Tom Ridge

Thomas Joseph Ridge (born August 26, 1945) is an American politician and author who served in the George W. Bush administration as the assistant to the president for homeland security from 2001 to 2003 and as the United States secretary of homeland security from 2003 to 2005. He was the first person to hold either office. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served in the United States House of Representatives from 1983 to 1995 and as the 43rd governor of Pennsylvania from 1995 to 2001. Ridge was born in Munhall, Pennsylvania, and raised in veterans' public housing in Erie, Pennsylvania. After graduating from Harvard University with honors, he served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War where he was awarded the Bronze Star. He then returned to Pennsylvania and completed his Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree at the Dickinson School of Law, graduating in 1972, and entered private practice. As assistant district attorney in Erie, Ridge ran for Congress in his district, where he served six terms. He then ran for governor in 1994, despite being little-known outside of northwest Pennsylvania. He won the election, and was reelected in 1998 with the most votes for a Republican governor in Pennsylvania (where Democrats outnumbered Republicans by almost 500,000) in more than half a century. As Governor of Pennsylvania, he is credited for statewide advances in economic development, education, health care and the environment. As of 2026, he is the last Republican to win reelection as Pennsylvania's governor. Following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, U.S. president George W. Bush named Ridge the first director of the newly created Office of Homeland Security. In January 2003, the Office of Homeland Security became an official Cabinet-level department, the Department of Homeland Security, and Ridge became the first Secretary of Homeland Security....