- White House shakeup
Within a week after the
2004 United States Presidential Election , several members of PresidentGeorge W. Bush 's cabinet announced their resignation in what major media outlets and Bush himself called the White House shakeup [cite news
url = http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/4/29/231504.shtml
title = Bush: 'I Survived White House Shakeup'
publisher =Newsmax
date =2006-04-29
accessdate = 2006-10-01] . Several top advisers were also involved, although they are not technically cabinet members.Resignations
Attorney General John Ashcroft andSecretary of Commerce Donald Evans were the first to announce their resignations onNovember 9 ,2004 . A week later, onNovember 14 , several more announced their plans to resign: Secretary of StateColin Powell , Agriculture SecretaryAnn Veneman ,Education Secretary Rod Paige , and Energy SecretarySpencer Abraham .Tom Ridge announced his plans to resign as the first Secretary of Homeland Security onNovember 30 .In December, two more followed. Secretary of Health and Human Services
Tommy Thompson announced his resignation onDecember 3 . OnDecember 8 , after a period of some speculation that Treasury SecretaryJohn W. Snow would resign his post, the White House stated that Snow had been asked to stay on as Secretary through Bush's second term. On that same day, Secretary of Veterans AffairsAnthony Principi announced his resignation.After the resignation on
March 28 ,2006 ofWhite House Chief of Staff Andrew Card and his replacement byJosh Bolten , there was widespread expectation that Bolten would conduct a housecleaning [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/19/washington/19bolten.html?_r=1&oref=slogin An Eye for Detail and the Resolve to Push Change] , "The New York Times ",June 18 ,2006 ] . In the months after Bolten's arrival, Snow (May 25 ), Secretary of the InteriorGale Norton (March 31 ) and Secretary of TransportationNorman Mineta (June 23 2006 ) announced their resignations. OnNovember 8 ,2006 , a day after the U.S. midterm elections, Secretary of DefenseDonald Rumsfeld resigned following numerous calls for his resignation from the military leadership and general public pressure. OnAugust 27 2007 Attorney GeneralAlberto Gonzales announced his decision to resign from the Cabinet after calls for his resignation.Altogether, twelve of the fifteen cabinet-level department heads resigned and were replaced. Remaining were Secretary of Labor
Elaine Chao , and Secretary of Housing and Urban DevelopmentAlphonso Jackson .I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby resigned after 4 felony convictions,
Karl Rove resigned effective August 31, 2007.Nominations
Bush's first two selections of replacements for the departing cabinet members drew some criticism and some praise. He selected
White House Counsel Alberto R. Gonzales for Attorney General andCondoleezza Rice for Secretary of State. The two nominations are both historical for minorities in their own right. Rice would be the firstAfrican American woman to serve as Secretary of State, while Gonzales would become the firstHispanic Attorney General. Despite the historical implications of their nominations, both of them have drawn criticism for actions they took while in their previous government positions. Gonzales's nomination angered some Bush supporters because some of his rulings as a Supreme Court justice in Texas could be consideredpro-choice , while many Republicans (including Bush himself) are against abortion.Next to be nominated was Domestic Policy Advisor
Margaret Spellings onNovember 17 . She is one of the principal authors of theNo Child Left Behind Act . She would replace Paige as Education Secretary. Then onNovember 29 ,Carlos Gutierrez , theCEO at Kellogg since1999 , was picked to be the new Commerce Secretary, replacing Donald Evans.Cuba n-born, Gutierrez began at Kellogg sellingcereal out of avan inMexico City . Now an American citizen, Gutierrez would be taking a $199,825,000 pay cut at the new position. Bush called Gutierrez "One of America's most respected business leaders. He is a great American success story."Republican Governor
Mike Johanns ofNebraska was nominated by Bush onDecember 2 to replace outgoingUnited States Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman . There had been some speculation that Bush would tap Democratic SenatorBen Nelson , also of Nebraska, to fill the post. Nelson reportedly turned down Bush's offer, choosing instead to remain in the Senate. It is worth noting that had Nelson accepted Bush's offer, the Democratic Party would likely have lost a seat in the Senate, as Nelson's replacement would have been nominated by Governor Johanns, and would have been a Republican.On
December 9 , Bush namedJim Nicholson , U.S.ambassador to the Vatican, as his nominee for Veterans Affairs Secretary.Sam Bodman , Deputy Secretary of Commerce and Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, was nominatedDecember 10 by the president to become the new Secretary of Energy.Michael O. Leavitt , the current Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency was nominated the same day to succeedTommy Thompson as Secretary of Health and Human Services.On
