Edwin Meese
Edwin Meese III (born December 2, 1931) is an American attorney, law professor, author and member of the Republican Party who served in Ronald Reagan's gubernatorial administration (1967–1974), the Reagan presidential transition team (1980–81), and the Reagan administration (1981–1985). Following the 1984 presidential election, Reagan considered him for the White House Chief of Staff position, but James Baker was chosen instead.[3] Meese was eventually appointed and confirmed as the 75th United States Attorney General (1985–1988), a position he held until resigning in 1988 amidst the Wedtech scandal.
Edwin Meese
Meese currently serves as a member of the board of trustees for The Heritage Foundation, a Washington, D.C.–based think tank.[4] He was also a distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.[5] He is a member of the national advisory board of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education and a member of the board of directors of the Federalist Society.[6] He has served on the board of Cornerstone closed-end funds.
Reagan presidency[edit]
Presidential campaign and transition[edit]
Following the Iowa caucuses, Meese joined the 1980 Reagan presidential campaign full-time as chief of staff in charge of day-to-day campaign operations and senior issues adviser.[24] After the 1980 election, Meese headed Reagan's transition effort.
At the advice of Meese, Reagan secretly allowed his campaign to establish a transition office to avoid difficulties similar to those faced by the Nixon administration in its transition following the 1969 election. "Ed had an uncanny ability to look down the road," said Pen James, Assistant to the President for Presidential Personnel. Meese's presidential transition team employed more than 1,000 individuals, with 311 being paid in federal funds, 331 working for a "token" $1, and the rest serving as volunteers. When accounting for inflation, the Reagan transition team spent slightly less money than the Carter transition team, $1.75 million versus $1.78 million.[10]
Meese has authored or co-authored a number of books on government, judiciary and civics, including:
Edwin Meese has been a subject of many TV documentaries. Documentaries in which he personally appears include: