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August 26, 1945

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Director of the Office of Homeland Security

"This historic proposal would be the most significant transformation of the U.S. government since 1947. The creation of this department would transform the current confusing patchwork of government activities related to homeland security into a single department whose primary mission is to protect our homeland."

Tom Ridge and George W. Bush (1946–) shared several important experiences. Both attended Ivy League schools (Harvard for Ridge and Yale for Bush), and both had been governors of big states (Pennsylvania in Ridge's case, Texas in Bush's). So it was not surprising when Bush, who had become president eight months earlier, named his friend Ridge to be the Director of Homeland Security in September 2001, a job intended to organize the government response to the terrorist attacks of September...