Edward Spencer Abraham (born June 12, 1952) is an American attorney, author, and politician who served as the tenth
United States Secretary of Energy from 2001 to 2005, under President
George W. Bush. A member of the
Republican Party
Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party.
Republican Party may also refer to:
Africa
* Republican Party (Liberia)
*Republican Party ...
, Abraham previously served as a
United States Senator
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and po ...
from
Michigan
Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...
from 1995 to 2001. Abraham is one of the founders of the
Federalist Society
The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies (abbreviated as FedSoc) is an American conservative and libertarian legal organization that advocates for a textualist and originalist interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. Headquarter ...
, and a co-founder of the ''
Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy''.
Education and family
Abraham was born in
East Lansing, Michigan
East Lansing is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. Most of the city lies within Ingham County with a smaller portion extending north into Clinton County. At the 2020 Census the population was 47,741. Located directly east of the state capital ...
, the son of Juliette Elizabeth (Sear), a member of the Michigan Republican State Central Committee, and Eddie Joseph Abraham. He is a graduate of
East Lansing High School. Of
Lebanese descent, Abraham is married to Jane Abraham, chair of the
Susan B. Anthony List. They have three children. He holds a
Juris Doctor
The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law
and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice l ...
(J.D.) degree from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...
, and is a 1974
Honors College graduate of
Michigan State University
Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It ...
. In 1978, while at Harvard Law School, Abraham helped found the ''
Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy''. It became one of the official journals of the
Federalist Society
The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies (abbreviated as FedSoc) is an American conservative and libertarian legal organization that advocates for a textualist and originalist interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. Headquarter ...
, which was founded in 1982.
Political career
Before his election to the Senate, Abraham was a law professor at
Thomas M. Cooley Law School
Western Michigan University Cooley Law School ("Cooley") is a private law school in Lansing, Michigan and Riverview, Florida. It was established in 1972. At its peak in 2010, Cooley had over 3,900 students and was the largest US law school by enr ...
.
Republican Party service
He was elected chairman of the
Michigan Republican Party
The Michigan Republican Party is the state affiliate of the national Republican Party in Michigan, sometimes referred to as MIGOP. Ronald Weiser was elected chairman in 2021.
Ronna Romney McDaniel was the chairwoman of the party, having been ...
from 1983 to 1990. He was deputy chief of staff for Vice President
Dan Quayle
James Danforth Quayle (; born February 4, 1947) is an American politician who served as the 44th vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993 under President George H. W. Bush. A member of the Republican Party, Quayle served as a U.S. ...
from 1990 to 1991. He later served as co-chairman of the
National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) from 1991 to 1993 and ran for chairman of the
Republican National Committee
The Republican National Committee (RNC) is a U.S. political committee that assists the Republican Party of the United States. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican brand and political platform, as well as assisting in ...
in 1993, coming second to
Haley Barbour
Haley Reeves Barbour (born October 22, 1947) is an American attorney, politician, and lobbyist who served as the 63rd governor of Mississippi from 2004 to 2012. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as chairman of the Republican ...
.
United States Senate
Abraham was elected to represent
Michigan
Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...
in the
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and po ...
in
1994
File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nels ...
, and he served until 2001 after being defeated for reelection in
2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...
by
Debbie Stabenow
Deborah Ann Stabenow ( ; née Greer, born April 29, 1950) is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from Michigan, a seat she has held since 2001. A member of the Democratic Party, she became the state's first female ...
. He was the only
Arab American
Arab Americans ( ar, عَرَبٌ أَمْرِيكِا or ) are Americans of Arab ancestry. Arab Americans trace ancestry to any of the various waves of immigrants of the countries comprising the Arab World.
According to the Arab American Inst ...
in the chamber. According to the ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', state Republicans attributed his loss to "scathing advertisements by a wide range of special interest groups, including advertisements that criticized Mr. Abraham's support for a relaxation of some immigration restrictions". During the campaign, the
Federation for American Immigration Reform, an anti-immigration advocacy group with ties to
white nationalism
White nationalism is a type of racial nationalism or pan-nationalism which espouses the belief that white people are a raceHeidi Beirich and Kevin Hicks. "Chapter 7: White nationalism in America". In Perry, Barbara. ''Hate Crimes''. Greenwood ...
