United States Secretary of the Treasury
United States Secretary of the Treasury | |
---|---|
United States Department of the Treasury | |
Style | Madam Secretary (informal) The Honorable (formal) |
Member of | Cabinet National Security Council |
Reports to | President of the United States |
Seat | Treasury Building Washington, D.C. |
Appointer | President with Senate advice and consent |
Term length | No fixed term |
Constituting instrument | 31 U.S.C. § 301 |
Precursor | Superintendent of Finance |
Formation | September 11, 1789 |
First holder | Alexander Hamilton |
Succession | Fifth[1] |
Deputy | Deputy Secretary of the Treasury[2] |
Salary | Executive Schedule, Level I[3] |
Website | treasury.gov |
The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, and is the chief financial officer of the federal government of the United States. The secretary of the treasury serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States on all matters pertaining to economic and fiscal policy. The secretary is a statutory member of the Cabinet of the United States, and is fifth in the presidential line of succession.
Under the Appointments Clause of the United States Constitution, the officeholder is nominated by the president of the United States, and, following a confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Finance, is confirmed by the United States Senate.
The secretary of state, the secretary of the treasury, the secretary of defense, and the attorney general are generally regarded as the four most important Cabinet officials, due to the size and importance of their respective departments.[4]
The current secretary of the treasury is Janet Yellen, who is the first woman to hold the post.[5][6]
Powers and functions
The Secretary is responsible for formulating and recommending domestic and international financial, economic, and tax policy, participating in the formulation of broad fiscal policies that have general significance for the economy, and managing the public debt. The Secretary oversees the activities of the Department in carrying out its major law enforcement responsibilities; in serving as the financial agent for the United States Government; and in manufacturing coins and currency. The Chief Financial Officer of the government, the Secretary serves as Chairman Pro Tempore of the President's Economic Policy Council, Chairman of the Boards and Managing Trustee of the Social Security and Medicare Trust Funds, and as U.S. Governor of the International Monetary Fund, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
— U.S. Department of the Treasury Web site[7]
The secretary along with the treasurer of the United States must sign Federal Reserve notes before they can become legal tender.[8][9] The secretary also manages the United States Emergency Economic Stabilization fund.
Most of the department's law enforcement agencies such as the U.S. Customs Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and the U.S. Secret Service were reassigned to other departments in 2003 in conjunction with the creation of the Department of Homeland Security.
Salary
The secretary of the treasury is a Level I position in the Executive Schedule and thus earns the salary prescribed for that level (US$221,400, as of January 2021).[10][3]
List of secretaries of the treasury
- Parties
No party (1) Federalist (4) Democratic-Republican (4) Democratic (29) Whig (5) Republican (34)
Status
No. | Portrait | Name | State of residence | Took office | Left office | President(s) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Alexander Hamilton | New York | September 11, 1789 | January 31, 1795 | George Washington | ||
2 | Oliver Wolcott, Jr. | Connecticut | February 3, 1795 | December 31, 1800 | |||
John Adams | |||||||
3 | Samuel Dexter | Massachusetts | January 1, 1801 | May 13, 1801 | |||
