20th Secretary of Defense of the United States, sworn in by Al Gore on January 24, 1997

Education

• BA in Latin from Bowdoin College, 1962
• LL.B. cum laude from Boston University Law school, 1965

Political Positions

• 1973-1979: Maine's second congressional district House of Representatives
• 1979-1997: republican senator for Maine
• 1979-1997: Senate Armed Services and Governmental Affairs Committees
• 1983-1991, 1995-1997: Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (Vice-Chairman of the commitee, 1987-1991)
• 1989-1997: Board of Directors of the Council on Foreign Relations
• 1997 - present: Secretary of Defense

Miscellaneous Achievements

• authored or co-authored eight books.
  • two poetry books
  • three novels
  • three non-fiction works
• in 1962, he was inducted into the New England Basketball All Star Hall of Fame
• in 1987, he was selected to be on the Silver Anniversary All Star Basketball Team.
• his wife, Janet Langhart Cohen, has been a correspondent on Entertainment Tonight, and Black Entertainment Television, as well as running her own business called Langhart Communications.

Miscellaneous Honours

• 1974: TIME magazine selected Cohen as of one of America's 200 future leaders.
• 1975: Cohen is named one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men in America by the U.S. Junior Chamber of Commerce.
• 1975: the Boston University Law School awarded him its "Young Lawyer's Chair"
• 1976: Cohen is given the Award for Distinguished Public Service by the Boston University Alumni Association.
• 1980: Cohen receives the "Vanguard" award from the Non-Commissioned Officers Association
• 1983: Non-Commissioned Officers Association awards Cohen the L. Mendel Rivers Award.
• 1996: Cohen receives the U.S. Special Operations Command Medal.