List of United States Cabinet members who have served more than eight years

This is a list of United States Cabinet members who have served for more than two presidential terms.

More than eight years in a single cabinet office

Secretary	Department	Years of service	Length of service	Presidencies	notes
James Wilson	Agriculture	1897–1913	15 years, 364 days	McKinley, T. Roosevelt, Taft	[1]
Harold Ickes	Interior	1933–1946	12 years, 346 days	F. Roosevelt, Truman	[2]
Albert Gallatin	Treasury	1801–1814	12 years, 270 days	Jefferson, Madison	[3]
Frances Perkins	Labor	1933–1945	12 years, 116 days	F. Roosevelt, Truman	[4]
Cordell Hull	State	1933–1944	11 years, 271 days	F. Roosevelt	[5]
Henry Morgenthau	Treasury	1934–1945	11 years, 202 days	F. Roosevelt, Truman	[6]
William Wirt	Justice	1817–1829	11 years, 112 days	Monroe, J.Q. Adams	[7]
Tom Vilsack	Agriculture	2009–2017 2021–present	First tenure: 7 years, 359 days Second tenure: 3 years, 181 days	Obama, Biden	[8]
Andrew Mellon	Treasury	1921–1932	11 years, 8 days	Harding, Coolidge, Hoover	[9]
James Davis	Labor	1921–1930	9 years, 269 days	Harding, Coolidge, Hoover	[10]
William H. Crawford	Treasury	1816–1825	8 years, 135 days	Madison, Monroe, J.Q. Adams	[11]

More than eight years over multiple cabinet offices

Secretary	Office	Began service	Ended service	Length of service	Presidencies
Elaine Chao	Secretary of Labor	January 29, 2001	January 20, 2009	11 years, 341 days	George W. Bush
	Secretary of Transportation	January 31, 2017	January 11, 2021		Donald Trump
Henry L. Stimson Henry L. Stimson[12]	Secretary of War	May 22, 1911	March 4, 1913	10 years, 342 days	William Howard Taft
		July 10, 1940	September 21, 1945		Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman
	Secretary of State	March 28, 1929	March 4, 1933		Herbert Hoover
George Shultz[13]	Secretary of Labor	January 22, 1969	July 1, 1970	9 years, 318 days	Richard Nixon
	Secretary of the Treasury	June 12, 1972	May 8, 1974
	Secretary of State	July 16, 1982	January 20, 1989		Ronald Reagan
Levi Woodbury	Secretary of the Navy[lower-alpha 1]	May 23, 1831	June 30, 1834	9 years, 289 days	Andrew Jackson
	Secretary of the Treasury	July 1, 1834	March 4, 1841		Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren
Robert Smith	Secretary of the Navy[lower-alpha 1]	July 27, 1801	March 4, 1809	9 years, 249 days	Thomas Jefferson
	Secretary of State	March 6, 1809	April 1, 1811		James Madison
William H. Crawford	Secretary of War	August 1, 1815	October 22, 1816	9 years, 220 days	James Madison
	Secretary of the Treasury	October 22, 1816	March 6, 1825		James Madison, James Monroe, and John Quincy Adams
Caspar Weinberger[14]	Secretary of Health & Human Services	February 12, 1973	August 8, 1975	9 years, 121 days	Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford
	Secretary of Defense	January 21, 1981	November 23, 1987		Ronald Reagan
Henry A. Wallace[15]	Secretary of Agriculture	March 4, 1933	September 4, 1940	9 years, 25 days	Franklin D. Roosevelt
	Secretary of Commerce	March 2, 1945	September 20, 1946		Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman
Lewis Cass	Secretary of War	August 1, 1831	October 4, 1836	8 years, 352 days	Andrew Jackson
	Secretary of State	March 6, 1857	December 14, 1860		James Buchanan
John C. Calhoun	Secretary of War	December 8, 1817	March 4, 1825	8 years, 66 days	James Monroe
	Secretary of State	April 1, 1844	March 10, 1845		John Tyler and James K. Polk
Elihu Root	Secretary of War	August 1, 1899	January 31, 1904	8 years, 13 days	William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt
	Secretary of State	July 19, 1905	January 27, 1909		Theodore Roosevelt

Near misses and technicalities

Several individuals have come close to this distinction; only having have missed it by months, weeks, or days. Listed below are the names of individuals who came within a year of the achievement.

• William L. Marcy missed this distinction by 2 days, having served under President James K. Polk as Secretary of War (1845–1849), and under Presidents Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan as their Secretary of State (1853–1857). Marcy served for 2921 days over these 3 administrations, just under the threshold of 2922 days.
• David F. Houston missed this distinction by 3 days, having served under President Woodrow Wilson as Secretary of Agriculture (1913–1920) and then as Secretary of the Treasury (1920–1921). Houston served for 2920 days, which is exactly 8 regular years (not accounting for leap days), leaving him just short of 2922 day threshold.
• William P. Rogers served for 2872 days in a cabinet office, 51 days short. Rogers served first under President Dwight Eisenhower as Attorney General (1957–1961) and then later under Richard Nixon as Secretary of State. Rogers earlier served in the sub-cabinet as Deputy Attorney General (1953–1957), and as a result served at a cabinet or sub-cabinet level during all 2922 days of the Eisenhower Administration.
• Richard Rush served for 2832 days in a cabinet office, 91 days short. Rush first served under James Madison and then James Monroe as their Attorney General (1814–1817). Rush also simultaneously served as acting Secretary of State for a short period under Monroe. Rush later returned to the cabinet under John Quincy Adams as his Secretary of the Treasury (1825–1829).

Notes

1. Secretary of the Navy was a cabinet-level post until 1947, when the position was put under the Secretary of Defense.

References

1. "Former Secretaries - USDA". www.usda.gov.
2. "Past Secretaries". www.doi.gov. 1 July 2015.
3. "Albert Gallatin (1801 - 1814)". www.treasury.gov.
4. "Hall of Secretaries: Francis Perkins - U.S. Department of Labor". www.dol.gov.
5. "Cordell Hull - People - Department History - Office of the Historian". history.state.gov.
6. "Henry Morgenthau, Jr. (1934 - 1945)". www.treasury.gov.
7. "Attorney General: William Wirt". www.justice.gov. 23 October 2014.
8. "Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack". www.usda.gov.
9. "Andrew W. Mellon (1921 - 1932)". www.treasury.gov.
10. "Hall of Secretaries: James J. Davis - U.S. Department of Labor". www.dol.gov.
11. "William H. Crawford (1816 - 1825)". www.treasury.gov.
12. "Henry Stimson - Nuclear Museum". ahf.nuclearmuseum.org/. Retrieved 2023-03-18.
13. "George Pratt Shultz - People - Department History - Office of the Historian". history.state.gov. Retrieved 2023-03-18.
14. "Caspar W. Weinberger". history.defense.gov. Retrieved 2023-03-18.
15. "Henry A. Wallace – The Wallace Centers of Iowa". Retrieved 2023-03-18.