, ran ads asking: "Why is Senator Spencer Abraham trying to make it easier for terrorists like Osama bin Laden to export their war of terror to any city street in America?" The media denounced these commercials as "vengeful". In 1996, when President Bill Clinton endorsed Representative
Barbara Jordan's proposed cuts to legal immigration, Abraham played a leading role in blocking the cuts. Another factor in his defeat was his vote to convict Clinton in his
1999 impeachment trial. The next year he received the "Defender of the Melting Pot" award from the
National Council of La Raza for his efforts on immigration.
Committee service and legislation
Abraham served on the Budget, Commerce, Science and Transportation, Judiciary, and
Small Business
Small businesses are types of corporations, partnerships, or sole proprietorships which have fewer employees and/or less annual revenue than a regular-sized business or corporation. Businesses are defined as "small" in terms of being able to ...
Committees. He also chaired two subcommittees: Manufacturing and Competitiveness, and Immigration. Abraham authored the H1B Visa in Global and National Commerce Act, establishing a federal framework for online contracts and signatures; the Government Paperwork Elimination Act, and the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, which protects Internet
domain name
A domain name is a string that identifies a realm of administrative autonomy, authority or control within the Internet. Domain names are often used to identify services provided through the Internet, such as websites, email services and more. As ...
s for businesses and persons against
copyright
A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educatio ...
and
trademark infringement
Trademark infringement is a violation of the exclusive rights attached to a trademark without the authorization of the trademark owner or any licensees (provided that such authorization was within the scope of the licence). Infringement may ...
s. In 1999, Abraham co-sponsored S.896, a bill to abolish the
U.S. Department of Energy, which would have transferred control of the
Strategic Petroleum Reserve in large part to the
Defense Department.
U.S. Energy Secretary
In 2001
George W. Bush appointed Abraham
Secretary of Energy. On November 15, 2004, Abraham announced that he would resign from this position, effective with the swearing-in of his successor,
Samuel W. Bodman
Samuel Wright Bodman III (November 26, 1938 – September 7, 2018) was an American businessman, engineer, and politician who served as the 11th United States Secretary of Energy during the George W. Bush administration, from 2005 to 2009. He was ...
, on February 1, 2005.
In 2004, Lebanese Ambassador
Farid Abboud awarded Abraham the
National Order of the Cedar.
Hoover Institution
From 2005 to 2007, Abraham was a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the
Hoover Institution
The Hoover Institution (officially The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace; abbreviated as Hoover) is an American public policy think tank and research institution that promotes personal and economic liberty, free enterprise, a ...
, a think tank based at
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...
. After leaving office, he opened The Abraham Group, a Washington DC-based international strategic consulting firm, of which he is chairman and CEO.
Thompson for President
On July 24, 2007, Abraham was announced as an "ambassador to official Washington" in
Fred Thompson
Freddie Dalton Thompson (August 19, 1942 – November 1, 2015) was an American politician, attorney, lobbyist, columnist, actor, and radio personality. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a United States Senator from Tennessee fr ...
's presidential campaign.
[The Politico, ''F. Thompson shakes up pre-launch campaign'', by Jonathan Martin and Mike Allen, July 24, 2007](_blank)
Later career
In 2006 Abraham was appointed Non-Executive Chairman of the Board of AREVA Inc., the American arm of the French nuclear company
Areva
Areva S.A. is a French multinational group specializing in nuclear power headquartered in Courbevoie, France. Before its 2016 corporate restructuring, Areva was majority-owned by the French state through the French Alternative Energies and Atom ...
, which is planning to build
EPR nuclear power plants in the United States and is building the
mixed oxide fuel (MOX) manufacturing plant at the
Savannah River Site to convert legacy weapons-grade plutonium into power station fuel.
With William Tucker, Abraham wrote ''Lights Out!: Ten Myths About (and Real Solutions to) America's Energy Crisis'' (2010).
In 2016, Abraham was elected to the board of trustees of the
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...
.
Electoral history
See also
*
List of Arab and Middle-Eastern Americans in the United States Congress
References
External links
Secretary of Energy Spencer AbrahamPresidential Profile: George W. Bush's Cabinet
*
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, -
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Abraham, Spencer
1952 births
21st-century American politicians
American politicians of Lebanese descent
Federalist Society members
George W. Bush administration cabinet members
Harvard Law School alumni
Living people
Michigan Republicans
Michigan Republican Party chairs
Michigan State University alumni
Middle Eastern Christians
People from East Lansing, Michigan
Recipients of the National Order of the Cedar
Republican Party United States senators from Michigan
United States Secretaries of Energy
Eastern Orthodox Christians from the United States