Tom Ridge
Thomas Joseph Ridge 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 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 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, 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. He served in these roles for Bush's first term as president, then retired and returned to the private sector.
Since reentering the private sector, Ridge has served on the boards of the Home Depot, the Hershey Company and Exelon Corporation and as a senior advisor to Deloitte & Touche and TechRadium. He is also the founder and chairman of Ridge Global, a Washington, D.C.–based security consulting firm. He spent time campaigning with Senator John McCain during his 2008 presidential bid and was believed by some to have been on the short list of potential running mates.
Early life and education
Ridge was born in Munhall, Pennsylvania, in Pittsburgh's Steel Valley, the eldest of three children. His parents were Laura and Thomas Regis Ridge, who was a traveling salesman and Navy veteran. Ridge's maternal grandparents were Rusyn immigrants from the former Czechoslovakia, and his paternal great-grandparents emigrated from Great Britain. He was raised in veterans' public housing in Erie, Pennsylvania. He was educated at St. Andrews Elementary School and Cathedral Preparatory School and did well both academically and in sports. He attended Harvard College, where he paid his way through with construction work, played intramural baseball and football, and graduated with honors in 1967. In 1968, after his first year at the Dickinson School of Law, he was drafted into the United States Army.Military service in Vietnam
Ridge waived an opportunity for officer training school because it would have required a longer service commitment. In November 1969, Ridge arrived as a sergeant in South Vietnam where he would serve for six months as a staff sergeant with Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry, 11th Infantry Brigade, 23rd Infantry Division during the Vietnam War.In May 1970, a ruptured appendix cut short his tour of duty in Vietnam and he was sent home; his service also aggravated a childhood ear infection which caused him afterwards to have a hearing aid in his left ear.
For his service in Vietnam, Ridge received the Bronze Star with "V" Device, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross Unit Citation with Palm, Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal, and the Combat Infantryman Badge.
Military awards
Legal career
After returning to Pennsylvania, he completed his Juris Doctor degree at the Dickinson School of Law, graduating in 1972, and entered private practice.Ridge became assistant district attorney in Erie County, Pennsylvania, in 1980 and prosecuted 86 cases in two years.
Elected office
U.S. House of Representatives
In 1982, Ridge won a seat in Congress from northwestern Pennsylvania by the margin of only 729 votes. He was then re-elected five times.Governor
In 1994, despite being little-known outside of northwest Pennsylvania, Ridge ran for governor. He won the election as a pro-choice Republican. He was reelected in 1998 with 57 percent of the vote in a four-way race. His share of the vote in that election was the highest for a Republican governor in Pennsylvania in more than half a century.During his time as governor, Ridge promoted "law and order" policies, supporting a three-strikes law and a faster death penalty process. A death penalty supporter, Ridge signed more than 224 execution warrants – five times the number signed over a 25-year period by the two previous governors – but only three voluntary executions were carried out. On social issues, he opposed same-sex marriage while supporting abortion rights.
Over Ridge's tenure, the commonwealth's budget grew by two to three percent per fiscal year and combined tax reductions totaled over $2 billion. Ridge created and grew a "Rainy Day" Fund balance to over $1 billion to be utilized during an economic downturn or recession.
Ridge pushed for legislation permitting competition among electric utilities and enhanced federal and state support for the Children's Health Insurance Program. He separated the commonwealth's environmental regulatory and conservation programs into two new agencies; the Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.
Ridge proposed the creation of public charter schools in Pennsylvania and in establishing alternate schools for disruptive students. He launched new academic standards that established academic expectations for what students were expected to know in different grades. He proposed a school choice demonstration program.
Ridge oversaw a number of e-government projects including renewing drivers' licenses and vehicle registrations to viewing historical documents and library catalogs. The commonwealth's portal won several national awards. One of the nation's first electronic grant systems was put into place at the Pennsylvania Department of Education. He created the initiative to increase the effective use of technology in public schools and universities.
Ridge signed two death warrants for African-American radio personality Mumia Abu-Jamal, who was convicted of first degree murder for the killing of police officer Daniel Faulkner.
He served as governor until his resignation in 2001, at which time he became the Director of Homeland Security following the September 11 attacks.
2000 presidential election
Ridge was a potential running mate for Bob Dole in 1996, and served as a close advisor to Republican presidential nominee George W. Bush, a close friend from their simultaneous tenures as governors, during the 2000 presidential campaign. In return, Bush named Ridge to his short list for possible running mates, along with New York governor George Pataki, Michigan governor John Engler, Oklahoma governor Frank Keating, former Missouri senator John Danforth, and former American Red Cross president Elizabeth Dole.Homeland Security
Following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, U.S. president George W. Bush created the Office of Homeland Security within the White House, and named Ridge to head it. The charge to the nation's new director of homeland security was to develop and coordinate a comprehensive national strategy to strengthen the United States against terrorist threats or attacks. Ridge formally resigned as Pennsylvania's governor on October 5, 2001.In January 2003 and after the passage of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, the Office of Homeland Security split into a Cabinet-level department, the Department of Homeland Security, and the White House Homeland Security Advisory Council. Ridge left the White House and became the first secretary of homeland security. The department's mission "is to prevent terrorist attacks within the United States; reduce the vulnerability of the United States to terrorism; and minimize the damage, and assist in the recovery, from terrorist attacks that do occur within the United States". The newly created department was the most comprehensive reorganization of the Federal government since the National Security Act of 1947.
The Department of Homeland Security consolidates 22 agencies and 180,000 employees, unifying once-fragmented Federal functions in a single agency dedicated to protecting America from terrorism. Ridge worked with the employees from combined agencies to strengthen borders, provide for intelligence analysis and infrastructure protection, improve the use of science and technology to counter weapons of mass destruction, and to create a comprehensive response and recovery division.
In January 2004, Ridge was named among others in a lawsuit filed by a Syrian-born Canadian Maher Arar who said he was tortured in Syria after being deported by American authorities.
Retirement from public office and book
On November 30, 2004, Ridge submitted his resignation to the president, saying, "After more than 22 consecutive years of public service, it is time to give personal and family matters a higher priority."In his book The Test of Our Times: America Under Siege...and How We Can Be Safe Again, Ridge says his resignation was due to an effort by senior Bush administration officials to raise the nation's terror alert level in the days before the 2004 presidential vote.