United States Secretary of Commerce facts for kids

United States; Secretary of Commerce
	Official Seal
	Incumbent; Wilbur Ross; since February 28, 2017
Formation	March 15, 1913
First holder	William Cox Redfield
Succession	Tenth
Website	www.commerce.gov

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." 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.

List of Secretaries of Commerce

No.	Secretary	Start of Term	End of Term	President(s)
1	William Cox Redfield	March 5, 1913	October 31, 1919	Woodrow Wilson
2	Joshua Willis Alexander	December 16, 1919	March 4, 1921	Woodrow Wilson
3	Herbert Clark Hoover	March 5, 1921	August 21, 1928	Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge
4	William Fairfield Whiting	August 22, 1928	March 4, 1929	Calvin Coolidge
5	Robert Patterson Lamont	March 5, 1929	August 7, 1932	Herbert Hoover
6	Roy Dikeman Chapin	August 8, 1932	March 3, 1933	Herbert Hoover
7	Daniel Calhoun Roper	March 4, 1933	December 23, 1938	Franklin Delano Roosevelt
8	Harry Lloyd Hopkins	December 24, 1938	September 18, 1940	Franklin Delano Roosevelt
9	Jesse Holman Jones	September 19, 1940	March 1, 1945	Franklin Delano Roosevelt
10	Henry Agard Wallace	March 2, 1945	September 20, 1946	Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman
11	William Averell Harriman	October 7, 1946	April 22, 1948	Harry S. Truman
12	Charles W. Sawyer	May 6, 1948	January 20, 1953	Harry S. Truman
13	Charles Sinclair Weeks	January 21, 1953	November 10, 1958	Dwight D. Eisenhower
	Lewis Lichtenstein Strauss (Acting Secretary)	1958	1959	Dwight D. Eisenhower
14	Frederick Henry Mueller	August 10, 1959	January 19, 1961	Dwight D. Eisenhower
15	Luther Hartwell Hodges	January 21, 1961	January 15, 1965	John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson
16	John Thomas Connor	January 18, 1965	January 31, 1967	Lyndon Johnson
17	Alexander Buel Trowbridge	June 14, 1967	March 1, 1968	Lyndon Johnson
18	Cyrus Rowlett Smith	March 6, 1968	January 19, 1969	Lyndon Johnson
19	Maurice Hubert Stans	January 21, 1969	February 15, 1972	Richard Nixon
20	Peter George Peterson	February 29, 1972	February 1, 1973	Richard Nixon
21	Frederick Baily Dent	February 2, 1973	March 26, 1975	Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford
22	Rogers Clark Ballard Morton	May 1, 1975	February 2, 1976	Gerald Ford
23	Elliot Lee Richardson	February 2, 1976	January 20, 1977	Gerald Ford
24	Juanita Morris Kreps	January 23, 1977	October 31, 1979	Jimmy Carter
25	Philip Morris Klutznick	January 9, 1980	January 19, 1981	Jimmy Carter
26	Howard Malcolm Baldrige, Jr.	January 20, 1981	July 25, 1987	Ronald Reagan
27	Calvin William Verity, Jr.	October 19, 1987	January 30, 1989	Ronald Reagan
28	Robert Adam Mosbacher	January 31, 1989	January 15, 1992	George H. W. Bush
29	Barbara Hackman Franklin	February 27, 1992	January 20, 1993	George H. W. Bush
30	Ronald Harmon Brown	January 22, 1993	April 3, 1996	Bill Clinton
31	Michael Kantor	April 12, 1996	January 21, 1997	Bill Clinton
32	William Michael Daley	January 30, 1997	July 19, 2000	Bill Clinton
33	Norman Yoshio Mineta	July 21, 2000	January 19, 2001	Bill Clinton
34	Donald Louis Evans	January 20, 2001	February 7, 2005	George W. Bush
35	Carlos Miguel Gutierrez	February 7, 2005	January 20, 2009	George W. Bush
36	Gary Locke	March 26, 2009	August 1, 2011	Barack Obama
Acting	Rebecca Blank	August 1, 2011	October 21, 2011	Barack Obama
37	John Bryson	October 21, 2011	June 11, 2012	Barack Obama
Acting	Rebecca Blank	June 11, 2012	June 1, 2013	Barack Obama
Acting	Cameron Kerry	June 1, 2013	June 26, 2013	Barack Obama
38	Penny Pritzker	June 26, 2013	January 20, 2017	Barack Obama
39	Wilbur Ross	February 28, 2017	Present	Donald Trump

Footnote: Under Secretary of Commerce Luther H. Hodges Jr served as Interim Secretary of Commerce October 31, 1979 to January 9, 1980.
From 25 July 1987 to 19 October 1987, Clarence J. Brown Jr. was Acting Secretary of Commerce.

Images for kids

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