United States Secretary of Commerce

Secretary of Commerce of the United States of America
Seal of the Department of Commerce
Flag of the Secretary of Commerce
Incumbent Wilbur Ross since February 28, 2017 (2017-02-28)
United States Department of Commerce
Member of	Cabinet
Reports to	The President
Seat	Washington, D.C.
Appointer	The President with Senate advice and consent
Term length	No fixed term
Constituting instrument	15 U.S.C. § 1501
Formation	March 15, 1913
First holder	William Cox Redfield
Succession	Ninth in the United States Presidential Line of Succession
Deputy	Deputy Secretary of Commerce
Salary	Executive Schedule, level 1
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. The Secretary is appointed by the President of the United States with the advice and consent of the United States Senate and serves at the President's pleasure. A member of the President's Cabinet, the Secretary is concerned with promoting American businesses and industries; the Department states its mission to be "to foster, promote, and develop the foreign and domestic commerce".

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.

The 39th Secretary of Commerce is Wilbur Ross, who was appointed by President Donald Trump and confirmed by the Senate by a vote of 72-27 on February 27, 2017.

List of Secretaries of Commerce

Parties

      No party       Democratic       Republican

Status

  Denotes acting Commerce Secretary

No.	Portrait	Name	State of Residence	Took Office	Left Office	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 C. Hoover	California	March 5, 1921	August 21, 1928		Warren G. Harding
							Calvin Coolidge
4		William F. Whiting	Massachusetts	August 22, 1928	March 4, 1929
5		Robert P. Lamont	Illinois	March 5, 1929	August 7, 1932		Herbert C. 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 D. Roosevelt
8		Harry L. 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
							Harry S. Truman
-		Alfred Schindler (acting)		September 20, 1946	October 7, 1946
11		W. Averell Harriman	New York	October 7, 1946	April 22, 1948
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 L. Strauss (acting)	West Virginia	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 B. Johnson
16		John T. Connor	New Jersey	January 18, 1965	January 31, 1967
17		Alexander B. Trowbridge	New York	January 31, 1967	June 14, 1967
				June 14, 1967	March 1, 1968
18		Cyrus R. Smith	New York	March 6, 1968	January 19, 1969
19		Maurice H. Stans	New York	January 21, 1969	February 15, 1972		Richard Nixon
20		Peter G. Peterson	Illinois	February 29, 1972	February 1, 1973
21		Frederick B. Dent	South Carolina	February 2, 1973	March 26, 1975
							Gerald Ford
22		Rogers C. B. Morton	Maryland	May 1, 1975	February 2, 1976
23		Elliot L. 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)	North Carolina	October 31, 1979	January 9, 1980
25		Philip M. Klutznick	Illinois	January 9, 1980	January 20, 1981
26		Malcolm Baldrige	Connecticut	January 20, 1981	July 25, 1987		Ronald Reagan
-		Clarence J. Brown Jr. (acting)	Ohio	July 25, 1987	October 19, 1987
27		C. William Verity, Jr.	Ohio	October 19, 1987	January 30, 1989
28		Robert A. Mosbacher	Texas	January 31, 1989	January 15, 1992		George H. W. Bush
-		Rockwell A. Schnabel (acting)		January 15, 1992	February 27, 1992
29		Barbara H. Franklin	Pennsylvania	February 27, 1992	January 20, 1993
30		Ronald H. Brown	New York	January 20, 1993	April 3, 1996		Bill Clinton
-		Mary L. Good (acting)	Texas	April 3, 1996	April 12, 1996
31		Mickey Kantor	Tennessee	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 Y. Mineta	California	July 21, 2000	January 20, 2001
34		Donald L. Evans	Texas	January 20, 2001	February 7, 2005		George W. Bush
35		Carlos M. Gutierrez	Florida	February 7, 2005	January 20, 2009
-		Otto J. Wolff (acting)		January 20, 2009	March 26, 2009		Barack Obama
36		Gary F. Locke	Washington	March 26, 2009	August 1, 2011
-		Rebecca M. Blank (acting)	Minnesota	August 1, 2011	October 21, 2011
37		John E. Bryson	New York	October 21, 2011	June 11, 2012
-		Rebecca M. Blank (acting)	Minnesota	June 11, 2012	June 1, 2013
-		Cameron Kerry (acting)	Massachusetts	June 1, 2013	June 26, 2013
38		Penny Pritzker	Illinois	June 26, 2013	January 20, 2017
39		Wilbur Ross	Florida	February 28, 2017	Incumbent		Donald Trump

Source: Department of Commerce: Secretaries

Living former Secretaries of Commerce

As of April 2024, there are ten living former Secretaries of Commerce, the oldest being Frederick B. Dent (1973-1975, born 1922). The most recent Secretary of Commerce to die was Juanita M. Kreps (1977-1979), on July 5, 2010.

Name	Term of office	Date of birth (and age)
Peter G. Peterson	1972–1973	(1926-06-05) June 5, 1926
Frederick B. Dent	1973–1975	(1922-08-17) August 17, 1922
Barbara H. Franklin	1992–1993	(1940-03-04) March 4, 1940
Mickey Kantor	1996–1997	(1939-08-07) August 7, 1939
William M. Daley	1997–2000	(1948-08-09) August 9, 1948
Norman Mineta	2000-2001	(1931-11-12) November 12, 1931
Donald Evans	2001-2005	(1946-07-27) July 27, 1946
Carlos M. Gutierrez	2005-2009	(1953-11-04) November 4, 1953
Gary F. Locke	2009-2011	(1950-01-21) January 21, 1950
John Bryson	2011-2012	(1943-07-24) July 24, 1943

Line of succession

The line of succession for the Secretary of Commerce is as follows:

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

See also

• Living former members of the United States Cabinet

References

United States presidential line of succession
Preceded by Secretary of Agriculture Vacant	10th in line	Succeeded by Secretary of Labor Vacant