Historica Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Pete Geren

Preston Murdoch "Pete" Geren III (29 January 1952-) was US Secretary of the Army from 9 March 2007 to 16 September 2009, succeeding Francis J. Harvey and preceding John M. McHugh. He previously served as Secretary of the Air Force from 29 June to 4 November 2005, succeeding Michael L. Dominguez and preceding Michael Wynne, and as a member of the US House of Representatives from Texas' 12th district from 12 September 1989 to 3 January 1997, succeeding Jim Wright and preceding Kay Granger.

Biography

Preston Murdoch Geren III was born in Fort Worth, Texas on 29 January 1952 (the brother of Republican Party politician Charlie Geren), and he played football at Georgia Tech before earning his juris doctor from the University of Texas Law School in 1978. He worked as an attorney and businessman in Fort Worth before being elected to the US House of Representatives in 1989 as a Democratic Party member. Geren, a conservative, coined the term "Blue Dog Democrat". In 2001, he was employed by the Department of Defense as a special assistant to the Defense Secretary, and he was acting Secretary of the Air Force for a few months in 2005. George W. Bush went on to nominate him to be US Secretary of the Army in 2007, and he served until 2009. Geren went on to serve as President of the Sid W. Richardson Foundation in Fort Worth after 2011.

Advertisement