William J. Bennett
| Bill Bennett | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy | |
|
In office March 13, 1989 – December 13, 1990 |
|
| President | George H. W. Bush |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Bob Martinez |
| 3rd United States Secretary of Education | |
|
In office February 6, 1985 – September 20, 1988 |
|
| President | Ronald Reagan |
| Preceded by | Terrel Bell |
| Succeeded by | Lauro Cavazos |
| Chairperson of the National Endowment for the Humanities | |
|
In office December 24, 1981 – February 6, 1985 |
|
| President | Ronald Reagan |
| Preceded by | Joseph Duffey |
| Succeeded by | John Agresto (Acting) |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
William John Bennett July 31, 1943 New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Political party |
Democratic (Before 1986) Republican (1986–present) |
| Spouse(s) | Elayne Glover |
| Children | 2 |
| Education |
Williams College (BA) University of Texas, Austin (MA, PhD) Harvard University (JD) |
William John "Bill" Bennett (born July 31, 1943) is an American conservative pundit, politician, and political theorist, who served as Secretary of Education from 1985 to 1988 under President Ronald Reagan. He also held the post of Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy under George H. W. Bush. In 2000, he co-founded K12, a publicly traded online education company.
Bennett was born in Brooklyn, the son of Nancy (née Walsh), a medical secretary, and F. Robert Bennett, a banker. He moved to Washington, D.C., where he attended Gonzaga College High School. He graduated from Williams College, where he was a member of the Kappa Alpha Society, and went on to earn a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin in Political Philosophy. He also has a J.D. from Harvard Law School.
From 1979 to 1981, he was the executive director of the National Humanities Center, a private research facility in North Carolina. In 1981 President Reagan appointed him to chair the National Endowment for the Humanities, where he served until Reagan appointed him Secretary of Education in 1985. Reagan originally nominated Mel Bradford to the position, but due to Bradford's pro-Confederate views Bennett was appointed in his place. This event was later marked as the watershed in the divergence between paleoconservatives, who backed Bradford, and neoconservatives, led by Irving Kristol, who supported Bennett. It was in 1986 that Bennett switched from the Democratic to the Republican party. Bennett resigned from this post in 1988, and later was appointed to the post of Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy by President George H. W. Bush. He was confirmed by the Senate in a 97-2 vote.
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