5 MBA Alums Who Made US History

The Master of Business (MBA) degree started in 1908 at Harvard University. It built upon the success of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of business that began in 1881. Over the last couple of decades, US schools have awarded around 200,000 MBAs per year, meaning there have been at least a few million MBA awarded in US history. Many of the best known leaders in business and finance have MBA degrees. A relative few MBAs have gone on to work as leaders in government in the US or overseas. Here are 5 MBAs who made their mark on US history by serving in federal government.

1 - George W. Bush (Harvard MBA, 1975) - The 43rd US president was the first and only one to have earned an MBA. (President Donald Trump’s degree from Wharton was at the bachelor level.) Bush entered Harvard’s MBA program five years after graduating from Yale. The New York Times would later describe Bush’s years between Yale and Harvard this way: “So for five years, not unlike many young men his age, he drifted. He lived in three states, had at least seven apartments and at least that many girlfriends, held three full-time jobs -- one in business, one in politics and one in public service -- and learned to fly fighter jets with the Air National Guard.” After Harvard, Bush worked a series of political and business roles before he got serious, quit drinking, and met his potential - and family expectations - as a successful professional sports team owner and governor. Many observers expected Bush’s MBA education to strongly shape the way he managed and set priorities for his presidential administration. The 9/11 terrorist attack in the first year of his presidency focused him more as a wartime president after he launched wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. A recent survey of historians ranked Bush as the 29th out of 44 presidents in terms of performance in office. Interestingly, one of his lowest rankings was in the area of “Administrative Skills.”

2 - Robert McNamara (Harvard MBA, 1939) - McNamara went straight from college at UC-Berkeley to Harvard to get his MBA. After earning his MBA, McNamara started a career in business but soon returned to Harvard as a young business professor. After the US entry into World War II, McNamara joined the US Army Air Force to help plan strategy for bombing missions. He returned to a business career after the war, rising rapidly up the ranks to the top of Ford Motor Company. President John F. Kennedy recruited McNamara to be his Secretary of Defense. McNamara would serve in that role for the next seven years in the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations. His legacy would be forever dominated by his role managing the escalation of US commitment in the Vietnam War under President Lyndon B. Johnson. McNamara was criticized for focusing on data and analysis that suggested the war was going in the US’s favor, which led Johnson to keep escalating US efforts. After his death in 2009, the New York Times wrote this in his obituary: “[h]e concluded well before leaving the Pentagon that the war was futile, but he did not share that insight with the public until late in life. In 1995, he took a stand against his own conduct of the war, confessing in a memoir that it was 'wrong, terribly wrong'." 

3 - Henry Paulson (Harvard MBA, 1970) - Paulson went straight from college at Dartmouth, where he was a star student and athlete, to Harvard for his MBA. After Harvard, he started his career in the federal government, working first in the Department of Defense and then in the Nixon White House as an aide to John Ehrlichman from 1972-73. (Ehrlichman was fired by Nixon in 1973 as part of the Watergate scandal and would eventually go to prison for his role.) Paulson avoided getting sunk by his proximity to the Watergate scandal and started a career in investment banking at Goldman Sachs in 1974. He worked there for the next 30-plus years, rising to CEO. In 2006, President George W. Bush recruited Paulson to be his third (and last) Secretary of the Treasury. Paulson’s legacy at Treasury centers on his role leading the efforts to bailout the financial services industry in the wake of the 2008 meltdown of financial markets. Paulson’s unique combination of expertise, network, and Wall Street reputation helped him navigate that crisis.

4 - Alexander Haig (Columbia MBA, 1955) - Haig graduated from the US Military Academy (West Point) in 1947. After serving in the Korean War, Haig earned his MBA from Columbia University in 1955. Haig then served in a series of Army staff jobs around Washington DC over the next twelve years before he took a combat command in Vietnam, where he was highly commended. He moved back to national security staff jobs in the beginning of the Nixon Administration. He developed such a great reputation with Nixon officials, he shot up the ranks from colonel to four star general from 1969-72. Haig’s remarkable ascent moved to the civilian ranks in 1973 when he became Nixon’s White House Chief of Staff as part of an attempt to clean house and manage through the Watergate scandal. Haig stayed through Nixon’s resignation to the beginning of the Ford Administration in that role, providing some continuity and stability through those turbulent months. Haig returned to military commands after that. In 1981, he became the first Secretary of State for President Reagan. He served in that role for about 18 months before resigning due to conflicts with other members of the Reagan Administration. His time at State is perhaps most-remembered for his misguided/misinterpreted “I am in control here” statement in the confusing hours after the shooting of President Reagan on March 30, 1981. Haig continued to be a public figure until his death in 2010, including an unsuccessful run for the Republican presidential nomination.

5 - William Roth (Harvard MBA, 1947) - Roth is a name that is both obscure and well-known. Bill Roth went to Harvard for his MBA directly after college in Montana and Oregon and a short stint in the military during World War II. After getting his MBA, he continued on to graduate from Harvard Law School. Roth moved to Delaware and worked as a corporate attorney for about a decade before winning election to the US House of Representatives. He served four years in the House and then 30 years as a five-term US Senator. While Roth did not generate a lot of national notoriety during his long career in the Senate, he did affix his name to a law that makes his name famous among many investors in the US. The Roth IRA (Individual Retirement Account), which over 50 million US taxpayers have created to take advantage of tax deferrals, is named for Senator Roth.

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About the Author: Victor Prince, a Wharton MBA, is a corporate trainer, executive coach, and an Amazon Top 20 best-selling leadership author who helps organizations build leadership, strategy, communications, and critical thinking skills. Follow Victor on LinkedIN to access his 100+ articles on leadership, strategy, learning & development, and more.