 – January 19, 1977 (2 years, 212 days) | Richard Nixon Gerald Ford |
236 days vacant | |||
36 | ![]() ![]() Azie Taylor Morton | September 12, 1977 – January 20, 1981 (3 years, 130 days) | Jimmy Carter |
56 days vacant | |||
37 | ![]() Angela Marie Buchanan | March 17, 1981 – July 5, 1983 (2 years, 110 days) | Ronald Reagan |
79 days vacant | |||
38 | ![]() Katherine D. Ortega | September 22, 1983 – July 1, 1989 (5 years, 282 days) | Ronald Reagan George H. W. Bush |
163 days vacant | |||
39 | ![]() Catalina Vasquez Villalpando | December 11, 1989 – January 20, 1993 (3 years, 40 days) | George H. W. Bush |
405 days vacant | |||
40 | ![]() ![]() Mary Ellen Withrow | March 1, 1994 – January 20, 2001 (6 years, 325 days) | Bill Clinton |
208 days vacant | |||
41 | ![]() ![]() Rosario Marin | August 16, 2001 – June 30, 2003 (1 year, 318 days) | George W. Bush |
569 days vacant | |||
42 | ![]() ![]() Anna Escobedo Cabral | January 19, 2005 – January 20, 2009 (4 years, 1 day) | George W. Bush |
198 days vacant | |||
43 | ![]() Rosa Gumataotao Rios | August 6, 2009 – July 8, 2016 (6 years, 337 days) | Barack Obama |
346 days vacant | |||
44 | ![]() Jovita Carranza [7] | June 19, 2017 – January 14, 2020 (2 years, 209 days) | Donald Trump |
Vacant as of January 14,2020 [update] |
The secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, which is concerned with all financial and monetary matters relating to the federal government, and, until 2003, also included several major federal law enforcement agencies. The secretary of the treasury is the principal economic advisor to the president of the United States and plays a critical role in policy-making by bringing an economic and government financial policy perspective to issues facing the federal government. The secretary of the treasury is a member of the United States Cabinet, and is nominated by the president of the United States. Nominees for Secretary of the Treasury undergo a confirmation hearing before the United States Senate Committee on Finance, prior to a vote by the United States Senate.
The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury of the federal government of the United States where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, and the U.S. Mint; these two agencies are responsible for printing all paper currency and coins, while the treasury executes its circulation in the domestic fiscal system. The USDT collects all federal taxes through the Internal Revenue Service; manages U.S. government debt instruments; licenses and supervises banks and thrift institutions; and advises the legislative and executive branches on matters of fiscal policy. The Department is administered by the secretary of the treasury, who is a member of the Cabinet. The treasurer of the United States has limited statutory duties, but advises the Secretary on various matters such as coinage and currency production. Signatures of both officials appear on all Federal Reserve notes.
Federal Reserve Notes, also United States banknotes, are the banknotes currently used in the United States of America. Denominated in United States dollars, Federal Reserve Notes are printed by the United States Bureau of Engraving and Printing on paper made by Crane & Co. of Dalton, Massachusetts. Federal Reserve Notes are the only type of U.S. banknote currently produced. Federal Reserve Notes are authorized by Section 16 of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 and are issued to the Federal Reserve Banks at the discretion of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. The notes are then put into circulation by the Federal Reserve Banks, at which point they become liabilities of the Federal Reserve Banks and obligations of the United States.
The Coinage Act of 1873 or Mint Act of 1873, 17 Stat. 424, was a general revision of the laws relating to the Mint of the United States. In abolishing the right of holders of silver bullion to have their metal struck into fully legal tender dollar coins, it ended bimetallism in the United States, placing the nation firmly on the gold standard. Because of this, the act became contentious in later years, and was denounced by some as the "Crime of '73".
The Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) is a government agency within the United States Department of the Treasury that designs and produces a variety of security products for the United States government, most notable of which is Federal Reserve Notes for the Federal Reserve, the nation's central bank. In addition to paper currency, the BEP produces Treasury securities; military commissions and award certificates; invitations and admission cards; and many different types of identification cards, forms, and other special security documents for a variety of government agencies. The BEP does not produce coins; all coinage is produced by the United States Mint. With production facilities in Washington, D.C., and Fort Worth, Texas, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing is the largest producer of government security documents in the United States.
The United States Mint is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury responsible for producing coinage for the United States to conduct its trade and commerce, as well as controlling the movement of bullion. It does not produce paper money; that responsibility belongs to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. The first United States Mint was created in Philadelphia in 1792, and soon joined by other centers, whose coins were identified by their own mint marks. There are currently four active coin-producing mints: Philadelphia, Denver, San Francisco, and West Point.