Thomas Jefferson | |||||||
4 | Abraham Alfonse Albert Gallatin | Pennsylvania | May 14, 1801 | February 8, 1814 | |||
James Madison | |||||||
5 | George W. Campbell | Tennessee | February 9, 1814 | October 5, 1814 | |||
6 | Alexander J. Dallas | Pennsylvania | October 6, 1814 | October 21, 1816 | |||
– | William Jones [a] |
Pennsylvania | October 21, 1816 | October 22, 1816 | |||
7 | William H. Crawford | Georgia | October 22, 1816 | March 6, 1825 | |||
James Monroe | |||||||
8 | Richard Rush | Pennsylvania | March 7, 1825 | March 5, 1829 | John Quincy Adams | ||
9 | Samuel D. Ingham | Pennsylvania | March 6, 1829 | June 20, 1831 | Andrew Jackson | ||
10 | Louis McLane | Delaware | August 8, 1831 | May 28, 1833 | |||
11 | William J. Duane | Pennsylvania | May 29, 1833 | September 22, 1833 | |||
12 | Roger B. Taney | Maryland | September 23, 1833 | June 25, 1834 | |||
13 | Levi Woodbury | New Hampshire | July 1, 1834 | March 3, 1841 | |||
Martin Van Buren | |||||||
14 | Thomas Ewing | Ohio | March 4, 1841 | September 11, 1841 | William Henry Harrison | ||
John Tyler | |||||||
15 | Walter Forward | Pennsylvania | September 13, 1841 | March 1, 1843 | |||
16 | John C. Spencer | New York | March 8, 1843 | May 2, 1844 | |||
17 | George M. Bibb | Kentucky | July 4, 1844 | March 7, 1845 | |||
18 | Robert J. Walker | Mississippi | March 8, 1845 | March 5, 1849 | James K. Polk | ||
19 | William M. Meredith | Pennsylvania | March 8, 1849 | July 22, 1850 | Zachary Taylor | ||
20 | Thomas Corwin | Ohio | July 23, 1850 | March 6, 1853 | Millard Fillmore | ||
21 | James Guthrie | Kentucky | March 7, 1853 | March 6, 1857 | Franklin Pierce | ||
22 | Howell Cobb | Georgia | March 7, 1857 | December 8, 1860 | James Buchanan | ||
23 | Philip Francis Thomas | Maryland | December 12, 1860 | January 14, 1861 | |||
24 | John Adams Dix | New York | January 15, 1861 | March 6, 1861 | |||
25 | Salmon P. Chase | Ohio | March 7, 1861 | June 30, 1864 | Abraham Lincoln | ||
26 | William P. Fessenden | Maine | July 5, 1864 | March 3, 1865 | |||
27 | Hugh McCulloch | Indiana | March 9, 1865 | March 3, 1869 | |||
Andrew Johnson | |||||||
28 | George S. Boutwell | Massachusetts | March 12, 1869 | March 16, 1873 | Ulysses S. Grant | ||
29 | William Adams Richardson | Massachusetts | March 17, 1873 | June 3, 1874 | |||
30 | Benjamin Bristow | Kentucky | June 4, 1874 | June 20, 1876 | |||
31 | Lot M. Morrill | Maine | July 7, 1876 | March 9, 1877 | |||
32 | John Sherman | Ohio | March 10, 1877 | March 3, 1881 | Rutherford B. Hayes | ||
33 | William Windom | Minnesota | March 8, 1881 | November 13, 1881 | James A. Garfield | ||
Chester A. Arthur | |||||||
34 | Charles J. Folger | New York | November 14, 1881 | September 4, 1884 | |||
35 | Walter Q. Gresham | Indiana | September 5, 1884 | October 30, 1884 | |||
36 | Hugh McCulloch | Indiana | October 31, 1884 | March 7, 1885 | |||
37 | Daniel Manning | New York | March 8, 1885 | March 31, 1887 | Grover Cleveland | ||
38 | Charles S. Fairchild | New York | April 1, 1887 | March 6, 1889 | |||
39 | William Windom | Minnesota | March 7, 1889 | January 29, 1891 | Benjamin Harrison | ||
40 | Charles Foster | Ohio | February 25, 1891 | March 6, 1893 | |||
41 | John G. Carlisle | Kentucky | March 7, 1893 | March 5, 1897 | Grover Cleveland | ||
42 | Lyman J. Gage | Illinois | March 6, 1897 | January 31, 1902 | William McKinley | ||
Theodore Roosevelt | |||||||
43 | L. M. Shaw | Iowa | February 1, 1902 | March 3, 1907 | |||
44 | George B. Cortelyou | New York | March 4, 1907 | March 7, 1909 | |||
45 | Franklin MacVeagh | Illinois | March 8, 1909 | March 5, 1913 | William Howard Taft | ||
46 | William G. McAdoo | New York | March 6, 1913 | December 15, 1918 | Woodrow Wilson | ||
47 | Carter Glass | Virginia | December 16, 1918 | February 1, 1920 | |||
