The United States Secretary of Commerce heads up the U. S. Department of Commerce. This Secretary is charged with overseeing business and industry. The mission of the department is much broader than it appears, as it also includes the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office , the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Census Bureau, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.
Under usual circumstances, the Secretary of Commerce is tenth in the line of succession (see below). From 1903 to 1913, the Secretary was in charge of the Department of Commerce and Labor. Four men held the role in so much time. After the department split into two (Commerce and Labor) in 1913, we’ve had 35 Secretaries of Commerce.

Current Secretary: Carlos M. Gutierrez, former CEO of the Kellogg Company. Would be passed over in the line of succession because he is not a natural-born citizen of the United States. He was born in Cuba in 1953 and arrived in the U.S. with his family in 1960.

Number One Draft Pick: Warren Buffett. How do you ensure that a man will never, ever take a bribe? Pick a man who simply cannot be bribed by anyone.

Just before getting hitched last August, 76-year-old Buffett gave just about all of his Berkshire Hathaway textile stock — that’s 10 million shares, clocking in at around $31 billion these days — to charity. And still, he remains the 2nd wealthiest American alive, right behind Bill Gates. But hey, anybody can be rich, so why pick Buffett? To answer, I ask that you remember the Othmers.

Donald and Mildred Othmer were hardly a remarkable couple. He was a professor of chemical engineering at Polytechnic University in Brooklyn, with a small consulting business on the side. She was a former teacher who spent most of her time volunteering for New York civic and arts organizations. They had no children.

But when Donald and Mildred Othmer died — he in 1995, she in 1998 — it turned out they were quite remarkable indeed. Polytechnic University, which once faced bankruptcy, unexpectedly found itself heir to $175 million. Planned Parenthood received $65 million. All told, the couple bequeathed $340 million to several perennially cash-strapped Brooklyn institutions …

The Othmers were proof of one of the investment world’s oft-repeated legends: Had you put $10,000 into Berkshire Hathaway when Buffett bought control of it in 1965, you’d have more than $50 million today, compared to the just under $500,000 you’d have if you’d invested in the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index.

Now, if the so-called Oracle of Omaha could work that kind of advisory magic with the humble Othmers, just imagine what he could do with all the levers of American industry at arm’s length. To be sure, the Department of Commerce is spread thin with responsibility, so much that each of its diverse sub-branches deserves as much leadership as the department as a whole.

Just how is one Secretary expected to know what is best for the division that oversees weather as well as the correct approach when handling international telecommunications? So why not treat the whole department like a proper corporation, complete with an effective and proven CEO?

Alternate Picks: Sergey Brin, Google. He’s young, sure, but already he’s shown promise not only in how he makes money, but how he uses the money made. And with Brin, chances are good you’d get Vinton Cerf, a perfect candidate to manage the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. Of course, Brin was born in Moscow, so he’d have the same line of succession problem that Gutierrez faces.

Notable Predecessors: President Herbert Hoover served as Secretary of Commerce from 1921 to 1928, at the behest of both Presidents Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge. Over his eight years, Hoover championed efficiency in the Department and sought to establish (for good or ill) cooperative relationships between government and business. By November of 1928, chances are good that people had read far more about the grand and mighty deeds of Secretary Hoover — including the way he spearheaded relief efforts (for good or ill) along the Mighty Mississippi after the great flood of 1927 — than they ever had about his Presidential opponent, Democrat Al Smith.

West Wing Reference: Alan Dale played Commerce Secretary Mitch Bryce and appeared twice during the fourth season. Interestingly enough, Alan Dale played the Vice President on Fox’s 24. In both roles, his character pulled the lever on a 25th Amendment enactment, thus removing a standing President from office.

Likelihood: Again, not bloody likely. While Buffett would probably relish the challenge, it is far more likely that he has reached definitively the Carnegie-branded 2nd Stage of his life, the latter half best spent using the money made during the former half as a tool to leave the Earth a better planet than you found it.

Already On The Roster: Agriculture.

Next Up? Defense!