The United States ten-dollar bill ($10) is a denomination of U.S. currency. The obverse of the bill features the portrait of Alexander Hamilton, who served as the first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury. The reverse features the U.S. Treasury Building. All $10 bills issued today are Federal Reserve Notes.
Silver certificates are a type of representative money issued between 1878 and 1964 in the United States as part of its circulation of paper currency. They were produced in response to silver agitation by citizens who were angered by the Fourth Coinage Act, which had effectively placed the United States on a gold standard. The certificates were initially redeemable for their face value of silver dollar coins and later in raw silver bullion. Since 1968 they have been redeemable only in Federal Reserve Notes and are thus obsolete, but still valid legal tender at their face value and thus are still an accepted form of currency.
Symbols of the United States Department of the Treasury include the Flag of the Treasury Department and the U.S. Treasury Seal. The seal actually predates the department itself, having originated with the Board of Treasury during the period of the Articles of Confederation. The seal is used on all U.S. paper currency, and on official Treasury documents.
The Independent Treasury was the system for managing the money supply of the United States federal government through the U.S. Treasury and its sub-treasuries, independently of the national banking and financial systems. It was created on August 6, 1846 by the 29th Congress, with the enactment of the Independent Treasury Act of 1846. It was expanded with the creation of the national banking system in 1863. It functioned until the early 20th century, when the Federal Reserve System replaced it. During this time, the Treasury took over an ever-larger number of functions of a central bank and the U.S. Treasury Department came to be the major force in the U.S. money market.
Fractional currency, also referred to as shinplasters, was introduced by the United States federal government following the outbreak of the Civil War. These low-denomination banknotes of the United States dollar were in use between 21 August 1862 and 15 February 1876, and issued in 3, 5, 10, 15, 25, and 50 cent denominations across five issuing periods. The complete type set below is part of the National Numismatic Collection, housed at the National Museum of American History, part of the Smithsonian Institution.
The Coinage Act of 1965, Pub.L. 89–81, 79 Stat. 254, enacted July 23, 1965, eliminated silver from the circulating United States dime and quarter dollar coins. It also reduced the silver content of the half dollar from 90 percent to 40 percent; silver in the half dollar was subsequently eliminated by a 1970 law.
The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States and its territories per the Coinage Act of 1792. One dollar is divided into 100 cents, or into 1000 mills for accounting and taxation purposes. The Coinage Act of 1792 created a decimal currency by creating the dime, nickel, and penny coins, as well as the dollar, half dollar, and quarter dollar coins, all of which are still minted in 2020.
Rosa "Rosie" Gumataotao Rios is an American academic. She served as the 43rd Treasurer of the United States and is a Visiting Scholar at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University.
Spencer M. Clark was the first Superintendent of the National Currency Bureau, today known as the Bureau of Printing and Engraving, from 1862 to 1868.
The Director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing is the head of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing within the United States Department of the Treasury. The current Director is Leonard R. Olijar.
The United States Assay Commission was an agency of the United States government from 1792 to 1980. Its function was to supervise the annual testing of the gold, silver, and base metal coins produced by the United States Mint to ensure that they met specifications. Although some members were designated by statute, for the most part the commission, which was freshly appointed each year, consisted of prominent Americans, including numismatists. Appointment to the Assay Commission was eagerly sought after, in part because commissioners received a commemorative medal. These medals, different each year, are extremely rare, with the exception of the 1977 issue, which was sold to the general public.
Benjamin Franklin Peale was an employee and officer of the Philadelphia Mint from 1833 to 1854. Although Peale introduced many innovations to the Mint of the United States, he was eventually dismissed amid allegations he had used his position for personal gain.
In early 18th century Colonial America, engravers began experimenting with copper plates as an alternative medium to wood. Applied to the production of paper currency, copper-plate engraving allowed for greater detail and production during printing. It was the transition to steel engraving that enabled banknote design and printing to rapidly advance in the United States during the 19th century.
The Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Management, Chief Financial Officer, and Chief Performance Officer (ASM/CFO/CPO) is the principal policy advisor to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary on the development and execution of the budget for the Department of the Treasury and the internal management of the Department and its bureaus. The ASM/CFO/CPO also oversees Department-wide management programs including human resources, information and technology management, financial management and accounting, strategic planning, performance budgeting/metrics, acquisition/procurement, training, human capital and workforce management, equal employment opportunity, environmental health and safety, emergency preparedness, small business programs, and administrative services for Treasury's headquarters, the Departmental Offices.