Treasurer of the United States should not be confused with United States Secretary of the Treasury.
| Post: | Treasurer of the United States |
| Incumbent: | Marilynn Malerba |
| Incumbentsince: | September 12, 2022 |
| Department: | United States Department of Treasury |
| Reports To: | United States Secretary of the Treasury United States Deputy Secretary of the Treasury |
| Seat: | Treasury Building Washington, D.C. |
| Appointer: | President of the United States |
| Termlength: | No fixed term |
| First: | Michael Hillegas |
The Treasurer of the United States is an officer in the United States Department of the Treasury who serves as the custodian and trustee of the federal government's collateral assets and the supervisor of the department's currency and coinage production functions. As of September 12, 2022, the treasurer is Marilynn Malerba, who is the first Native American to hold the office.[1]
By law, the treasurer is the depositary officer of the United States with regard to deposits of gold, special drawing rights, and financial gifts to the Library of Congress. The treasurer also directly oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) and the United States Mint, which respectively print and mint U.S. currency and coinage. In connection to the influence of federal monetary policy on currency and coinage production, the treasurer liaises on a regular basis with the Federal Reserve.[2]
The duty perhaps most widely associated with the treasurer of the United States is affixing a facsimile signature to all Federal Reserve notes. Federal law requires both the treasurer's signature and the treasury secretary's countersignature for Federal Reserve notes to be considered legal tender.[3]
Moreover, the Treasurer serves as a senior advisor and representative of the Treasury Department on behalf of the secretary in the areas of community development and public engagement.[2]
On July 29, 1775, long before the Department of the Treasury ever existed, the Second Continental Congress established the Treasury Office to manage revolutionary wartime finances. Congress chose George Clymer and Michael Hillegas as joint treasurers of the United Colonies. On August 6, 1776, however, Clymer resigned from his post, thus making Hillegas the sole incumbent. The position received its current name on May 14, 1777, while Hillegas was still in office.
The post of U.S. treasurer predates the United States Constitution. The treasurer was originally charged with the receipt and custody of all government funds independent of the treasury secretary, not unlike today's elected state treasurers. Beginning in 1939, the Office of the Treasurer and its cash management activities were brought under the direction of a broader Fiscal Service, one that also coordinated governmentwide accounting and debt management. Later in 1974, the cash management function in its entirety was transferred from the treasurer to what is now known as the Bureau of the Fiscal Service as a cost-saving measure.[4] Responsibility for oversight of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) and the United States Mint was later assigned to the treasurer in 1981.[5] In 1994, the treasurer was also named National Honorary Director of the U.S. Savings Bonds Campaign and therefore assigned the task of promoting - as opposed to managing - the program.[6]
More recently, the requirement of the United States Senate confirmation for the appointment was dropped in August 2012.[7]
Since the resignation of Elizabeth Rudel Smith in 1962, the non-continuous total length of time the office has been vacant is nearly 4,700 days, nearly thirteen years, while in the 180+ years prior to that, such time totaled less than a year.
Georgia Neese Clark Gray became treasurer on June 21, 1949, making her the first woman to hold the office.[8] Since then, every subsequent treasurer has been a woman,[8] and several of those women have also been Hispanic, starting with Romana Acosta Bañuelos in 1971.[9]
| No. | Name | Term of office | President(s) served under | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael Hillegas | July 29, 1775 – September 11, 1789 | George Washington (also served under Confederation Congress) | |
| Hillegas served jointly with George Clymer until August 6, 1776. The title of the office was "Treasurer of the United Colonies" until May 14, 1777.[10] | ||||
| 2 | Samuel Meredith | September 11, 1789 – December 1, 1801 | George Washington John Adams Thomas Jefferson | |
