Unlike in many European parliamentary cabinets, in the Cabinet of the United States, it is generally less common for a cabinet secretary to hold multiple cabinet-level positions over the years. This is a list of the exceptions:
Name | Offices |
---|---|
John Adams | Vice President (1789–1797) President (1797–1801) |
Thomas Jefferson | Secretary of State (1789–1793) Vice President (1797–1801) President (1801–1809) |
Edmund Randolph | Attorney General (1789–1794) Secretary of State (1794–1795) |
Timothy Pickering | Postmaster General (1791–1795) Secretary of War (1795) Secretary of State (1795–1800) |
Samuel Dexter | Secretary of War (1800–1801) Secretary of the Treasury (1801) |
James Madison | Secretary of State (1801–1809) President (1809–1817) |
Robert Smith | Secretary of the Navy (1801–1809) Secretary of State (1809–1811) |
James Monroe | Secretary of State (1811–1817) Secretary of War (1814–1815) President (1817–1825) |
Richard Rush | Attorney General (1814–1817) Secretary of the Treasury (1825–1829) |
William Crawford | Secretary of War (1815–1816) Secretary of the Treasury (1816–1825) |
John Quincy Adams | Secretary of State (1817–1825) President (1825–1829) |
John Calhoun | Secretary of War (1817–1825) Vice President (1825–1832) Secretary of State (1844–1845) |
Martin Van Buren | Secretary of State (1829–1831) Vice President (1833–1837) President (1837–1841) |
Louis McLane | Secretary of the Treasury (1831–1833) Secretary of State (1833–1834) |
Roger Taney | Attorney General (1831–1833) Secretary of the Treasury (1833–1834) |
Lewis Cass | Secretary of War (1831–1836) Secretary of State (1857–1860) |
Levi Woodbury | Secretary of the Navy (1831–1834) Secretary of the Treasury (1834–1841) |
John Tyler | Vice President (1841) President (1841–1845) |
Daniel Webster | Secretary of State (1841–1843) Secretary of State (1850–1852) |
Thomas Ewing | Secretary of the Treasury (1841) Secretary of the Interior (1849–1850) |
John Crittenden | Attorney General (1841) Attorney General (1850–1853) |
John Spencer | Secretary of War (1841–1843) Secretary of the Treasury (1843–1844) |
Abel Upshur | Secretary of the Navy (1841–1843) Secretary of State (1843–1844) |
John Mason | Secretary of the Navy (1844–1845) Attorney General (1845–1846) Secretary of the Navy (1846–1849) |
James Buchanan | Secretary of State (1845–1849) President (1857–1861) |
William Marcy | Secretary of War (1845–1849) Secretary of State (1853–1857) |
Isaac Toucey | Attorney General (1848–1849) Secretary of the Navy (1857–1861) |
Millard Fillmore | Vice President (1849–1850) President (1850–1853) |
Jeremiah Black | Attorney General (1957–1960) Secretary of State (1960–1961) |
Joseph Holt | Postmaster General (1859–1860) Secretary of War (1861) |
Edwin Stanton | Attorney General (1860–1861) Secretary of War (1862–1868) |
Andrew Johnson | Vice President (1865) President (1865–1869) |
Hugh McCulloch | Secretary of the Treasury (1865–1869) Secretary of the Treasury (1884–1885) |
William Evarts | Attorney General (1868–1869) Secretary of State (1877–1881) |
Alphonso Taft | Secretary of War (1876) Attorney General (1876–1877) |
John Sherman | Secretary of the Treasury (1877–1881) Secretary of State (1897–1898) |
Chester Arthur | Vice President (1881) President (1881–1885) |
James Blaine | Secretary of State (1881) Secretary of State (1889–1892) |
William Windom | Secretary of the Treasury (1881) Secretary of the Treasury (1889–1891) |
Walter Gresham | Postmaster General (1883–1884) Secretary of the Treasury (1884) Secretary of State (1893–1895) |
Grover Cleveland | President (1885–1889) President (1893–1897) |
William Vilas | Postmaster General (1885–1888) Secretary of the Interior (1888–1889) |
Richard Olney | Attorney General (1893–1895) Secretary of State (1895–1897) |
Elihu Root | Secretary of War (1899–1904) Secretary of State (1905–1909) |
Theodore Roosevelt | Vice President (1901) President (1901–1909) |
Philander Knox | Attorney General (1901–1904) Secretary of State (1909–1913) |
William Moody | Secretary of the Navy (1902–1904) Attorney General (1904–1906) |
George Cortelyou | Secretary of Commerce and Labor (1903–1904) Postmaster General (1905–1907) Secretary of the Treasury (1907–1909) |
William Taft | Secretary of War (1904–1908) President (1909–1913) |
Victor Metcalf | Secretary of Commerce and Labor (1904–1906) Secretary of the Navy (1906–1908) |
Charles Bonaparte | Secretary of the Navy (1905–1906) Attorney General (1906–1909) |
George von Lengerke Meyer | Postmaster General (1907–1909) Secretary of the Navy (1909–1913) |
Henry Stimson | Secretary of War (1911–1913) Secretary of State (1929–1933) Secretary of War (1940–1945) |
David Houston | Secretary of Agriculture (1913–1920) Secretary of the Treasury (1920–1921) |
Calvin Coolidge | Vice President (1921–1923) President (1923–1929) |
Herbert Hoover | Secretary of Commerce (1921–1928) President (1929–1933) |
Charles Dawes | Director of the Office of Management and Budget (1921–1922) Vice President (1925–1929) |
Hubert Work | Postmaster General (1922–1923) Secretary of the Interior (1923–1928) |
Henry Wallace | Secretary of Agriculture (1933–1940) Vice President (1941–1945) Secretary of Commerce (1945–1946) |
