Ray Mabus

Ray Mabus
75th United States Secretary of the Navy
Incumbent
Assumed office June 18, 2009
President	Barack Obama
Deputy	Robert Work Robert Martinage (acting)
Preceded by	BJ Penn (Acting)
United States Ambassador to Saudi Arabia
In office July 5, 1994 – April 25, 1996
President	Bill Clinton
Preceded by	Charles Freeman
Succeeded by	Wyche Fowler
59th Governor of Mississippi
In office January 12, 1988 – January 14, 1992
Lieutenant	Brad Dye
Preceded by	William Allain
Succeeded by	Kirk Fordice
Auditor of Mississippi
In office January 10, 1984 – January 12, 1988
Governor	William Allain
Preceded by	Hamp King
Succeeded by	Pete Johnson
Personal details
Born	Raymond Edwin Mabus, Jr. (1948-10-11) October 11, 1948 Starkville, Mississippi, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Lynne Mabus
Alma mater	University of Mississippi, Oxford Johns Hopkins University Harvard University
Religion	Methodism
Awards	Surface warfare officer insignia
Military service
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Navy
Years of service	1970–1972

Raymond Edwin "Ray" Mabus, Jr. (born October 11, 1948) is an American politician and member of the Democratic Party who has served as the 75th United States Secretary of the Navy since 2009. Mabus previously served as the State Auditor of Mississippi from 1984 to 1988, as the 59th Governor of Mississippi from 1988 to 1992 and as the United States Ambassador to Saudi Arabia from 1994 to 1996.

Early life

Mabus was born in Starkville, Mississippi, and is a fourth-generation Mississippian; he grew up in Ackerman, the only child of the owner of the local hardware store. After attending public schools, he graduated summa cum laude from the University of Mississippi, where he was a member of Beta Theta Pi, with a B.A. in English and political science. He earned an M.A. in political science from Johns Hopkins University and a Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School. He also served two years in the Navy as a surface warfare officer from 1970 to 1972 aboard the cruiser USS Little Rock (CLG-4), and worked as a law clerk in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

Political career

Mabus began his professional career working in Washington, D.C., as legal counsel to the United States House Committee on Agriculture. Following the election of Governor William Winter, he returned to Mississippi to work in the governor's office, where the youthful staff—which included Mabus, Dick Molpus, John Henegan and Andy Mullins—earned the nickname "Boys of Spring" from a rival state legislator.

Mississippi State Auditor

In 1983, Mabus was elected state auditor and served from 1984 to 1988, during this time, he participated in a large FBI sting operation which recovered millions in misspent or stolen public funds. By the time it was finished, "Operation Pretense" had ensnared 57 county supervisors in 25 counties, and all but 2 supervisors served time in prison.

Governor of Mississippi

At 39 years of age, he defeated Tupelo businessman Jack Reed in the 1987 gubernatorial election by 53% to 47%, becoming the youngest governor in the United States. He won "on a wave of black votes" (black voters made up about 30 percent of the state's registered voters) and lost the white vote "by about 3 to 2" despite support from what a coalition one Democratic state chairman described as "poor whites" and yuppies. Mabus, who ran on the slogan "Mississippi Will Never Be Last Again", was billed as "the face of the New South", much like his counterpart in Arkansas at the time, Bill Clinton. Mabus was featured in a 1988 New York Times Magazine cover story titled "The Yuppies of Mississippi; How They Took Over the Statehouse".

During his time as governor, he passed B.E.S.T. (Better Education for Success Tomorrow), gave teachers the largest pay raise in the nation; and was named one of Fortune Magazine’s ten "education governors". Mississippi also had record growth in new jobs, investment, tourism and exports.

Because of the gubernatorial succession amendment ratified in 1987, Mabus was eligible to become the first governor to serve two successive terms in more than 100 years, and he ran for reelection in 1991. He was defeated 51% to 48% in the general election by Republican Kirk Fordice, a former Vicksburg construction executive, who portrayed him as "arrogant and out of touch with Mississippi politically", with a New York Times article describing him as a "Porsche politician in a Chevy pickup state".

Ambassador to Saudi Arabia

Mabus was appointed by President Bill Clinton to be the United States Ambassador to Saudi Arabia and served from 1994 to 1996. During his tenure, a 1994 border crisis involving Yemen was defused, a 1994 crisis with Iraq was deterred, he presided over the embassy during the 1995 terrorist attack, child abduction cases were addressed, and contracts worth more than $16 billion were signed between Saudi Arabian and American companies such as Boeing, and AT&T.

Mabus' residence and embassy office in Riyadh were decorated with items of interest from his home state including an Ackerman phone book on his office coffee table and the Mississippi flag next to the American flag.

Secretary of the Navy

ofrece declaraciones en la Exposición del Mar-Aire-Espacio de la Liga de la Marina en el National Harbor Gaylord

Mabus meeting with President Obama in the Oval Office in June 2010.

