United States Secretary of War

The Secretary of War was a member of the President's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration. The Secretary of War led the War Department. At first, he was responsible for all military affairs. In 1798, the Secretary of the Navy was added to the cabinet, and the scope of this office was reduced to a general concern with the Army. In 1947, the departments were recombined under the Secretary of Defense. The Secretary of War was replaced by the Secretary of the Army and the Secretary of the Air Force, non-Cabinet positions under the Secretary of Defense. The Secretaries of War \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Name	Years served	President(s) served under
Henry Knox	1789-1794	George Washington
Timothy Pickering	1795	Washington
James McHenry	1796-1800	Washington, John Adams
Samuel Dexter	1800-1801	John Adams
Henry Dearborn	1801-1809	Thomas Jefferson
William Eustis	1809-1813	James Madison
John Armstrong, Jr	1813-1814	Madison
James Monroe	1814-1815	Madison
William Harris Crawford	1815-1816	Madison
John C. Calhoun	1817-1825	James Monroe
James Barbour	1825-1828	John Quincy Adams
Peter Buell Porter	1828-1829	John Quincy Adams
John Henry Eaton	1829-1831	Andrew Jackson
Lewis Cass	1831-1836	Jackson
Joel Roberts Poinsett	1837-1841	Martin Van Buren
John Bell	1841	William Henry Harrison, John Tyler
John C. Spencer	1841-1843	Tyler
James Madison Porter	1843-1844	Tyler
William Wilkins	1844-1845	Tyler
William L. Marcy	1845-1849	James Polk
George Walker Crawford	1849-1850	Zachary Taylor
Charles Magill Conrad	1850-1853	Millard Fillmore
Jefferson Davis	1853-1857	Franklin Pierce
John Buchanan Floyd	1857-1860	James Buchanan
Joseph Holt	1861	Buchanan
Simon Cameron	1861-1862	Abraham Lincoln
Edwin M. Stanton	1862-1868	Lincoln, Andrew Johnson
John M. Schofield	1868-1869	Johnson
John Aaron Rawlins	1869	Ulysses Simpson Grant
William Tecumseh Sherman	1869	Grant
William W. Belknap	1869-1876	Grant
Alphonso Taft	1876	Grant
J. Donald Cameron	1876-1877	Grant
George Washington McCrary	1877-1879	Rutherford B. Hayes
Alexander Ramsey	1879-1881	Hayes
Robert Todd Lincoln	1881-1885	Chester Alan Arthur
William C. Endicott	1885-1889	Grover Cleveland
Redfield Proctor	1889-1891	Benjamin Harrison
Stephen B. Elkins	1891-1893	Harrison
Daniel Scott Lamont	1893-1897	Cleveland (2nd term)
Russell A. Alger	1897-1899	William McKinley
Elihu Root	1899-1904	McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt
William H. Taft I	1904-1908	Theodore Roosevelt
Luke Edward Wright	1908-1909	Theodore Roosevelt
Jacob M. Dickinson	1909-1911	William Howard Taft
Henry L. Stimson	1911-1913	Taft
Lindley M. Garrison	1913-1916	Woodrow Wilson
Newton D. Baker	1916-1921	Wilson
John W. Weeks	1921-1925	Warren G. Harding, \nCalvin Coolidge
Dwight F. Davis	1925-1929	Coolidge
James W. Good	1929	Herbert Hoover
Patrick J. Hurley	1929-1933	Hoover
George H. Dern	1933-1936	Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Harry H. Woodring	1936-1940	FDR
Henry L. Stimson	1940-1945	FDR, Harry S. Truman
Robert P. Patterson	1945-1947	Truman
Kenneth C. Royall	1947	Truman

External link

• Secretaries of War and Secretaries of the Army: Portraits and Biographical Sketches

United States, War\nWar