Attorney General: Alberto R. Gonzales

Alberto R. Gonzales was born on August 4, 1955, in San Antonio, Texas. He received his bachelor’s degree from Rice University in 1979 and his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1982. Gonzales served in the U.S. Air Force from 1973 to 1975 and attended the U.S. Air Force Academy between 1975 and 1977. From 1982 to 1995, he was at the Houston law firm of Vinson & Elkins where he ultimately became a partner. While in private practice, Gonzalez taught law as an adjunct professor at the University of Houston Law Center. In 1995, he became general counsel to Texas Governor George W. Bush, serving in that capacity until 1997. Gonzales was the secretary of state of Texas from December 1997 to January 1999 and a justice of the Supreme Court of Texas from January 1999 to December 2000. President George W. Bush appointed Gonzales as White House counsel in 2001, a position he held until 2005. 

Alberto Gonzales became the 80th Attorney General of the United States, appointed by President George W. Bush, on February 3, 2005. The first Hispanic Attorney General, he served in that office until September 17, 2007. In 2011, Belmont University College of Law named Gonzales to the Doyle Rogers Distinguished Chair of Law. He became dean of that law school in 2014.