List of United States politicians with doctorates explained

This is a list of notable United States politicians who have a research doctorate.

Federal government

Executive branch

Current and former cabinet members and senior administration officials

Name	Party	Department	Term	Administration	Field	Institution	Year
Walt Rostow	Democrat	NSC	1966-1969	L. Johnson	Economics	Yale University	1940
Henry Kissinger	Republican	NSC/State	1969–1975, 1973–1977	Nixon/Ford	Political Science	Harvard University	1954
George Shultz	Republican	Labor/OMB/Treasury/State	1969–1970, 1970–1972, 1972–1974, 1982–1989	Nixon/Reagan	Economics	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	1949
James R. Schlesinger	Republican	CIA/Defense/Energy	1973, 1973–1975, 1977–1979	Nixon/Ford/Carter	Economics	Harvard University	1956
Brent Scowcroft	Republican	NSC	1975–1977, 1989-1993	Ford/Bush Sr.	International Relations	Columbia University	1967
John Hamre	Republican	United States Deputy Secretary of Defense, Comptroller of the Department of Defense	1994–1997, 1997–2000	Clinton	International Studies	Johns Hopkins University	1978
W. Michael Blumenthal	Democrat	Treasury	1977–1979	Carter	Economics	Princeton University	1956
Zbigniew Brzezinski	Democratic	NSC	1977–1981	Carter	Political Science	Harvard University	1953
Harold Brown	Independent	Defense	1977–1981	Carter	Physics	Columbia University	1949
Ray Marshall	Democratic	Labor	1977–1981	Carter	Economics	University of California, Berkeley	1954
Lauro Cavazos	Republican	United States Secretary of Education	1988–1990	Bush Sr.	Physiology	Iowa State University	1954
Robert Gates	Republican	Central Intelligence Agency/Defense	1991–1993, 2006–2011	Bush Sr./Bush Jr./Obama	Russian and Soviet History	Georgetown University	1974
Les Aspin	Democrat	Defense	1993–1994	Clinton	Economics	MIT	1966
William Perry	Independent	Defense	1994–1997	Clinton	Mathematics	Pennsylvania State University	1957
Max Kampelman	Democrat	Counselor of the United States Department of State	1987–1989	Reagan	Political science	University of Minnesota	1952
John M. Deutch	Democrat	CIA	1995–1996	Clinton	Chemistry	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	1966
Madeleine Albright	Democrat	State	1997–2001	Clinton	Political Science	Columbia University	1975
Alan Greenspan	Republican	Chair of the Federal Reserve	1987–2006	Reagan/Bush Sr./Clinton/Bush Jr.	Economics	New York University	1977
Lawrence Summers	Democrat	Treasury	1999–2001	Clinton	Economics	Harvard University	1982
Ben Bernanke	Republican	Chair of the Federal Reserve	2006–2014	Bush Jr./Obama	Economics	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	1979
William J. Crowe	Republican	Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Ambassador to the United Kingdom	1985–1989; 1994–1997	Reagan/Bush Sr./Clinton	Political Science	Princeton University	?
Condoleezza Rice	Republican	State	2005–2009	Bush Jr.	Political Science	University of Denver	1981
David Petraeus	Independent	CIA	2011–2012	Obama	International Relations	Princeton University	1987
Sam Bodman	Republican	Energy	2005–2009	Bush Jr.	Chemical Engineering	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	1965
Steven Chu	Democrat	Energy	2009–2013	Obama	Physics	University of California, Berkeley	1976
Ernest Moniz	Democrat	Energy	2013–2017	Obama	Theoretical Physics	Stanford University	1972
Susan Rice	Democrat	NSC	2013–2017	Obama	International Relations	University of Oxford	1990
Ash Carter	Democrat	Defense	2015–2017	Obama	Theoretical Physics	St. John's College, Oxford	1979
John King	Democrat	Education	2016–2017	Obama	Education	Columbia University	2008
H. R. McMaster	Independent	NSC	2017–2018	Trump	History	University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill	1997
Mark Esper	Republican	Defense	2019–2020	Trump	Public policy	George Washington University	2008
Janet Yellen	Democrat	Chair of the Federal Reserve/Treausry	2014-2018, 2021–	Obama/Trump/Biden	Economics	Yale University	1971

