The year was 1789. George Washington has been unanimously voted as the first President of the United States after his service as commander of the Continental Army. The president, however, had so many responsibilities that Washington would never be able to accomplish them on his own. He knew that he needed advisors outside of Congress. He needed his advisors close and for each one of them to specialize in advising him for a particular task that the president must complete. These tasks can be anything, but the most prominent ones include issues of foreign affairs, economic matters, and defense. After nominating his candidates and having them approved, the first Cabinet was born. 

“The purpose of the presidential Cabinet is for the president to have qualified, educated individuals with experience leading various agencies in our nation’s bureaucracy,” said government teacher Erin Wise. “It all began with George Washington, who wanted his advisors close by. So the whole premise of the Cabinet system is much like the kitchen Cabinet. Somewhere you can access and get information from right away.”

Over 200 years later, as recently elected President Joe Biden begins to take charge, special attention has been placed on his Cabinet as to who will make up the Cabinet and what qualifies someone for a position. President Biden has already nominated many people for Cabinet positions. His nominees correlate with those who worked with him during the Obama administration.

“Joe Biden has kind of turned back the clock to the Obama administration,” said history teacher Scott Ewen. “He’s brought in some people to do certain jobs that were literally in those same jobs for Obama.”

Joe Biden has carefully selected his nominees. His nominee for Secretary of State is Antony Blinken, who served as Deputy Secretary of State from 2015-2017 under Obama. His nominee for Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas  was the Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security under Obama as well. 

“A lot of the people he picked maybe had prior experience in the Obama administration,” said Wise. “He picked as Attorney General Merrick Garland, who is a name a lot of people recognize because he was someone Obama had put forward for the Supreme Court prior to 2016 before he left office.”

If all of Biden’s nominees were to be confirmed, we would see many old faces from the Obama administration and have one of the most diverse Cabinets in American history. Forty percent of Biden’s Cabinet is made up of African and Hispanic Americans. Biden has also appointed the most women of any of his predecessors in American history. 

“Biden seems committed to picking a more diverse representation of the population among his Cabinet members, in contrast to the past president,” said US history teacher Tim Sermak. “An example of this includes retired general Lloyd Austin as the first African American Secretary of Defense, Janet Yellen as the first female Secretary of the Treasury and Avril Haines as the first female Director of Intelligence.”

Joe Biden has also picked many Cabinet members through not only government experience, but also their experience with the industries they will represent.

“Cardona was a public school teacher, a public school assistant principal, and principal,” Ewen said. “I think myself and every teacher was probably hoping for someone who has been in the education field, especially the public education field.”

However, all of these Cabinet nominees must be first approved by the Senate before they are official members. Hearings have just begun, and the first members have been recently confirmed. As more nominees go through their respective hearings, the question of what qualifies someone for a Cabinet position is becoming more popular.

“Basically anyone can serve as a Cabinet member; the Constitution really only says who cannot serve — anyone already holding another office in federal or state government, according to Article I, Section 6 of the Constitution,” Sermak said. “For example, the new Commerce Secretary is set to be Gina Raimondo. She was the governor of the state, but had to resign her position to accept the Cabinet position of Commerce Secretary. Then that individual must be approved by a majority in the Senate in order to be officially a member of the Cabinet. This is part of the system of checks and balances to ensure that only qualified individuals are posted to Cabinet positions.”

As more and more Cabinet members become official like Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, the Biden administration has become increasingly decisive as many new executive orders are being signed and laws are being put into motion. As President Biden continues to become more and more comfortable with his role as President, he will need his Cabinet members close by to advise and help him, just as Washington had intended.