James Forrestal | Secretary of the Navy (1944–1947) Secretary of Defense (1947–1949) |
Harry Truman | Vice President (1945) President (1945–1953) |
George Marshall | Secretary of State (1947–1949) Secretary of Defense (1950–1951) |
Richard Nixon | Vice President (1953–1961) President (1969–1974) |
William Rogers | Attorney General (1957–1961) Secretary of State (1969–1973) |
Maurice Stans | Director of the Office of Management and Budget (1958–1961) Secretary of Commerce (1969–1972) |
Christian Herter | Secretary of State (1959–1961) Trade Representative (1962–1966) |
Lyndon Johnson | Vice President (1961–1963) President (1963–1969) |
Marvin Watson | White House Chief of Staff (1963–1968) Postmaster General (1968–1969) |
George Shultz | Secretary of Labor (1969–1970) Director of the Office of Management and Budget (1970–1972) Secretary of the Treasury (1972–1974) Secretary of State (1982–1989) |
Elliot Richardson | Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare (1970–1973) Secretary of Defense (1973) Attorney General (1973) Secretary of Commerce (1976–1977) |
William Ruckelshaus | Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (1970–1973) Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (1983–1985) |
Rogers Morton | Secretary of the Interior (1971–1975) Secretary of Commerce (1975–1976) |
Caspar Weinberger | Director of the Office of Management and Budget (1972–1973) Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare (1973–1975) Secretary of Defense (1981–1987) |
Gerald Ford | Vice President (1973–1974) President (1974–1977) |
James Schlesinger | Secretary of Defense (1973–1974) Secretary of Energy (1977–1979) |
Frederick Dent | Secretary of Commerce (1973–1975) Trade Representative (1975–1977) |
James Lynn | Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (1973–1975) Director of the Office of Management and Budget (1975–1976) |
Alexander Haig | White House Chief of Staff (1973–1974) Secretary of State (1981–1982) |
Donald Rumsfeld | White House Chief of Staff (1974–1975) Secretary of Defense (1975–1977) Secretary of Defense (2001–2006) |
Carla Anderson Hills | Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (1975–1977) Trade Representative (1989–1993) |
Dick Cheney | White House Chief of Staff (1975–1977) Secretary of Defense (1989–1993) Vice President (2001–2009) |
Patricia Roberts Harris | Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (1977–1979) Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare (1979) Secretary of Health and Human Services (1979–1981) |
George H. W. Bush | Vice President (1981–1989) President (1989–1993) |
Donald Regan | Secretary of the Treasury (1981–1985) White House Chief of Staff (1985–1987) |
James Baker | White House Chief of Staff (1981–1985) Secretary of the Treasury (1985–1988) Secretary of State (1989–1992) White House Chief of Staff (1992–1993) |
Bill Brock | Trade Representative (1981–1985) Secretary of Labor (1985–1987) |
Donald Hodel | Secretary of Energy (1982–1985) Secretary of the Interior (1985–1989) |
Elizabeth Dole | Secretary of Transportation (1983–1987) Secretary of Labor (1989–1990) |
Clayton Yeutter | Trade Representative (1985–1989) Secretary of Agriculture (1989–1991) |
Samuel Skinner | Secretary of Transportation (1989–1991) White House Chief of Staff (1991–1992) |
Andrew Card | Secretary of Transportation (1992–1993) White House Chief of Staff (2001–2006) |
Federico Peña | Secretary of Transportation (1993–1997) Secretary of Energy (1997–1998) |
Leon Panetta | Director of the Office of Management and Budget (1993–1994) White House Chief of Staff (1994–1997) Secretary of Defense (2011–present) |
Mickey Kantor | Trade Representative (1993–1996) Secretary of Commerce (1996–1997) |
Madeleine Albright | Ambassador to the United Nations (1993–1997) Secretary of State (1997–2001) |
William Daley | Secretary of Commerce (1997–2000) White House Chief of Staff (2011–present) |
Bill Richardson | Ambassador to the United Nations (1997–1998) Secretary of Energy (1998–2001) |
Jacob Lew | Director of the Office of Management and Budget (1998–2001) Director of the Office of Management and Budget (2010–present) |
Norman Mineta | Secretary of Commerce (2000–2001) Secretary of Transportation (2001–2006) |
Joshua Bolten | Director of the Office of Management and Budget (2003–2006) White House Chief of Staff (2006–2009) |
Mike Leavitt | Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (2003–2005) Secretary of Health and Human Services (2005–2009) |
Rob Portman | Trade Representative (2005–2006) Director of the Office of Management and Budget (2006–2007) |
The following served in multiple cabinet positions in the Confederate States:
Name | Offices |
---|---|
Judah Benjamin | Attorney General (1861) Secretary of War (1861–1862) Secretary of State (1862–1865) |
John Reagan | Postmaster General (1861–1865) Secretary of the Treasury (1865) |
The following have served in cabinet positions in both the United States and Confederate States:
Name | Offices |
---|---|
Jefferson Davis | American Secretary of War (1853–1857) Confederate President (1861–1865) |
John Breckinridge | American Vice President (1857–1861) Confederate Secretary of War (1865) |