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Wednesday, February 11, 2009 3:00 PM

A Precedent For 'Unprecedented' Bipartisanship

By ALINA SELYUKH

Building bipartisanship in his new administration has been one of President Obama's tenets, shaped early on the campaign trail. With party clashes galore in Congress over the stimulus bill, reinforcement of this promise so far has been mostly relegated to senior roster picks: Obama has selected three Republicans -- Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Commerce Secretary-designate Judd Gregg -- to join his Cabinet.

In his first prime-time press conference on Feb. 9, Obama called these selections "something that is unprecedented." He is right -- assuming he's talking specifically about selecting three Republicans (and not Democrats in a Republican administration) simultaneously and during the first term (not over the course of a presidency). Without these caveats, the Cabinet picks of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Lyndon Johnson and Gerald Ford leave Obama's claim to history groundless.

Granted, before Obama no administration since the 1970s included more than two department heads from the opposing party, let alone at the same time. Partially, this may be so because in recent times the Cabinet has been more frequently filled by active politicians, office holders and other insiders with clear party identification as opposed to academics, private business owners or small-time supporters.

A chart outlining members of opposing parties in every Cabinet since FDR follows after the jump.

This chart is based on official, public information about party affiliation and excludes independents.

George W. Bush (R) 2001-2009
Norman Mineta -- Secretary of Transportation (2001-2006)

Bill Clinton (D) 1993-2001
William Cohen -- Secretary of Defense (1997-2001)

George H.W. Bush (R) 1989-1993
No publicly registered Democrats in the Cabinet

Ronald Reagan (R) 1981-1989
No publicly registered Democrats in the Cabinet

Jimmy Carter (D) 1977-1981
James Schlesinger -- Secretary of Energy (1977-1979)

Gerald Ford (R) 1974-1977

Year '74 '75 '76 '77
Peter Brennan
Secretary of Labor (1974-1975)
F. David Mathews
Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare (1975-1977)
W.J. "Bill" Usery Jr.
Secretary of Labor (1976-1977)

Richard Nixon (R) 1969-1974
Year '69 '70 '71 '72 '73 '74
John Connally
Treasury Secretary (1971-1972)
Peter Brennan
Secretary of Labor (1974)

Lyndon B. Johnson (D) 1963-1969
Year '63 '64 '65 '66 '67 '68 '69
C. Douglas Dillon
Treasury Secretary (1961-1965)
  
Robert McNamara
Secretary of Defense (1961-1968)
John W. Gardner
Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare (1965-1968)
  

John F. Kennedy (D) 1961-1963
Year '61 '62 '63
C. Douglas Dillon
Treasury Secretary (1961-1963)
Robert McNamara
Secretary of Defense (1961-1963)

Dwight D. Eisenhower (R) 1953-1961
Year '53 '54 '55 '56 '57 '58 '59 '60 '61
Oveta Culp Hobby
Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare (1953-1955)
Martin Durkin
Secretary of Labor (1953)
James Mitchell
Secretary of Labor (1953-1961)

Harry S. Truman (D) 1945-1953
Year '45 '46 '47 '48 '49 '50 '51 '52 '53
Henry Stimson
Secretary of War (1945)
  
Harold Ickes
Secretary of Interior (1945-1946)
Robert Patterson
Secretary of War (1945-1947)
  

Franklin D. Roosevelt (D) 1933-1945
Year '33 '34 '35 '36 '37 '38 '39 '40 '41 '42 '43 '44 '45
Harold Ickes
Secretary of Interior (1933-1945)
William Woodin
Treasury Secretary (1933)
Frank Knox
Secretary of the Navy (1940-1944)
Henry Stimson
Secretary of War (1940-1945)

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Sec of Treasury Salmon P. Chase, Democrat Sec of War Simon Cameron, Democrat Sec of Navy Gideon Welles, Democrat Sec of Interior Caleb B. Smith, Old Line Whig Attorney General Edward Bates, Old Line Whig

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Responded on February 12, 2009 5:53 PM

Jerry Kaufman

Carl Sandburgs books, "Abraham Lincoln" The War Years, 1861-1864, the paperback editions, of three volumes, in volume 2, page 41, where he lists 7 cabinet appointments, 4 were Democrats, the other 3 were Whigs.
Sec of State William H. Seward, Old Line Whig
Sec of Treasury Salmon P. Chase, Democrat
Sec of War Simon Cameron, Democrat
Sec of Navy Gideon Welles, Democrat
Sec of Interior Caleb B. Smith, Old Line Whig
Attorney General Edward Bates, Old Line Whig
Postmaster General Montgomery Blair, Democrat

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