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United States Secretary of Commerce
Official Seal
Incumbent Gary Locke since March 26, 2009[1]
Formation	March 15, 1913
Succession	10th
Website	www.commerce.gov

The Commerce Secretary's office as it looked in the mid-20th century.

The United States Secretary of Commerce is the head of the United States Department of Commerce concerned with business and industry; the Department states its mission to be "to foster, promote, and develop the foreign and domestic commerce."^[2] Until 1913 there was one Secretary of Commerce and Labor, uniting this department with the Department of Labor, which is now headed by a separate Secretary of Labor.^[3]

The Office of the Secretary contains a Deputy Secretary of Commerce, a Chief of Staff, a Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy, an Assistant Secretary for Commerce and Intergovernmental Affairs, a Chief Financial Officer and Assistant Secretary for Administration, a Chief Information Officer, a General Counsel, an Inspector General, an Office of Business Liaison, an Office of Policy and Strategic Planning, an Office of Public Affairs, an Office of White House Liaison, and an International IPR Enforcement Coordinator.^[4]

The current Secretary of Commerce is former Washington Governor Gary Locke, who was nominated for the post by President Barack Obama on February 25, 2009, and was confirmed by the United States Senate by unanimous consent on March 24, 2009.^[5]

Locke is President Obama's third choice for the post following New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, who dropped out of consideration in early January 2009, and Republican Senator Judd Gregg from New Hampshire, who withdrew his nomination in February 2009.

Locke is the first Chinese American Secretary of Commerce, and the third Asian American in Obama's cabinet, joining Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Veteran Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki, the most of any administration in United States history.

Prior to Locke's confirmation, the most-recent Senate confirmed Commerce Secretary was Carlos Gutierrez, whose January 20, 2009, resignation coincided with the end of President George W. Bush's administration.

The line of succession for the Secretary of Commerce is as follows:^[6]

1. Deputy Secretary of Commerce
2. General Counsel of the Department of Commerce
3. Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade
4. Under Secretary of Commerce for Economic Affairs
5. Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
6. Under Secretary of Commerce for Technology
7. Under Secretary of Commerce for Export Administration
8. Chief Financial Officer of the Department of Commerce and Assistant Secretary of Commerce in charge of Administration
9. Assistant Secretary for Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs

List of Secretaries of Commerce

     Denotes acting Commerce Secretary

No.	Picture	Secretary	State of residence	Start of Term	End of Term	President(s)
1		William C. Redfield	New York	March 5, 1913	October 31, 1919	Woodrow Wilson
2		Joshua W. Alexander	Missouri	December 16, 1919	March 4, 1921
3		Herbert Hoover	California	March 5, 1921	August 21, 1928	Warren G. Harding Calvin Coolidge
4		William F. Whiting	Massachusetts	August 22, 1928	March 4, 1929	Calvin Coolidge
5		Robert P. Lamont	Illinois	March 5, 1929	August 7, 1932	Herbert Hoover
6		Roy D. Chapin	Michigan	August 8, 1932	March 3, 1933
7		Daniel C. Roper	South Carolina	March 4, 1933	December 23, 1938	Franklin Roosevelt
8		Harry Hopkins	New York	December 24, 1938	September 18, 1940
9		Jesse H. Jones	Texas	September 19, 1940	March 1, 1945
10		Henry A. Wallace	Iowa	March 2, 1945	September 20, 1946	Franklin Roosevelt Harry S. Truman
11		W. Averell Harriman	New York	October 7, 1946	April 22, 1948	Harry S. Truman
12		Charles W. Sawyer	Ohio	May 6, 1948	January 20, 1953
13		Sinclair Weeks	Massachusetts	January 21, 1953	November 10, 1958	Dwight D. Eisenhower
-		Lewis Strauss (Acting Secretary)		November 13, 1958	June 30, 1959
14		Frederick H. Mueller	Michigan	June 30, 1959	August 10, 1959
				August 10, 1959	January 19, 1961
15		Luther H. Hodges	North Carolina	January 21, 1961	January 15, 1965	John F. Kennedy Lyndon Johnson
16		John T. Connor	New Jersey	January 18, 1965	January 31, 1967	Lyndon Johnson
17		Alexander Trowbridge	New York	January 31, 1967	June 14, 1967
				June 14, 1967	March 1, 1968
18		C. R. Smith	New York	March 6, 1968	January 19, 1969
19		Maurice Stans	New York	January 21, 1969	February 15, 1972	Richard Nixon
20		Peter Peterson	Illinois	February 29, 1972	February 1, 1973
21		Frederick B. Dent	South Carolina	February 2, 1973	March 26, 1975	Richard Nixon Gerald Ford
22		Rogers Morton	Maryland	May 1, 1975	February 2, 1976	Gerald Ford
23		Elliot Richardson	Massachusetts	February 2, 1976	January 20, 1977
24		Juanita M. Kreps	North Carolina	January 23, 1977	October 31, 1979	Jimmy Carter
-		Luther H. Hodges, Jr (Acting)		October 31, 1979	January 9, 1980
25		Philip Klutznick	Illinois	January 9, 1980	January 19, 1981
26		Howard M. Baldrige, Jr.	Connecticut	January 20, 1981	July 25, 1987	Ronald Reagan
-		Clarence J. Brown Jr. (Acting)	Ohio	July 25, 1987	October 19, 1987
27		William Verity, Jr.	Ohio	October 19, 1987	January 30, 1989
28		Robert Mosbacher	Texas	January 31, 1989	January 15, 1992	George H. W. Bush
-		Rockwell A. Schnabel (Acting)		January 15, 1992	February 27, 1992
29		Barbara Franklin	Pennsylvania	February 27, 1992	January 20, 1993
30		Ron Brown	New York	January 22, 1993	April 3, 1996	Bill Clinton
31		Mickey Kantor	California	April 12, 1996	January 21, 1997
32		William M. Daley	Illinois	January 30, 1997	July 19, 2000
-		Robert L. Mallett (Acting)		July 19, 2000	July 21, 2000
33		Norman Mineta	California	July 21, 2000	January 19, 2001
34		Donald Evans	Texas	January 20, 2001	February 7, 2005	George W. Bush
35		Carlos Gutierrez	Florida	February 7, 2005	January 20, 2009
-		Otto Wolff (Acting)		January 20, 2009	March 26, 2009	Barack Obama
36		Gary Locke	Washington	March 26, 2009	Present

Source:^[7]

Living former Secretaries of Commerce

• Peter Peterson
• Frederick B. Dent
• Juanita M. Kreps
• Robert Mosbacher
• Barbara Hackman Franklin
• Mickey Kantor
• William M. Daley
• Norman Mineta
• Donald Evans
• Carlos Gutierrez

See also

• Living former members of the United States Cabinet

References

Agencies under the United States Department of Commerce Headquarters: Herbert C. Hoover Building · Secretary of Commerce · Deputy Secretary of Commerce Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security Bureau of Industry and Security Under Secretary of Commerce for Economic Affairs Economics and Statistics Administration · Bureau of Economic Analysis · Census Bureau · Economic Development Administration Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade International Trade Administration · Minority Business Development Agency Under Secretary of Commerce and Administrator for NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration · National Telecommunications and Information Administration · National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Corps Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property Patent and Trademark Office Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology National Institute of Standards and Technology · National Technical Information Service