Attorney General: Edwin Meese, III

Edwin Meese, III, was born on December 2, 1931, in Oakland, California. He received his bachelor’s degree from Yale University in 1953 and his law degree from the University of California at Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law, in 1958. He took a two year leave from law school to serve as an artillery officer in the U.S. Army and eventually retired as a colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve. Upon graduating from law school, Meese joined the Oakland district attorney’s office and served as deputy district attorney for Alameda County, California, until 1967. Beginning in 1967, he worked in various capacities for California Governor Ronald Reagan, as secretary on clemency and crime issues, executive assistant, chief of staff, and as senior advisor on policy issues. Between 1975 and 1976, Meese served as vice president for administration of Rohr Industries in Chula Vista, California. In 1977, he entered private law practice in San Diego, California, and also accepted a position at the University of San Diego School of Law, becoming a professor of law and director of that school’s Center for Criminal Justice Policy and Management. Meese held the position of counselor to President Ronald Reagan from 1981 to 1985. During that administration, he was a member of the National Security Council and chaired the Domestic Policy Council and the National Drug Policy Board. 

Appointed by President Ronald Reagan, Meese became the 75th Attorney General of the United States on February 25, 1985. He resigned that office on August 12, 1988, and then joined the Heritage Foundation as their inaugural Ronald Reagan Distinguished Fellow. In 2006, Meese was named to the Baker-Hamilton Commission, known commonly as the Iraq Study Group.