William S. Cohen was selected by President Bill Clinton to be the 20th Secretary of Defense. At the time of his appointment, it was the first time in modern U.S. history that a president chose an elected official from the other party to be a cabinet member.
Secretary Cohen spent 31 years in U.S. public service in positions that include mayor of Bangor, Maine; member of Congress in the House of Representatives (1973-1979) and the Senate (1979-1997); and finally Secretary of Defense (1997-2001). In the Senate he served in leadership positions on the Special Committee on Aging, as well as the Armed Services and Governmental Affairs Committees. It was shortly after being elected to the Senate that he made his first visit to China in 1978 as part of a Congressional delegation.
Secretary Cohen is currently chairman and chief executive officer of The Cohen Group. He also serves on the corporate board of CBS and as a board member of the US-China Business Council and US-India Business Council. In addition, he is an advisor to the mayor of the Tianjin Municipal Government and an honorary professor at Nankai University.
Born in Bangor, Maine, Secretary Cohen obtained his B.A. in Latin from Bowdoin College in 1962 and a law degree from Boston University in 1965. He has authored or co-authored twelve books, including five works of non-fiction, five novels, and two volumes of poetry.