Ray Mabus

Ray Mabus (2009)

Raymond Edwin "Ray" Mabus (born October 11, 1948 in Starkville , Oktibbeha County , Mississippi ) is an American politician of the Democratic Party . He was on 19 May 2009 to 20 January 2017 Navy Secretary (Secretary of the Navy) of the United States.

Life

Mabus was born in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, in 1948. He holds three degrees: a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Mississippi (summa cum laude, 1969), a Masters in Political Science from Johns Hopkins University (1970) and a law degree from Harvard University (magna cum laude, 1976). From 1971 to 1972 he served in the United States Navy and sailed on the cruiser USS Little Rock .

In 1983 he was elected Mississippi State Auditor , an office he held until 1987 when he ran for the gubernatorial election and beat Republican Jack Reed. In 1988 he was sworn in as governor . During his tenure, he started the education program Better Education for Success Tomorrow , for which he was named Top Ten Governor for Education Policy by Fortune in 1990 . Mabus narrowly missed his re-election when he lost to Kirk Fordice , who replaced him as governor in 1992.

In 1994 US President Bill Clinton sent Mabus as ambassador to Saudi Arabia for two years ; his successor in Riyadh was Wyche Fowler .

On May 19, 2009, Mabus was sworn in as President Barack Obama's Secretary of the Navy , after being unanimously approved by Congress .

Web links

Commons : Ray Mabus  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Ray Mabus in the National Governors Association (English)