On March 27, 2009, Mabus was nominated by President Obama as Secretary of the Department of the Navy. He was sworn in on May 19, 2009, and held a ceremonial swearing in at Washington Navy Yard on June 18, 2009, where he was re-sworn in by the Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.

In April 2010 a furor arose when it was reported that Mabus made the controversial proposal to name a United States Navy warship the USS John P. Murtha (LPD-26) after the late Pennsylvania Democratic congressman, John Murtha. Additional naming controversies occurred due to the naming of auxiliary ship after Cesar Chavez, and a corvette/littoral combat ship after former Arizona Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords following her suffering life-threatening wounds in a 2011 mass shooting in her home district of Tucson, Arizona.

On April 16, 2012, the Navy Secretary returned to Naval tradition of naming certain warships after former U.S. presidents, announcing the next Zumwalt-class destroyer be named the USS Lyndon B. Johnson. Even this action represented somewhat of a change to previous norms, since with the exception of the current attack submarine, USS Jimmy Carter (SSN-23) and the since decommissioned USS George Washington (SSBN-598) class of Polaris/Poseidon fleet ballistic missile submarines, all recent U.S. warships named for presidents have been aircraft carriers.

Secretary Mabus has a presence on Facebook and frequently comments about his daily activities. He is the first branch secretary to maintain a web presence.

President Obama has asked him to develop a long-term Gulf Coast Restoration Plan as soon as possible. The plan will be designed by states, local communities, Native American tribes, fishermen, businesses, conservationists and other Gulf residents".

On September 16, 2013, gunman Aaron Alexis entered the Washington Navy Yard and killed 13 people and injured 14. Alexis was a 34-year-old military contractor. A Pentagon internal investigation found that the shootings could have been prevented with more careful oversight of security clearances and increased security at the Navy Yard facility. A ceremony was held to mark the one year anniversary of the Navy Yard massacre, honoring those who were killed and injured. Mabus stated, “We know that their lives are defined not by how they died, but by how they lived and what they lived for, and will be remembered for that always.”

On January 1, 2016, Mabus ordered the United States Marine Corps to devise a plan on co-integration of male and female recruits in basic training, giving top brass a two week planning period, along with requesting a subject matter expert, to report the best method of said plan.

Business ventures

In August 2007, he joined the board of EnerSys, the world's largest manufacturer, marketer and distributor of industrial batteries. From 2006 to April 2007, he was Chairman and CEO of Foamex International and helped lead it out of bankruptcy. Less than nine months after his appointment, Foamex emerged from Chapter 11.

Awards, honors, community service

Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus presents the Navy Distinguished Public Service Medal to U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal

Mabus has been awarded the U.S. Department of Defense Distinguished Public Service Award, the U.S. Army's Distinguished Civilian Service Award, the Martin Luther King Social Responsibility Award from the King Center in Atlanta, the National Wildlife Federation Conservation Achievement Award, the King Abdul Aziz Award from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the Mississippi Association of Educators' Friend of Education Award.

He was included in Glassdoor's 2013 list of "Highest Rated CEOs" at 43rd place with an 82% approval rate.

He is active in many community activities, primarily focusing on education. Following Hurricane Katrina, he founded the Help and Hope Foundation, which works to meet the needs of children affected by the storm.

He was a member of the RAND Center for Middle East Public Policy and the Council on Foreign Relations, and is the Distinguished Lecturer on the Middle East at the University of Mississippi.

As a photographer, his photographs have raised tens of thousands of dollars for various Mississippi charities.

He has appeared on many television programs as an expert on the Middle East, including 60 Minutes and Nightline.

In 2009, and again in 2014, Mabus made cameo appearances on the TV drama NCIS in the Season 7 episode "Child's Play", and in the Season 12 episode "Semper Fortis", as an NCIS Agent named "Ray". He also made a cameo on NCIS: New Orleans in the episode, "Insane in the Membrane".

Personal life

Mabus has three daughters, Elisabeth, Annie, and Kate. Mabus is a fan of the Major League Baseball Boston Red Sox having first followed the team during the 1975 World Series while a student at Harvard Law School.

Mabus made a cameo appearance as himself in the "It's Not a Rumor" episode of the TV series The Last Ship, issuing orders to the crew of the Nathan James via a recorded message; in the storyline, by the time the ship received the orders, Mabus had succumbed to the "Red Flu" virus.

External links

• United States Navy bio page
• Mississippi Historical Society biography
• Appearances on C-SPAN
  • C-SPAN Q&A interview with Mabus, February 5, 2012

Political offices
Preceded by Hamp King	Auditor of Mississippi 1984–1988	Succeeded by Pete Johnson
Preceded by William Allain	Governor of Mississippi 1988–1992	Succeeded by Kirk Fordice
Preceded by BJ Penn Acting	United States Secretary of the Navy 2009–present	Incumbent
Party political offices
Preceded by Dick Molpus	Democratic nominee for Governor of Mississippi 1987, 1991	Succeeded by John Eaves
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by Charles Freeman	United States Ambassador to Saudi Arabia 1994–1996	Succeeded by Wyche Fowler