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United States Secretary of the Treasury
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The United States Secretary of the Treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, concerned with finance and monetary matters, and, until 2003, some issues of national security and defense. This position in the Federal Government of the United States is analogous to the finance ministers of other nations. Most of the Department's law enforcement agencies such as the ATF, Customs Service, and Secret Service were reassigned to other Departments in 2003 in conjunction with the creation of the Department of Homeland Security.

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The United States Secretary of the Treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, concerned with finance and monetary matters, and, until 2003, some issues of national security and defense. This position in the Federal Government of the United States is analogous to the finance ministers of other nations. Most of the Department's law enforcement agencies such as the ATF, Customs Service, and Secret Service were reassigned to other Departments in 2003 in conjunction with the creation of the Department of Homeland Security. The Secretary is a member of the President's Cabinet and, since the Clinton years, has sat on the United States National Security Council. The Secretary of the Treasury is fifth in the United States presidential line of succession.
From the :
- "The Secretary of the Treasury is the principal economic advisor to the President and plays a critical role in policy-making by bringing an economic and government financial policy perspective to issues facing the government. 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."
The Secretary along with the Treasurer must sign Federal Reserve notes before they can become legal tender. The Secretary also manages the United States Emergency Economic Stabilization fund.
The current Secretary of the Treasury is Timothy Geithner.
Secretaries of the Treasury
Note: Robert Morris was the first person appointed Secretary of the Treasury by George Washington, but Morris declined this office; thus the 1st Secretary of the Treasury was Alexander Hamilton - appointed at Morris's suggestion. Morris had held a similar position as Superintendent of Finance under the Continental Congress. From 1784 to 1789, the confederation's finances were overseen by a three-member Treasury Board.
| No. | Picture | Name | State of Residence | Term of Office | President(s) served under |
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| 1 | | Alexander Hamilton | New York | September 11, 1789 | January 31, 1795 | George Washington | | 2 | | Oliver Wolcott, Jr. | Connecticut | February 3, 1795 | December 31, 1800 | George Washington, John Adams | | 3 | | Samuel Dexter | Massachusetts | January 1, 1801 | May 13, 1801 | John Adams, Thomas Jefferson | | 4 | | Albert Gallatin | Pennsylvania | May 14, 1801 | February 8, 1814 | Thomas Jefferson, James Madison | | 5 | | George Washington Campbell | Tennessee | February 9, 1814 | October 5, 1814 | James Madison | | 6 | | Alexander James Dallas | Pennsylvania | October 6, 1814 | October 21, 1816 | | 7 | | William Harris Crawford | Georgia | October 22, 1816 | March 6, 1825 | James Madison, James Monroe | | 8 | | Richard Rush | Pennsylvania | March 7, 1825 | March 5, 1829 | John Quincy Adams | | 9 | | Samuel Delucenna Ingham | Pennsylvania | March 6, 1829 | June 20, 1831 | Andrew Jackson | | 10 | | Louis McLane | Delaware | August 8, 1831 | May 28, 1833 | | 11 | | William John Duane | Pennsylvania | May 29, 1833 | September 22, 1833 | | 12 | | Roger Brooke Taney | Maryland | September 23, 1833 | June 25, 1834 | | 13 | | Levi Woodbury | New Hampshire | July 1, 1834 | March 3, 1841 | Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren | | 14 | | Thomas Ewing, Sr. | Ohio | March 4, 1841 | September 11, 1841 | William Henry Harrison, John Tyler | | 15 | | Walter Forward | Pennsylvania | September 13, 1841 | March 1, 1843 | John Tyler | | 16 | | John Canfield Spencer | New York | March 8, 1843 | May 2, 1844 | | 17 | | George Mortimer Bibb | Kentucky | July 4, 1844 | March 7, 1845 | | 18 | | Robert John Walker | Mississippi | March 8, 1845 | March 5, 1849 | James Knox Polk | | 19 | | William Morris 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 Portland Chase | Ohio | March 7, 1861 | June 30, 1864 | Abraham Lincoln | | 26 | | William Pitt Fessenden | Maine | July 5, 1864 | March 3, 1865 | | 27 | | Hugh McCulloch | Indiana | March 9, 1865 | March 3, 1869 | Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson | | 28 | | George Sewall Boutwell | Massachusetts | March 12, 1869 | March 16, 1873 | Ulysses S. Grant | | 29 | | William Adams Richardson | Massachusetts | March 17, 1873 | June 3, 1874 | | 30 | | Benjamin Helm Bristow | Kentucky | June 4, 1874 | June 20, 1876 | | 31 | | Lot Myrick Morrill | Maine | July 7, 1876 | March 9, 1877 | Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes | | 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 James Folger | New York | November 14, 1881 | September 4, 1884 | Chester