48 | David F. Houston | Missouri | February 2, 1920 | March 3, 1921 | |||
49 | Andrew W. Mellon | Pennsylvania | March 4, 1921 | February 12, 1932 | Warren G. Harding | ||
Calvin Coolidge | |||||||
Herbert Hoover | |||||||
50 | Ogden L. Mills | New York | February 13, 1932 | March 4, 1933 | |||
51 | William H. Woodin | New York | March 5, 1933 | December 31, 1933 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | ||
52 | Henry Morgenthau, Jr. | New York | January 1, 1934 | July 22, 1945 | |||
53 | Fred M. Vinson | Kentucky | July 23, 1945 | June 23, 1946 | Harry S. Truman | ||
54 | John Wesley Snyder | Missouri | June 25, 1946 | January 20, 1953 | |||
55 | George M. Humphrey | Ohio | January 21, 1953 | July 29, 1957 | Dwight D. Eisenhower | ||
56 | Robert B. Anderson | Connecticut | July 29, 1957 | January 20, 1961 | |||
57 | C. Douglas Dillon | New Jersey | January 21, 1961 | April 1, 1965 | John F. Kennedy | ||
Lyndon B. Johnson | |||||||
58 | Henry H. Fowler | Virginia | April 1, 1965 | December 20, 1968 | |||
59 | Joseph W. Barr | Indiana | December 21, 1968 | January 20, 1969 | |||
60 | David M. Kennedy | Utah | January 22, 1969 | February 10, 1971 | Richard Nixon | ||
61 | John Connally | Texas | February 11, 1971 | June 12, 1972 | |||
62 | George P. Shultz | Illinois | June 12, 1972 | May 8, 1974 | |||
63 | William E. Simon | New Jersey | May 8, 1974 | January 20, 1977 | |||
Gerald Ford | |||||||
64 | W. Michael Blumenthal | Michigan | January 23, 1977 | August 4, 1979 | Jimmy Carter | ||
65 | G. William Miller | Rhode Island | August 7, 1979 | January 20, 1981 | |||
66 | Donald Regan | New Jersey | January 22, 1981 | February 1, 1985 | Ronald Reagan | ||
67 | James Baker | Texas | February 4, 1985 | August 17, 1988 | |||
– | M. Peter McPherson [b] |
Michigan | August 17, 1988 | September 15, 1988 | |||
68 | Nicholas F. Brady | New Jersey | September 15, 1988 | January 17, 1993 | |||
George H. W. Bush | |||||||
69 | Lloyd Bentsen | Texas | January 20, 1993 | December 22, 1994 | Bill Clinton | ||
– | Frank N. Newman [b] |
Massachusetts | December 22, 1994 | January 11, 1995 | |||
70 | Robert Rubin | New York | January 11, 1995 | July 2, 1999 | |||
71 | Lawrence Summers | Massachusetts | July 2, 1999 | January 20, 2001 | |||
72 | Paul H. O'Neill | Pennsylvania | January 20, 2001 | December 31, 2002 | George W. Bush | ||
– | Kenneth W. Dam [b] |
Illinois | December 31, 2002 | February 3, 2003 | |||
73 | John W. Snow | Virginia | February 3, 2003 | June 30, 2006 | |||
– | Robert M. Kimmitt [b] |
Virginia | June 30, 2006 | July 10, 2006 | |||
74 | Henry Paulson | Illinois | July 10, 2006 | January 20, 2009 | |||
– | Stuart A. Levey [c] |
Ohio | January 20, 2009 | January 26, 2009 | Barack Obama | ||
75 | Timothy Geithner | New York | January 26, 2009 | January 25, 2013 | |||
– | Neal S. Wolin [b] |
Illinois | January 25, 2013 | February 28, 2013 | |||
76 | Jack Lew | New York | February 28, 2013 | January 20, 2017 | |||
– | Adam J. Szubin [c] |
Washington, D.C. | January 20, 2017 | February 13, 2017 | Donald Trump | ||
77 | Steven Mnuchin | California | February 13, 2017 | January 20, 2021 | |||
– | Andy Baukol [d] |
Virginia | January 20, 2021 | January 26, 2021 | Joe Biden | ||
78 | Janet Yellen | California | January 26, 2021 | Incumbent |
If both the secretary and the deputy secretary of the treasury are unable to carry out the duties of the office of secretary of the treasury, then whichever treasury official of under secretary rank sworn in earliest assumes the role of acting secretary. Positions listed on the Department of the Treasury website include the under secretary for domestic finance, the under secretary for international affairs, and the under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.