Legislative branch

Current senators

Party	State	Term	Field	Year
Democrat	Illinois	2017–	Human Services	2014
Independent	Arizona	2019–	Justice Studies	2012
Democrat	Georgia	2021–	Theology	2006

Former senators

Name	Party	State	Term	Field	Institution	Year
	Republican	Massachusetts	1893–1924	History		1876
	Democratic	Illinois	1949–1967	Economics		1921
	Democratic	South Dakota	1963–1981	History		1973
	Democratic	Colorado	1987–1993	Marketing		1973
	Democratic	Colorado	1975–1987	Politics		2001
	Democratic	New York	1977–2001	History	Tufts University	1961
	Republican	California	1977–1983	English		1935
	Republican	North Carolina	1981–1986	Political science		1964
	Republican	New Mexico	1977–1983	Geology		1964
	Republican	Texas	1985–2002	Economics		1967
	Democratic	Minnesota	1991–2002	Political Science		1969
Ben Sasse	Republican	Nebraska	2015–2023	History	Yale University	2004

Current representatives

Name	Party	State	Term	Field	Institution	Year
Alma Adams	Democrat	NC-12	2014–	Art Education and Multicultural Education	Ohio State University	1981
Jim Baird^[1]	Republican	IN-4	2019–	Animal Science	University of Kentucky	1975^[2]
Carolyn Bourdeaux^[3]	Democrat	GA-7	2021–	Public Administration	Syracuse University	2003
Danny K. Davis^[4]	Democrat	IL-7	1997–	Public Administration	Union Institute & University	1977
Jerry McNerney^[5]	Democrat	CA-11	2006–	Mathematics	University of New Mexico	1981
Bill Foster	Democrat	IL-11	2008, 2012–	Physics	Harvard University	1984
Judy Chu	Democrat	CA-27	2009–	Psychology	California School of Professional Psychology	1979
Jody Hice	Republican	GA-10	2015–2023	Ministry	Luther Rice College and Seminary	1988
Shri Thanedar	Democrat	MI-13	2023–	Chemistry (Polymers/Organometallics)	University of Akron	1982
Tom Cole	Republican	OK-4	2003–	British History	University of Oklahoma	1984
David Price^[6]	Democrat	NC-4	1986, 1996–	Political Science^[7]	Yale University	1969
	Democrat	NJ-03	2019–	International Relations	Oxford University	2010
Dina Titus	Democrat	NV-1	2009–	Political Science	Florida State University	1976
Rob Wittman	Republican	VA-1	2007–	Public Health	Virginia Commonwealth University	2002
Alan Lowenthal^[8]	Democrat	CA-47	2013–	Psychology	Ohio State University	1967
Mike Gallagher	Republican	WI-8	2017–	International Relations	Georgetown University	2015
Jamaal Bowman	Democrat	NY-16	2021–	Educational leadership	Manhattanville College	2019
Julia Letlow	Republican	LA-05	2021–	Communications	University of South Florida	2012
Henry Cuellar	Democrat	TX-28	2005–	Government	University of Texas at Austin	1981

