- John Rusling Block
John Rusling Block (born
February 15 ,1935 inGalesburg, Illinois ) was an American politician. He came from a strongly rural background where the home had no electricity. He graduated from West Point in 1957 and served in 101st Airborne. After that he ran a successful agribusiness. He is a staunch Republican whose agriculture successes formed the basis for his position as Illinois Director of Agriculture. This led to him becoming theSecretary of Agriculture underRonald Reagan from 1981-1986. This led to his involvement in the 1985 Farm Bill.Since then he has been an executive at
John Deere and is President of Food Distributors International. In 1992 he won theHoratio Alger Award. He has been active in global food programs as well. In 2004 he joined the Board of Directors of "Digital Angel" which is more of an Internet company. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Friends of the World Food Program, a non-profit dedicated to supporting the UN World Food Program and its efforts to end global hunger. He currently is a Senior Policy Adviser at Olsson, Frank & Weeda, an FDA and USDA law firm.External links
* [http://www.americanpresident.org/history/ronaldreagan/cabinet/agriculture/johnblock/h_index.shtml John Block profile from a site on Presidents]
* [http://www.lib.niu.edu/ipo/1977/ii771019.html Essays on John Block from 1977]
* [http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1986/10786b.htm Block's Resignation letter to Reagan]
* [http://horatioalger.org/members/member_info.cfm?memberid=blo92 Horatio Alger Award site]
* [http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:IFzMUuNANdgJ:www.fmi.org/advantage/index.cfm%3Ffuseaction%3Ddisplay%26article_id%3D708+%22John+R.+Block%22+Agriculture+&hl=en Essay by him]
* [http://www.friendsofwfp.org Friends of the World Food Program] United States agency helping raise funds and awareness about global hunger
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