Black clout in the Clinton administration - top African American cabinet officers and department heads in the Clinton administration; includes related article on Congressional leaders

Ebony, May, 1993

As Espy noted on the envelope, not only did he have six years of experience on the House Agriculture Committee, his appointment as secretary would be "non-traditional."

That's putting it mildly, since agriculture secretaries are usually White male farmers from the Midwest. Espy, on the other hand, is the first Black head of the $62 billion department and the first secretary from the Deep South.

Of course, the Yazoo City, Miss.-born lawyer is accustomed to leading the way. During his six years in Congress, the Santa Clara Law School graduate developed a reputation as a spokesman for rural America. In 1990, four years after he upset a two-term Republican incumbent and became the first Black elected to the House of Representatives from Mississippi in more than 100 years, he secured $10 million for assistance to preserve the dwindling number of Black farmers.

The new agriculture secretary got off to a fast start, imposing a department-wide job freeze on his first day in office. Then he made national headlines by tackling tough issues in several press conferences and speeches. He also visited a Washington supermarket to check the meat department and addressed the Mississippi legislature.

A former assistant attorney general in Mississippi, Espy, who has also called for an overhaul of meat inspection programs, dedicated his nomination to his late father, Henry Espy, who worked for the Agriculture Department during the 1930s and '40s.

"We need a USDA which helps lead the way, and which doesn't stand in the way," said the Howard University graduate when his nomination was announced. Name: Hazel O'Leary Position: Secretary of Energy Budget: $18 Billion Personal: Age 55, widow, 1 son

IN many ways, I feel I have been training for this job for about 20 years," Hazel O'Leary said when President Clinton announced she was his choice to head the $18 billion Energy Department.

Clinton didn't disagree. "Of all the people I considered for this position, I thought she had the best mix of experience," he said of O'Leary when he nominated her as the first woman to run the department charged with, among other things, creating a safe facility for nuclear waste and spearheading efforts to reduce the nation's dependence on oil and coal.

The experience he referred to is extensive. The Fisk University and Rutgers Law School graduate has worked on energy issues at the national level since she was a regulator in the Ford and Carter administrations. When she left government, from 1981 to 1989, she and her late husband (who served as deputy energy secretary under President Carter) ran their own international energy economics and strategic planning consulting firm.

Before joining the Clinton cabinet, the Newport News, Va.-born lawyer served for three years as executive vice president at Northern States Power Co., Minnesota's largest utility, where she was in charge of environmental affairs, public relations and lobbying. She was also a board member of the Executive Leadership Council, composed of the top Black executives in corporate America.