QUESTIONS:
1. Paul O’Neill made headlines last week following publication of his book about his tenure secretary of the treasury, a post he was fired from in ’02. Prior to O’Neill, who was the last secretary of the treasury to be fired?
2. Recent secretaries of the treasury have been former CEOs of major corporations. Who was the last secretary to be an elected official?
3. Who was the last secretary of the treasury to seek a major party’s presidential nomination?
4. Who were the last two secretaries of the treasury to go on to be secretary of the state?
5. Who was the longest-serving secretary of the treasury?
ANSWERS:
1. Michael Blumenthal, fired by President Carter in July of 1979.
2. Lloyd Bentsen, secretary from 1993-94 and former Democratic senator from Texas from 1970-92.
3. John B. Connally, secretary from 1971-72, who unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination in 1980. (Bentsen sought the Democratic nomination in 1976, but had not yet been secretary of the treasury.)
4. George Shultz, secretary of the treasury from 1972-74, who served as secretary of state from 1982-88, and James Baker, secretary of the treasury from 1984-88, who served as secretary of state from 1988-92.
5. Henry Morgenthau, Jr., secretary of the treasury from 1932-46.