A. Arthur | | 35 | | Walter Quintin Gresham | Indiana | September 5, 1884 | October 30, 1884 | | 36 | | Hugh McCulloch | Indiana | October 31, 1884 | March 7, 1885 | Chester A. Arthur, Grover Cleveland | | 37 | | Daniel Manning | New York | March 8, 1885 | March 31, 1887 | Grover Cleveland | | 38 | | Charles Stebbins Fairchild | New York | April 1, 1887 | March 6, 1889 | | 39 | | William Windom | Minnesota | March 7, 1889 | January 29, 1891 | Benjamin Harrison | | 40 | | Charles William Foster, Jr. | Ohio | February 25, 1891 | March 6, 1893 | Benjamin Harrison, Grover Cleveland | | 41 | | John Griffin Carlisle | Kentucky | March 7, 1893 | March 5, 1897 | Grover Cleveland, William McKinley | | 42 | | Lyman Judson Gage | Illinois | March 6, 1897 | January 31, 1902 | William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt | | 43 | | Leslie Mortimer Shaw | Iowa | February 1, 1902 | March 3, 1907 | Theodore Roosevelt | | 44 | | George Bruce Cortelyou | New York | March 4, 1907 | March 7, 1909 | | 45 | | Franklin MacVeagh | Illinois | March 8, 1909 | March 5, 1913 | William Howard Taft | | 46 | | William Gibbs McAdoo | New York | March 6, 1913 | December 15, 1918 | Woodrow Wilson | | 47 | | Carter Glass | Virginia | December 16, 1918 | February 1, 1920 | | 48 | | David Franklin Houston | Missouri | February 2, 1920 | March 3, 1921 | | 49 | | Andrew William Mellon | Pennsylvania | March 4, 1921 | February 12, 1932 | Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover | | 50 | | Ogden Livingston Mills, Jr. | New York | February 13, 1932 | March 4, 1933 | Herbert Hoover | | 51 | | William Hartman Woodin | New York | March 5, 1933 | December 31, 1933 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | | 52 | | Henry Morgenthau, Jr. | New York | January 1, 1934 | July 22, 1945 | Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman | | 53 | | Frederick Moore Vinson | Kentucky | July 23, 1945 | June 23, 1946 | Harry S. Truman | | 54 | | John Wesley Snyder | Missouri | June 25, 1946 | January 20, 1953 | | 55 | | George Magoffin Humphrey | Ohio | January 21, 1953 | July 29, 1957 | Dwight D. Eisenhower | | 56 | | Robert Bernard Anderson | Connecticut | July 29, 1957 | January 20, 1961 | | 57 | | Clarence Douglas Dillon | New Jersey | January 21, 1961 | April 1, 1965 | John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson | | 58 | | Henry Hammill Fowler | Virginia | April 1, 1965 | December 20, 1968 | Lyndon Johnson | | 59 | | Joseph Walker Barr | Indiana | December 21, 1968 | January 20, 1969 | | 60 | | David Matthew Kennedy | Utah | January 22, 1969 | February 10, 1971 | Richard Nixon | | 61 | | John Bowden Connally, Jr. | Texas | February 11, 1971 | June 12, 1972 | | 62 | | George Pratt Shultz | Illinois | June 12, 1972 | May 8, 1974 | | 63 | | William Edward Simon | New Jersey | May 8, 1974 | January 20, 1977 | Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford | | 64 | | W. Michael Blumenthal | Michigan | January 23, 1977 | August 4, 1979 | Jimmy Carter | | 65 | | George William Miller | Rhode Island | August 7, 1979 | January 20, 1981 | | 66 | | Donald Thomas Regan | New Jersey | January 22, 1981 | February 1, 1985 | Ronald Reagan | | 67 | | James Addison Baker III | Texas | February 4, 1985 | August 17, 1988 | | 68 | | Nicholas Frederick Brady | New Jersey | September 15, 1988 | January 17, 1993 | Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush | | 69 | | Lloyd Millard Bentsen, Jr. | Texas | January 20, 1993 | December 22, 1994 | Bill Clinton | | 70 | | Robert Edward Rubin | New York | January 11, 1995 | July 2, 1999 | | 71 | | Lawrence Henry Summers | Massachusetts | July 2, 1999 | January 20, 2001 | | 72 | | Paul Henry O'Neill | Pennsylvania | January 20, 2001 | December 31, 2002 | George W. Bush | | 73 | | John William Snow | Virginia | February 3, 2003 | June 30, 2006 | | 74 | | Henry Merritt Paulson, Jr. | Illinois | July 10, 2006 | January 20, 2009 | | 75 | | Timothy Franz Geithner | New York | January 26, 2009 | present | Barack Obama |
Acting Secretaries of the Treasury
- William Jones served as acting secretary between the resignation of Alexander J. Dallas and appointment of William H. Crawford.
- Because of the resignation of Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Roger Altman in August 1994, Under Secretary of Treasury for Domestic Finance Frank Newman served from December 22, 1994, to January 11, 1995 as Acting Secretary of the Treasury.
- Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Kenneth W. Damn served as Acting Secretary of the Treasury from December 31, 2002, to February 3, 2003.
- Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Robert Kimmitt served as Acting Secretary of the Treasury from June 30, 2006, to July 9, 2006.
- Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Stuart Levey served as Acting Secretary of the Treasury from January 20, 2009, until the confirmation of Timothy Geithner, which occurred January 26, 2009.
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. This has been the case since 2001, when President George W. Bush modified the line of succession.
Living Former Secretaries of the Treasury
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