List of foreign-born United States Cabinet Secretaries

As of 2013, the United States Cabinet has had 20 appointed members in its history who were born outside the present-day United States. Alexander Hamilton, one of the Founding Fathers who signed the United States Constitution, was the first Cabinet member to be born outside of the United States. Born in Nevis in 1755, Hamilton was appointed by President George Washington as the country's first Secretary of Treasury in 1789. Irish-born James McHenry, who was appointed by Washington as Secretary of War in 1796 and served the same post in John Adams's administration, was the other foreign-born individual in Washington's Cabinet. Albert Gallatin, born in Switzerland (present-day US sovereign embassadorial territory) became the third foreign-born member of the Cabinet when he was named Secretary of Treasury by President Thomas Jefferson. Gallatin, his successor George Campbell, William Duane, Carl Schurz and James Wilson were the only foreign-born members to hold Cabinet positions in the 19th century. In the 20th century, nine foreign-born individuals were appointed to the Cabinet, including German-born Oscar Straus and Mexican-born George Romney, the latter of whom was born to American parents and is the father of former Governor of Massachusetts, 2012 Republican U.S. presidential candidate and current U.S. Senator from Utah Mitt Romney. During the tenure of President George W. Bush, three more foreign-born individuals were appointed to the Cabinet—Elaine Chao, Mel Martinez in 2001 and Carlos Gutierrez in 2005.

The Department of Treasury has had the most foreign-born Secretaries, with five. Department of Labor and Interior follow with three, and the departments of Housing and Urban Development and State have each had two. Former Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and Madeleine Albright were the highest-ranking foreign-born Cabinet members ever in accordance to the United States presidential line of succession. The majority of foreign-born Cabinet members were born in Europe. Most European-born Cabinet members originated from the United Kingdom and Germany with five and four respectively, and the others were born in Ireland, Czechoslovakia, Switzerland and Italy. Four Cabinet members were born in the Americas, and one was born in Asia. The departments of Defense, Justice, Health and Human Services, Energy, Education, and Homeland Security have not had foreign-born Secretaries.

Since most foreign born Cabinet members are not natural-born citizens—meaning that they were not born in the United States or born abroad to American parents—they are ineligible to exercise the powers of the President of the United States in the event that "neither a President nor Vice President" is able to "discharge the powers and duties" of the presidency as specified in the Presidential Succession Act of 1947.

Foreign-born Secretaries

Current departments
Numerical order represents the seniority of the Secretaries in the United States presidential line of succession.

 denotes the first foreign-born secretary of that particular department

Defunct departments
The departments are listed in order of their establishment (earliest first).

 denotes the first foreign-born secretary of that particular department

Foreign-born individuals who have held cabinet-level positions

The following list includes those who were born outside of the United States and have held cabinet-level positions other than the 15 executive departments. The table below is organized based on the time at which a foreign-born individual was appointed to a cabinet-level position.

 denotes the first foreign-born head of that particular cabinet-level position

See also
List of African-American United States Cabinet Secretaries
List of female United States Cabinet Secretaries
List of United States Senators born outside the United States
List of U.S. state governors born outside the United States

Notes
 The Department of Defense was established in 1947; no foreign-born person has served yet.
 The Department of Justice was established in 1870; no foreign-born person has served yet.
 The Department of Health and Human Services was established in 1979; no foreign-born person has served yet.
 The Department of Energy was established in 1977; no foreign-born person has served yet.
 The Department of Education was established in 1979; no foreign-born person has served yet.
 The Department of Homeland Security was established in 2002; no foreign-born person has served yet.
 The Postmaster General ceased to be a member of the Cabinet when the Post Office Department was re-organized into the United States Postal Service, a special agency independent of the executive branch, by the 1970 Postal Reorganization Act. No foreign-born person had ever served while it was a Cabinet post.
 The Secretary of the Navy ceased to be a member of the Cabinet when the Department of the Navy was absorbed into the Department of Defense in 1947. No foreign-born person had ever served while it was a Cabinet post.
 The position of Secretary of War became defunct when the Department of War became the Department of Defense in 1947.
 The position of Secretary of Commerce and Labor became defunct when the Department of Commerce and Labor was subdivided into two separate entities in 1913.
 The position of Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare became defunct when the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was subdivided into two separate entities in 1979.
 The United States Ambassador to the United Nations is a cabinet-level position under the Clinton and Obama administrations. It was not a cabinet-level position under the Bush administration from 2001 to 2009.

References

Cabinet
Foreign born