Earl Lauer Butz

Prior to heading the department, he served as assistant secretary for marketing and foreign agriculture in the Eisenhower administration. At the end of his tenure as Secretary of Agriculture, Butz came under fire for having allegedly told a racist joke on Air Force One during the 1976 Presidential campaign[?]. He pleaded guilty in 1981 to tax evasion[?]. Today, Butz is the oldest living former Cabinet member of any department.