Perhaps best known as U.S. Attorney General during President Ronald Reagan’s second term, Edwin Meese III was a conservative icon, a tireless defender of the rule of law, and an ally and dear friend to Young America’s Foundation for decades.
Meese’s service to President Reagan stretched from the California Governor’s mansion in 1966 to the White House in 1981 before he went to the Department of Justice four years later. During the Reagan governorship, Meese served as executive assistant and chief of staff from 1969 through 1974 and as legal affairs secretary from 1967 through 1968. During the campaign, Meese was the Reagan-Bush Committee’s senior official. After Reagan won the White House, Meese headed the presidential transition team. From January 1981 to February 1985, Meese held the position of counselor to the president—the senior job on the White House staff—and functioned as Reagan’s chief policy adviser. Meese served as the 75th Attorney General of the United States from February 1985 to August 1988. As America’s chief law enforcement officer, he directed the Justice Department and led international efforts to combat terrorism, drug trafficking, and organized crime.
As both attorney general and counselor to Reagan, Meese was a member of the Cabinet and the National Security Council. He served as chairman of the Domestic Policy Council and the National Drug Policy Board. President Reagan never forgot Meese’s loyalty and hard work. During a press conference at which reporters questioned Meese’s actions at the Justice Department, Reagan replied: “If Ed Meese is not a good man, there are no good men.”
