Ray Mabus

In 1983, Mabus was elected state auditor and served from 1984 to 1988, during this time, he participated in a large FBI sting operation which recovered millions in misspent or stolen public funds.[4] By the time it was finished, "Operation Pretense" had ensnared 57 county supervisors in 25 counties, and all but two of those supervisors served time in prison.[5]

At 39 years of age, he defeated Tupelo businessman Jack Reed in the 1987 gubernatorial election by 53% to 47%, becoming the youngest governor in the United States. He won "on a wave of black votes" (black voters made up about 30 percent of the state's registered voters)[6] and lost the white vote "by about 3 to 2" despite support from what a coalition one Democratic state chairman described as "poor whites" and yuppies.[7] Mabus, who ran on the slogan "Mississippi Will Never Be Last Again",[6] was billed as "the face of the New South", much like his counterpart in Arkansas at the time, Bill Clinton. Mabus was featured in a 1988 New York Times Magazine cover story titled "The Yuppies of Mississippi; How They Took Over the Statehouse".[8]

During his time as governor, he passed B.E.S.T. (Better Education for Success Tomorrow),[9] gave teachers the largest pay raise in the nation;[6] and was named one of Fortune Magazine's ten "education governors".[10] Mississippi also had record growth in new jobs, investment, tourism and exports.

Because of the gubernatorial succession amendment ratified in 1987, Mabus was eligible to become the first governor to serve two successive terms in more than 100 years, and he ran for reelection in 1991. He was defeated 51% to 48% in the general election by Republican Kirk Fordice, a former Vicksburg construction executive, who portrayed him as "arrogant and out of touch with Mississippi politically", with a New York Times article describing him as a "Porsche politician in a Chevy pickup state".[6]

Mabus was appointed by President Bill Clinton to be the United States Ambassador to Saudi Arabia and served from 1994 to 1996. During his tenure, a 1994 border crisis involving Yemen was defused,[11] a 1994 crisis with Iraq was deterred,[12] he presided over the embassy during the 1995 terrorist attack,[13] child abduction cases were addressed,[14] and contracts worth more than $16 billion were signed between Saudi Arabian and American companies such as Boeing,[15] and AT&T.[16]

Mabus's residence and embassy office in Riyadh were decorated with items of interest from his home state including an Ackerman phone book on his office coffee table and the Mississippi flag next to the American flag.

Mabus meeting with President Obama in the Oval Office in June 2010.

Gen. James T. Conway, Sec. Mabus, and Adm. Gary Roughead testify before Congress in February 2010.

Vice Adm. Walter E. Carter Jr., Adm. John M. Richardson, Sec. Mabus, Deputy Sec. of Defense Robert O. Work, and Gen. Robert Neller at the 117th Army-Navy Game in December 2016.

On March 27, 2009, Mabus was nominated by President Obama as Secretary of the Department of the Navy.[17] He was sworn in on May 19, 2009,[18] and held a ceremonial swearing in at Washington Navy Yard on June 18, 2009, where he was re-sworn in by the Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.[19][20][21]

In April 2010 a furor arose when it was reported that Mabus made the proposal to name a United States Navy warship the USS John P. Murtha (LPD-26) after the late Pennsylvania Democratic congressman John Murtha. Additional naming controversies occurred due to the naming of the auxiliary ship USNS Cesar Chavez (T-AKE-14) after civil rights activist Cesar Chavez who has described his service in the U.S. Navy as "...the worst two years in my life,"[22][23] and a littoral combat ship the USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS-10) after former Arizona Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, after she suffered life-threatening wounds in the 2011 mass shooting in her home district of Tucson, Arizona.[24]

On April 16, 2012, the Navy Secretary returned to Naval tradition of naming certain warships after former U.S. presidents, announcing the next Zumwalt-class destroyer be named the USS Lyndon B. Johnson. Even this action represented somewhat of a change to previous norms, since with the exception of the current attack submarine, USS Jimmy Carter (SSN-23) and the since-decommissioned USS George Washington (SSBN-598) class of Polaris/Poseidon fleet ballistic missile submarines, all recent U.S. warships named for presidents have been aircraft carriers.

Subsequent ship namings include his January 6, 2016 announcement of his naming of another auxiliary ship after civil rights activist and sitting incumbent Georgia Democratic Congressman John Lewis (i.e., USNS John Lewis (T-AO-205)). Mabus further stated that this particular class of auxiliary ship, of which the John Lewis would be the lead ship, would all be named after civil rights leaders.[25] Mabus followed this action with his July 14, 2016 naming of the subsequent after gay rights icon and former San Francisco Democratic politician the late Harvey Milk,[26] who had served as a naval line officer for four years prior to resigning his commission and honorable discharge as a (lieutenant, junior grade).

President Obama has asked him to develop a long-term Gulf Coast Restoration Plan as soon as possible. The plan will be designed by states, local communities, Native American tribes, fishermen, businesses, conservationists and other Gulf residents.[27]

On September 16, 2013, gunman Aaron Alexis entered the Washington Navy Yard and killed 13 people and injured 14. Alexis was a 34-year-old military contractor.[28] A Pentagon internal investigation found that the shootings could have been prevented with stricter oversight of security clearances and increased security at the Navy Yard facility.[28] A ceremony was held to mark the one-year anniversary of the Navy Yard massacre, honoring those who were killed and injured. Mabus stated, "We know that their lives are defined not by how they died, but by how they lived and what they lived for, and will be remembered for that always."[29]

After a January 2015 report by the Defense Business Board and McKinsey & Company discovered DoD was spending $134 billion, 23% of its total budget, on back-office work, and that the back-office bureaucracy staff of over one million people was nearly as great as the number of active troops, the Board recommended a plan to cut $125 billion in waste over five years.[30] However, when Ash Carter became Defense Secretary the next month, he replaced the Board chairman, the McKinsey results were classified as secret, and its report was removed from public websites.[30] Mabus then gave a speech at the American Enterprise Institute highlighting the McKinsey report, calling the back-office costs "pure overhead" and particularly criticizing the Defense Finance and Accounting Service and the Defense Logistics Agency.[30] Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Frank Kendall III then wrote to him asking "please refrain from taking any more public pot shots" and "I do not want this spilling over into further public discourse."[30]

On January 1, 2016, Mabus ordered the United States Marine Corps to devise a plan on co-integration of male and female recruits in basic training, giving top brass a two-week planning period, along with requesting a subject matter expert, to report the best method of said plan.[31]

After the election of Donald Trump to President, Assistant Navy Secretary Sean Stackley served as acting Secretary of the Navy, following Mabus' departure in January 2017.[32] In August 2017, Richard V. Spencer was sworn in as the next Secretary.