December 2 2004 ,Bernard Kerik was nominated by Bush as the next Homeland Security secretary. However, onDecember 10 , after a week of press scrutiny, Kerik withdrew acceptance of the nomination citing personal reasons and a potential controversy over the immigation status of ananny and housekeeper he had employed. In a situation reminiscent ofBill Clinton 's1993 nomination ofZoe Baird for the post ofAttorney General , Kerik had failed to pay taxes for the worker, who may have been an illegal immigrant to the United States. However, the nanny has not yet been located, leading some to believe the nanny story was an invention created to divert attention away from Kerik's other problems. Other controversies which may have contributed to Kerik's declining the nomination included an alleged outstandingarrest warrant from1998 stemming from unpaid bills on the maintenance of a condominium (documents regarding this warrant were faxed to the White House less than three hours before Kerik submitted his withdrawal of acceptance to the President) and questions regarding Kerik's sale of stock inTaser International shortly before the release of anAmnesty International report critical of the company'sstun-gun product. Kerik has also been accused of being involved in at least twoextramarital affair s. One of the affairs occurred in the aftermath of 9/11. Kerik allegedly used an apartment intended for police business that overlookedThe Pile for the affair.On
January 12 , five weeks after the withdraw of Kerik's nomination, Bush announced his next choice for director of Homeland Security,Michael Chertoff . Chertoff was a judge for theUnited States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit , which handles appeals fromNew Jersey ,Delaware ,Pennsylvania and theVirgin Islands . Before becoming a judge he was Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Justice's criminal division from2001 to2003 . Also, between1994 and1996 , Chertoff was counsel to the GOP-runSenate Whitewater Committee investigating the business dealings of President Clinton and then-First LadyHillary Rodham Clinton .On
November 6 , the same day as Rumsfeld's resignation, President Bush nominatedRobert Gates former CIA director to replace him. He was confirmed by the Senate on December 6, 2006 by a vote of 95 - 2. The two senators voting against him were Senators Bunning and Santorum.Senate hearings
Gonzales's hearings began on
January 6 2005 . During the hearings, the main opposition to Gonzales's nomination came from those who accused him of giving advice to President Bush that led to abuse of prisoners in U.S. custody, and that he condoned torture as an interrogation tactic. Gonzales denied these charges. Democrats, unable to block Gonzales' confirmation by vote threatened tofilibuster ; however, they retracted the threat within a week. They were successful in delaying the vote until after the President'sState of the Union Address onFebruary 2 .Rice's hearing began on
January 19 . During Rice's nine- hour-long interrogation, she expressed confidence thatIraq could regain stability and independence, expressed disgust for the reports of torture by guards at the Abu Ghraib prison but did not mention banning any of forms of torture, and expressed confidence thatNorth Korea could be persuaded by its neighbors to give up its nuclear weapons program. She was criticized for seemingly contradictory statements she made about going to war with Iraq. The small group of Democrats that opposed her included Sen. Edward Kennedy and Sen. John Kerry.Chertoff's confirmation hearing was held on February 2. He was questioned by the
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee as to his knowledge of abuse by guards of Iraqis in detention facilities. He claimed to have no "personal" knowledge of the accusations.Confirmations
Margaret Spellings was confirmed by the Senate as Secretary of Education onJanuary 20 . On the same day,Mike Johanns was confirmed as Secretary of Agriculture.Carlos Gutierrez was confirmed by voice vote onJanuary 23 .Condoleezza Rice was confirmed as Secretary of State onJanuary 26 into the new cabinet by the Senate by 85 to 13 vote [http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-usrice0127,0,6697599.story?coll=ny-leadnationalnews-headlines] . Although there was a small contingent of Democrats who opposed her confirmation, there was never any doubt that she would be confirmed. No nominee for Secretary of State has ever not been confirmed, and there was never a second choice nominee mentioned. However, she did receive the most "no" votes sinceHenry Kissinger , who received 7.The same day,
Jim Nicholson was confirmed as Secretary of Veterans Affairs andMichael O. Leavitt was confirmed as Secretary of Health and Human Services.Sam Bodman was confirmed by the Senate onJanuary 31 .Alberto Gonzales was confirmed 60-36 onFebruary 3 ,2005 with all of the "no" votes coming from Democrats. He received the second most "no" votes of any attorney general nominee. His predecessor,John Ashcroft , received 42 "no" votes just four years and three days earlier. However, Ashcroft had more support from Democrats, receiving 8 "yes" votes while Gonzales only got 6.Michael Chertoff was unanimously approved for the position of Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security by the Senate onFebruary 15 ,2005 .Robert Gates was approved for the position of Secretary of Defense by the Senate onDecember 6 ,2006 .ee also
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George W. Bush's first term as president of the United States
*George W. Bush's second term as president of the United States
*George W. Bush administration
*2004 United States Presidential Election References
External links
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