Living former secretaries of the treasury
As of August 2023, there are ten living former secretaries of the treasury (with all secretaries that have served since 2003 still living), the oldest being W. Michael Blumenthal (served 1977–1979, born 1926). The most recent secretary of the treasury to die was George Shultz (served 1972–1974, born 1920) on February 6, 2021. The most recently serving secretary to die was Paul H. O'Neill (served 2001–2002, born 1935), on April 18, 2020.
Name | Term of office | Date of birth (and age) |
---|---|---|
W. Michael Blumenthal | 1977–1979 | January 3, 1926 |
James A. Baker | 1985–1988 | April 28, 1930 |
Nicholas F. Brady | 1988–1993 | April 11, 1930 |
Robert Rubin | 1995–1999 | August 29, 1938 |
Lawrence H. Summers | 1999–2001 | November 30, 1954 |
John W. Snow | 2003–2006 | August 2, 1939 |
Henry Paulson | 2006–2009 | March 28, 1946 |
Timothy F. Geithner | 2009–2013 | August 18, 1961 |
Jack Lew | 2013–2017 | August 29, 1955 |
Steven Mnuchin | 2017–2021 | December 21, 1962 |
Notes
- ^ As Secretary of the Navy.
- ^ a b c d e As Deputy Secretary of the Treasury.
- ^ a b As Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.
- ^ As Deputy Assistant Secretary for Monetary Policy.
References
- ^ "3 U.S. Code § 19 – Vacancy in offices of both President and Vice President; officers eligible to act". LII / Legal Information Institute.
- ^ 31 U.S.C. § 301
- ^ a b 5 U.S.C. § 5312
- ^ Cabinets and Counselors: The President and the Executive Branch (1997). Congressional Quarterly. p. 87.
- ^ "Janet L. Yellen Sworn In As 78th Secretary of the United States Department of the Treasury" (Press release). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of the Treasury. January 26, 2021. Retrieved January 27, 2021.
{{cite press release}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Tappe, Anneken; Egan, Matt (January 25, 2021). "Janet Yellen is confirmed as the first female Treasury secretary in US history". cnn.com. Retrieved January 26, 2021.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Duties & Functions: Secretaries of the Treasury". United States Department of the Treasury. Archived from the original on November 19, 2010. Retrieved November 30, 2012.
- ^ "Act of Congress Establishing the Treasury Department". home.treasury.gov. U.S. Department of the Treasury. Archived from the original on April 12, 2022. Retrieved September 1, 2022.
- ^ "What is lawful money? How is it different from legal tender?". federalreserve.gov. September 29, 2011. Archived from the original on October 11, 2011. Retrieved September 30, 2011.
- ^ "Salary Table No. 2021-EX Rates of Basic Pay for the Executive Schedule (EX)" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on October 10, 2022.
External links
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- "Secretaries of the Treasury". History of the Treasury. United States Department of the Treasury. Retrieved April 9, 2006.
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