| 3 | Thomas T. Tucker | December 1, 1801 – May 2, 1828 (served the longest term) | Thomas Jefferson James Madison James Monroe John Quincy Adams | |
| vacant | ||||
| 4 | William Clark | June 4, 1828 – May 26, 1829 | John Quincy Adams Andrew Jackson | |
| 5 | John Campbell | May 26, 1829 – July 20, 1839 | Andrew Jackson Martin Van Buren | |
| vacant | ||||
| 6 | William Selden | July 22, 1839 – November 23, 1850 (served under the most presidents) | Martin Van Buren William Henry Harrison John Tyler James K. Polk Zachary Taylor Millard Fillmore | |
| vacant | ||||
| 7 | John Sloane | November 27, 1850 – April 1, 1853 | Millard Fillmore Franklin Pierce | |
| vacant | ||||
| 8 | Samuel L. Casey | April 4, 1853 – December 22, 1859 | Franklin Pierce James Buchanan | |
| vacant | ||||
| 9 | William C. Price | February 28, 1860 – March 21, 1861 | James Buchanan Abraham Lincoln | |
| 10 | Francis E. Spinner | March 16, 1861 – July 30, 1875 | Abraham Lincoln Andrew Johnson Ulysses S. Grant | |
| 11 | John C. New | June 30, 1875 – July 1, 1876 | Ulysses S. Grant | |
| 12 | A. U. Wyman | July 1, 1876 – June 30, 1877 | Ulysses S. Grant Rutherford B. Hayes | |
| 13 | 100px James Gilfillan | July 1, 1877 – March 31, 1883 | Rutherford B. Hayes James A. Garfield Chester A. Arthur | |
| 14 | A. U. Wyman | April 1, 1883 – April 30, 1885 | Chester A. Arthur Grover Cleveland | |
| 15 | Conrad N. Jordan | May 1, 1885 – March 23, 1887 | Grover Cleveland | |
| vacant | ||||
| 16 | James W. Hyatt | May 24, 1887 – May 10, 1889 | Grover Cleveland Benjamin Harrison | |
| 17 | James N. Huston | May 11, 1889 – April 24, 1891 | Benjamin Harrison | |
| 18 | Enos H. Nebeker | April 25, 1891 – May 31, 1893 | Benjamin Harrison Grover Cleveland | |
| 19 | Daniel N. Morgan | June 1, 1893 – June 30, 1897 | Grover Cleveland William McKinley | |
| 20 | Ellis H. Roberts | July 1, 1897 – June 30, 1905 | William McKinley Theodore Roosevelt | |
| 21 | Charles H. Treat | July 1, 1905 – October 30, 1909 | Theodore Roosevelt William Howard Taft | |
| 22 | Lee McClung | November 1, 1909 – November 21, 1912 | William Howard Taft | |
| 23 | Carmi A. Thompson | November 22, 1912 – March 31, 1913 (served the shortest term) | William Howard Taft Woodrow Wilson | |
| 24 | John Burke | April 1, 1913 – January 5, 1921 | Woodrow Wilson | |
| vacant | ||||
| 25 | Frank White | May 2, 1921 – May 1, 1928 | Warren G. Harding Calvin Coolidge | |
| vacant | ||||
| 26 | Harold Theodore Tate | May 31, 1928 – January 17, 1929 | Calvin Coolidge | |
| 27 | W. O. Woods | January 18, 1929 – May 31, 1933 | Calvin Coolidge Herbert Hoover Franklin Delano Roosevelt | |
| 28 | William Alexander Julian | June 1, 1933 – May 29, 1949 | Franklin D. Roosevelt Harry S. Truman | |
| vacant | ||||
| 29 | Georgia Neese Clark | June 21, 1949 – January 27, 1953 | Harry S. Truman Dwight D. Eisenhower | |
| 30 | Ivy Baker Priest | January 28, 1953 – January 29, 1961 | Dwight D. Eisenhower John F. Kennedy | |
| 31 | Elizabeth Rudel Smith | January 30, 1961 – April 13, 1962 | John F. Kennedy | |
| vacant | ||||
| 32 | Kathryn O'Hay Granahan | January 3, 1963 – November 22, 1966 | John F. Kennedy Lyndon B. Johnson | |
| vacant | ||||
| 33 | Dorothy Andrews Elston[11] | May 8, 1969 – July 3, 1971 | Richard Nixon | |
| vacant | ||||
| 34 | Romana Acosta Bañuelos | December 17, 1971 – February 14, 1974 | Richard Nixon | |
| vacant | ||||
| 35 | Francine Irving Neff | June 21, 1974 – January 19, 1977 | Richard Nixon Gerald Ford | |
| vacant | ||||
| 36 | Azie Taylor Morton | September 12, 1977 – January 20, 1981 | Jimmy Carter | |
| vacant | ||||
| 37 | Angela Marie Buchanan | March 17, 1981 – July 5, 1983 | Ronald Reagan | |
| vacant | ||||
| 38 | Katherine D. Ortega | September 22, 1983 – July 1, 1989 | Ronald Reagan George H. W. Bush | |
| vacant | ||||
| 39 | Catalina Vasquez Villalpando | December 11, 1989 – January 20, 1993 | George H. W. Bush | |
| vacant | ||||
| 40 | Mary Ellen Withrow | March 1, 1994 – January 20, 2001 | Bill Clinton | |
| vacant | ||||
| 41 | Rosario Marin | August 16, 2001 – June 30, 2003 | George W. Bush | |
| vacant | ||||
| 42 | Anna Escobedo Cabral | January 19, 2005 – January 20, 2009 | George W. Bush | |
| vacant | ||||
| 43 | Rosa Gumataotao Rios | August 6, 2009 – July 11, 2016 | Barack Obama | |
| vacant | ||||
| 44 | Jovita Carranza | June 19, 2017 – January 14, 2020 | Donald Trump | |
| vacant | ||||
| 45 | Marilynn Malerba | September 12, 2022 – present | Joe Biden | |