The Postmaster General is the executive head of the United States Postal Service. The Office of the Postmaster General was created in 1789. It was not until the administration of Andrew Jackson that the Postmaster General was invited to sit on the president's cabinet. From 1872 to 1971, he was the head of the Post Office Department, an agency of the U.S. government in charge of postal service. After July 1971, the Postmaster General has been appointed by, and serves under, the Governor of the United States Postal Service, a quasi-governmental agency that replaced the U.S. Post Office the same year.
|
Dates of Service
|
Postmaster General | Administration |
| Articles of Confederation | ||
|
1775 - 1776
|
Benjamin Franklin | Continental Congress |
|
1776 - 1782
|
Richard Bache | Continental Congress |
|
1782 - 1789
|
Ebenezer Hazard | Continental Congress |
| U.S. Constitution (narrative) (Office of the Postmaster General) | ||
|
September 26, 1789
|
Samuel Osgood | George Washington |
|
August 12, 1791
|
Timothy Pickering | George Washington |
|
February 25, 1795
|
Joseph Habersham | George Washington |
|
November 28, 1801
|
Gideon Granger | Thomas Jefferson |
|
March 17, 1814
|
Return J. Meigs, Jr. | James Madison |
|
June 26, 1823
|
John McLean | James Monroe |
| Constitution (text) (Cabinet Position) | ||
|
March 9, 1829
|
William T. Barry | Andrew Jackson |
|
May 1, 1835
|
Amos Kendall | Andrew Jackson |
|
May 19, 1840
|
John M. Niles | Martin Van Buren |
|
March 6, 1841
|
Francis Granger | William Henry Harrison |
|
September 13, 1841
|
Charles A. Wickliffe | John Tyler |
|
March 6, 1845
|
Cave Johnson | James K. Polk |
|
March 8, 1849
|
Jacob Collamer | Zachary Taylor |
|
July 23, 1850
|
Nathan K. Hall | Millard Filmore |
|
August 31, 1852
|
Samuel D. Hubbard | Millard Filmore |
|
March 7, 1853
|
James Campbell | Franklin Pierce |
|
March 6, 1857
|
Aaron V. Brown | James Buchanan |
|
March 14, 1859
|
Joseph Holt | James Buchanan |
|
February 12, 1861
|
Horatio King | James Buchanan |
|
March 5, 1861
|
Montgomery Blair | Abraham Lincoln |
|
September 24, 1864
|
William Dennison | Abraham Lincoln |
|
July 25, 1866
|
Alexander W. Randall | Andrew Johnson |
|
March 5, 1869
|
John A. J. Creswell | Ulysses S. Grant |
|
July 3, 1874
|
James W. Marshall | Ulysses S. Grant |
|
August 24, 1874
|
Marshall Jewell | Ulysses S. Grant |
|
July 12, 1876
|
James N. Tyner | Ulysses S. Grant |
|
March 12, 1877
|
David M. Key | Rutherford B. Hayes |
|
June 2, 1880
|
Horace Maynard | Rutherford B. Hayes |
|
March 5, 1881
|
Thomas L. James | James A. Garfield |
|
December 20, 1881
|
Timothy O. Howe | Chester A. Arthur |
|
April 3, 1883
|
Walter Q. Gresham | Chester A. Arthur |
|
October 14, 1884
|
Frank Hatton | Chester A. Arthur |
|
March 6, 1885
|
William F. Vilas | Grover Cleveland |
|
January 6, 1888
|
Don M. Dickinson | Grover Cleveland |
|
March 5, 1889
|
John Wanamaker | Benjamin Harrison |
|
March 6, 1893
|
Wilson S. Bissell | Grover Cleveland |
|
March 1, 1895
|
William L. Wilson | Grover Cleveland |
|
March 5, 1897
|
James A. Gary | William McKinley |
|
April 21, 1898
|
Charles Emory Smith | William McKinley |
|
January 9, 1902
|
Henry C. Payne | Theodore Roosevelt |
|
October 10, 1904
|
Robert J. Wynne | Theodore Roosevelt |
|
March 6, 1905
|
George B. Cortelyou | Theodore Roosevelt |
|
January 15, 1907
|
George von L. Meyer | Theodore Roosevelt |
|
March 5, 1909
|
Frank H. Hitchcock | William H. Taft |
|
March 5, 1913
|
Albert S. Burleson | Woodrow Wilson |
|
March 5, 1921
|
Will H. Hays | Warren G. Harding |
|
March 4, 1922
|
Hubert Work | Warren G. Harding |
|
February 27, 1923
|
Harry S. New | Warren G. Harding |
|
March 5, 1929
|
Walter F. Brown | Herbert Hoover |
|
March 4, 1933
|
James A. Farley | Franklin D. Roosevelt |
|
September 10, 1940
|
Frank C. Walker | Franklin D. Roosevelt |
|
May 8, 1945
|
Robert E. Hannegan | Harry S. Truman |
|
December 16, 1947
|
Jesse M. Donaldson | Harry S. Truman |
|
January 21, 1953
|
Arthur E. Summerfield | Dwight D. Eisenhower |
|
January 21, 1961
|
J. Edward Day | John F. Kennedy |
|
September 30, 1963
|
John A. Gronouski | John F. Kennedy |
|
November 3, 1965
|
Lawrence F. O'Brien | Lyndon B. Johnson |
|
April 26, 1968
|
W. Marvin Watson | Lyndon B. Johnson |
|
January 22, 1969
|
Winton M. Blount | Richard M. Nixon |
|
United States Postal Service privatized
(Non-Cabinet Postion) |
||
|
1972 - 1975
|
E. T. Klassen | United States Postal Service |
|
1975 - 1978
|
Benjamin F. Bailar | United States Postal Service |
|
1978 - 1985
|
William F. Bolger | United States Postal Service |
|
1985 - 1986
|
Paul N. Carlin | United States Postal Service |
|
1986
|
Albert V. Casey | United States Postal Service |
|
1986 - 1988
|
Preston R. Tisch | United States Postal Service |
|
1988 - 1992
|
Anthony M. Frank | United States Postal Service |
|
1992 - 1998
|
Marvin T. Runyon | United States Postal Service |
|
1998 - 2001
|
William J. Henderson | United States Postal Service |
|
2001 - 2010
|
John E. Potter | United States Postal Service |
|
2010 - 2015
|
Patrick R. Donahoe | United States Postal Service |
|
2015 - 2020
|
Megan J. Brennan | United States Postal Service |
|
2020 - present
|
Louis DeJoy | United States Postal Service |
| See cabinet officers sorted by administration. | ||