Biography
Chuck Hagel is an American politician who represented Nebraska in the United States Senate from 1997 to 2009 and was secretary of defense from 2013 to 2015. Born in North Platte, Nebraska, he served as an infantry squad leader in Vietnam, where he was wounded, before completing his education at the University of Nebraska Omaha.
He worked as a congressional staffer and as a lobbyist for the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, and was deputy administrator of the Veterans Administration under Ronald Reagan. He then made a fortune in the mobile phone business as a co-founder of Vanguard Cellular and later headed an investment banking firm.
Hagel won Nebraska's Senate seat in 1996 and was easily re-elected in 2002. A Republican, he became a prominent critic of the Iraq War and did not seek a third term. Under Barack Obama he co-chaired the President's Intelligence Advisory Board, and in 2013 he became secretary of defense, the first enlisted combat veteran to hold the post. He resigned in early 2015.
Offices held
Leon Panetta Succeeded by
Ash Carter
Military service
- Jan 1, 1967 – Jan 1, 1968 United States Army
Affiliations
Employment
- Jan 1, 1977 – Jan 1, 1981 Firestone Tire and Rubber Company Manager of government affairs (lobbyist)
Party membership
Education
- Brown College (Minnesota) Brown Institute (now Brown College), broadcasting
- University of Nebraska Omaha B.A. in history, University of Nebraska Omaha
