Within a week after the 2004 United States Presidential Election several members of President George W. Bush's, cabinet announced their resignation. This article chronicles the timeline of the resignation announcements, nomination announcements, and congressional hearings for the nominees. Several top advisors are also mentioned in this article but are not technically cabinet members.

Resignations

Attorney General John Ashcroft and Secretary of Commerce Donald Evans were the first to announce their resignations on November 9, 2004. A week later, on November 14, several more announced their plans to resign: Secretary of State Colin Powell, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman, Education Secretary Rod Paige, and Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham. Tom Ridge announced his plans to resign as first Secretary of Homeland Security on November 30. Stephen Friedman, top economic adviser to President Bush announced November 23 that he too would be leaving to return to the private sector in New York. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson announced his resignation on December 3. On December 8, after a period of some speculation that Treasury Secretary John W. Snow would resign his post, the White House affirmed that Snow would stay on as Secretary through Bush's second term. On that same day, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony Principi announced his resignation.

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 and Condoleezza Rice for Secretary of State. The two nominations are both historical for minorities in their own right. Rice would be the only African American woman to serve as Secretary of State, while Gonzales would become the first Hispanic 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 considered pro-abortion, while many Republicans (including Bush himself) are against abortion.

Next to be nominated was Domestic Policy Adviser Margaret Spellings on November 17. She is one of the principal authors of the No Child Left Behind Act. She would replace Paige as Education Secretary. Then on November 29, Carlos Gutierrez, the CEO at Kellogg since 1999, was picked to be the new Commerce Secretary replacing Donald Evans. Cuban born, Carlos Gutierrez began at Kellogg selling cereal out of a van in Mexico City. Now an American citizen, Gutierrez will be taking a $199,825,000 pay cut at the new position. Bush said of Gutierrez: "One of America's most respected business leaders. He is a great American success story." Next Republican Governor Mike Johanns of Nebraska was nominated by Bush on December 2 to replace outgoing United States Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman. There had been some speculation that Bush would tap Democratic Senator Ben 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 probably have been a Republican. On December 9 Bush named Jim 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 nominated December 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 succeed Tommy 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, on December 10, after a week of press scrutiny, Kerik withdrew acceptance of the nomination citing personal reasons and a potential contoversy over the immigation status of a nanny and housekeeper worker he had employed. In a situation reminiscent of Bill Clinton's 1993 nomination of Zoe Baird for the post of Attorney 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 outstanding arrest warrant from 1998 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 in Taser International shortly before the release of an Amnesty International report critical of the company's stun-gun product. Kerik has also been accused of being involved in at least two extramarital affairs . One of the affairs occurred in the aftermath of 9/11. Kerik allegedly used an apartment intended for police business that overlooked The Pile for the affair. On January 12, long after the withdraw of Kerik's nomination, Bush announced his next choice for director of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff. Chertoff is currently a judge in the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which handles appeals from New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania and the Virgin Islands. Before becoming a judge he was assistant attorney general in the Department of Justice's criminal division from 2001 to 2003. Also between 1994 and 1996, Chertoff was counsel to the GOP Whitewater committee investigating the business dealings of President Clinton and then first lady Hillary Clinton.

Although not a member of the cabinet, on January 7 John Bolton, the State Department's top international security official, announced he will resign from his position in the second Bush administration and be replaced by an arms control specialist at the National Security Council, Robert G. Joseph . Joseph served is a specialist in anti-ballistic missiles and lead arms talks with Moscow during the first Bush and Reagan eras.

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 gving advice to President Bush that led to abuse of prisoners in U.S. custody, and that he condemned torture as an interrogation tactic. Gonzales denied these charges. Democrats, unable to block Gonzales' confirmation by vote threatened to filibuster, however they retracted the threat within a week. They were successful in delaying the vote until after the President's State of the Union Address February 2.

Rice's hearing began on January 19. During Rice's nine hour long interrogation, she expressed confidence that Iraq 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 that North Korea can 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 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 on January 20. On the same day Mike Johanns was also confirmed as Secretary of Agriculture.

Carlos Gutierrez was confirmed by voice vote on January 23.

Condeleeza Rice was confirmed as secretary of state on January 26 into the new cabinet by the senate by 85 to 13 vote[1]. Although there was a small contingency 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 received the most "no" votes since Henry Kissinger, who received 7 during his hearing[2]. Also that day Jim Nicholson was confirmed as Secretary of Energy and Michael O. Leavitt was confirmed as Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Sam Bodman was confirmed by the senate on January 31.

Alberto Gonzales was confirmed 60-36 on February 3, 2004 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 from them while Gonzales only got 6.

See Also

• George W. Bush's first term as president of the United States
• George W. Bush's second term as president of the United States