Former representatives

Name	Party	District	Term	Field	Institution	Year
	Republican	Texas	1979–1983	Economics		1967
	Republican	Texas	1985–2003	Economics		1968
	Republican	IL-31 IL-12 IL-8	1969–2005	History		1961
	Democratic	Colorado	1975–1987	Marketing		1973
	Democrat	AZ-9	2012–2019	Justice Studies	Arizona State University	2012
Rush D. Holt Jr.	Democrat	NJ-12	1999–2014	Physics	NYU	1981
Howard Wolpe	Democrat	MI-03	1979–1993	Political science	MIT	1967
Les Aspin	Democrat	WI-01	1971–1993	Economics	MIT	1966
James G. Martin	Republican	NC-09	1973–1985	Chemistry	Princeton University	1960
Donald L. Ritter	Republican	PA-15	1979–1993	Physical Metallurgy	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	1966
Heather Wilson	Republican	NM-1	1998–2009	International Relations	Jesus College, Oxford	1985
Vern Ehlers	Republican	MI-03	1993–2011	Nuclear Physics	UC Berkeley	1960
Bud Shuster	Republican	PA-09	1973–2001	Business and economics	American University	1967
Roscoe Bartlett	Republican	MD-06	1993–2013	Physiology	University of Maryland, College Park	1952
John Olver	Democrat	MA-1	1991–2013	Chemistry	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	1961
Clarence Long	Democrat	MD-2	1963–1985	Economics	Princeton University	1938
Mervyn Dymally	Democrat	CA-31	1981–1993	Human behavior	United States International University	1978
Philip R. Sharp	Democrat		1975–1995	Government	Georgetown University	1974
Bob Filner	Democrat		1993–2012	History of science	Cornell	1969
Tom Lantos	Democrat		1981–2008	Economics	University of California, Berkeley	1953
Newt Gingrich	Republican	GA-06	1979–1999	History	Tulane University	1971
G. William Whitehurst	Republican	VA-02	1969–1987	History	West Virginia University	1952
Floyd Fithian	Democrat	IN-02	1975–1983	American History	University of Nebraska	1964
John Brademas	Democrat	IN-03	1959–1981	Social Studies	Brasenose College, Oxford	1954
Weston E. Vivian	Democrat	MI-02	1965–1967	Electrical Engineering	University of Michigan	1959
	Republican	NY-19	2011–2017	Government	Cornell University	1998
Timothy F. Murphy	Republican	PA-18	2003–2017	Clinical Psychology	University of Pittsburgh	1979
	Republican	VA-7	2014–2019	Economics	American University	1995
Dan Lipinski^[9]	Democrat	IL-03	2005–2021	Political Science	Duke University^[10]	1998
Dave Loebsack^[11]	Democrat	IA-2	2007–2021	Political Science	University of California, Davis	1985

State governments

State executives

Former governors

Name	Party	State	Term	Field	Institution	Year
Dixy Lee Ray	Democrat	Washington	1977–1981	Biology	Stanford University	1945
John H. Sununu	Republican	New Hampshire	1983-1989	Mechanical Engineering	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	1966
Kenny Guinn	Republican	Nevada	1999–2007	Education	Utah State University	1970
James G. Martin	Republican	North Carolina	1985–1993	Chemistry	Princeton University	1960
Lee S. Dreyfus	Republican	Wisconsin	1979–1983	Communication	University of Wisconsin–Madison	1957
Neil Abercrombie	Democrat	Hawaii	2010–2014	American Studies	University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa	1960s
Ted Strickland	Democrat	Ohio	2007–2011	Psychology	University of Kentucky	1980
Eric Greitens	Republican	Missouri	2017–2018	Developmental Studies	Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford	2000
Ricardo Rosselló	New Progressive	Puerto Rico	2017–2019	Biomedical Engineering	University of Michigan	2007
Gina Raimondo	Democrat	Rhode Island	2015–2021	Sociology	New College, Oxford	2002
Tom Wolf	Democrat	Pennsylvania	2015–2023	Political Science	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	1981

Former lieutenant governors

Notes and References

News: Kirk . Mitchell . District 4 race enters final stretch . 12 January 2019 . . 23 October 2018.
Web site: Meet Jim – Jim Baird for Congress.
News: Friend . Lenore . Into the Fray: Carolyn Bourdeaux G'03 Joins Congress Days Before Capitol Riot . 7 April 2022 . Syracuse University Campus News . July 13, 2021.
Web site: Danny Davis' Biography . Project Vote Smart . 23 December 2014.
https://www.genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/id.php?id=102206 Gerald Mark McNerney
News: People - Duke University's Sanford Institute of Public Policy. 2009-05-01.
News: U.S. Congressman David Price. 2009-05-01. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20090429200645/http://price.house.gov/biography/price.shtml. 2009-04-29.
Web site: Biography. 2019-08-13. Congressman Alan Lowenthal. en. 2020-04-30.
News: Biography. 2013-08-13.
News: Duke Political Science Ph.D Placement. 2013-08-13. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20131008145154/http://polisci.duke.edu/graduate/ph-d-placement. 2013-10-08.
Web site: Sweeney. Jim. Darrell Steinberg. UC Davis Magazine. 26 April 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20160708001804/http://ucdavismagazine.ucdavis.edu/issues/sp10/darrell_steinberg.html. 8 July 2016. dead.