In the United States, the informal term "czar" (or, less often, "tsar") is employed in media and popular usage to refer to high-level executive-branch officials who oversee a particular policy field. There have never been any U.S. government offices with the formal title "czar". The earliest known use of the term for a U.S. government official was in the administration of Franklin Roosevelt (1933–1945), during which eleven unique positions (or twelve if one were to count "economic czar" and "economic czar of World War II" as distinct) were so described.
The list of those identified as "czars" is based on inescapably subjective judgments, as individuals or offices may be referred to with the nickname by some publications or public figures, while not by others. A more limited (though no less subjective) definition of the term would encompass only those officials appointed without Senate confirmation.
| President | Party | In office | Number of czar titles | Number of appointees | Appointees not confirmed by Senate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | 1933–1945 | 11 | 19 | 18 | ||
| 1945–1953 | 6 | 5 | ||||
| Republican | 1953–1961 | 1 | 0 | |||
| Democratic | 1963–1969 | 3 | 1 | |||
| Republican | 1969–1974 | 3 | 5 | |||
| 1974–1977 | 2 | |||||
| Democratic | 1977–1981 | 2 | 3 | 2 | ||
| Republican | 1981–1989 | 1 | ||||
| 1989–1993 | 2 | 3 | 0 | |||
| Democratic | 1993–2001 | 8 | 11 | 7 | ||
| Republican | 2001–2009 | 33 | 49 | 28 | ||
| Democratic | 2009–2017 | 38 | 50 | 39 | ||
| Republican | 2017–2021 | 4 | 5 | 4 | ||
| Democratic | 2021-present | TBD | TBD | TBD | ||
The numbers are based upon the sortable list below, which includes further details and references.
Note that the holders of certain official positions have been referred to as "czars" for only part of the time those positions have existed. For example, there has been an Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health since the passage of the Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977, but the phrase "mine safety czar" has been applied to the position only since the appointment of Richard Stickler to the post in 2006. Similarly, there has been a director of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs since the office was created by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980, but the term "regulatory czar" was not applied to the post until 2001.
The following are executive branch officials who have been described by the media as a czar of some kind.
| Czar title | Official title | Office holder | Tenure | Type of appointment | Appointing administration | Senate confirmed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AfPak czar, Afghanistan and Pakistan czar | Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan | [1] | 2009–2010 | President appointed | ||
| AIDS czar | National AIDS Policy Coordinator, Member of White House Domestic Policy Council | [2] | 1993–1994 | |||
| Director of the Office of National AIDS Policy | [3] | 1993–1997 | ||||
| Director of the Office of National AIDS Policy, Presidential Envoy for AIDS Cooperation | [4] | 1997–2000 | ||||
| Director of the Office of National AIDS Policy | [5] | 2001–2002 | ||||
| [6] | 2002–2003 | |||||
| [7] | 2004–2006 | |||||
| [8] | 2009–2012 | |||||
| [9] | 2012–2014 | |||||
| [10] | 2014–2016 | |||||
| anti-poverty czar, poverty czar | Director of Office of Economic Opportunity | [11] | 1965–1969 | President nominated, Senate confirmed | ✓ | |
| Asian Carp czar | Asian Carp Director, Council on Environmental Quality | [12] | 2010–Unknown | Council on Environmental Quality selected | ||
| auto czar, car czar | Treasury Advisor, Head of the Auto Task Force | [13] | 2009 Feb–Jul | Sec. of Treasury appointed | ||
| Senior Advisor President's Automotive Task Force | [14] | 2009–2011 | President appointed | |||
| auto recovery czar, autoworker czar | Member Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry, Director of Recovery for Auto Communities and Workers | [15] | 2009–Unknown | |||
| bank bailout czar, Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) czar | United States Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Stability, Senior Advisor to Secretary of the Treasury | [16] | 2008–2009 | (New position), President nominated, Senate confirmed | ✓ | |
| bank bailout czar, TARP czar | United States Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Stability | [17] | 2009–2013 | President nominated, Senate confirmed | ||
| bioethics czar | Advisor to the President, Chairman of The President's Council on Bioethics | [18] | 2001–2005 | (New position), Exec order, President appointed | ||
| bird flu czar | Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services, Advisor to the President for Public Health Emergency Preparedness | [19] | 2004–2006 | (New position), President appointed | ||
| birth control czar | Deputy Assistant Secretary of Population Affairs, Department of Health and Human Services | [20] | 2006–2007 | President appointed | ||
| border czar | U.S. attorney and Special Representative for the Southwest Border, Department of Justice | [21] [22] | 1995–1998 | President nominated, Senate confirmed as U.S. Attorney, Appointed as Special Representative | ✓ | |
| Assistant Secretary for International Affairs, Special Representative for Border Affairs, Dept of Homeland Security | 2009–2011 | Sec of Homeland Security appointed | ||||