Edwin Meese III holds the Ronald Reagan Chair in Public Policy at the
Heritage Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based public policy research
and education institution. He is also the Chairman of Heritage's
Center for Legal and Judicial Studies and a distinguished visiting
fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. In addition,
Meese lectures, writes, and consults throughout the United States on a
variety of subjects.
Meese is the author of With Reagan: The Inside Story, which was
published by Regnery Gateway in June 1992; co-editor of Making America
Safer, published in 1997 by the Heritage Foundation; and coauthor of
Leadership, Ethics and Policing, published by Prentice Hall in 2004.
Meese served as the 75th Attorney General of the United States from
February 1985 to August 1988. As the nation's chief law enforcement
officer, he directed the Department of Justice and led international
efforts to combat terrorism, drug trafficking, and organized crime. In
1985 he received Government Executive magazine's annual award for
excellence in management.
From January 1981 to February 1985, Meese held the position of
Counsellor to the President, the senior position on the White House
staff, where he functioned as the President's chief policy advisor. As
Attorney General and as Counsellor, Meese was a member of the
President's cabinet and the National Security Council. He served as
Chairman of the Domestic Policy Council and of the National Drug
Policy Board. Meese headed the President-elect's transition effort
following the November 1980 election. During the presidential
campaign, he served as chief of staff and senior issues advisor for
the Reagan-Bush Committee.
Formerly, Meese served as Governor Reagan's executive assistant and
chief of staff in California from 1969 through 1974 and as legal
affairs secretary from 1967 through 1968. Before joining Governor
Reagan's staff in 1967, Meese served as deputy district attorney in
Alameda County, California. From 1977 to 1981, Meese was a professor
of law at the University of San Diego, where he also was Director of
the Center for Criminal Justice Policy and Management.
In addition to his background as a lawyer, educator, and public
official, Meese has been a business executive in the aerospace and
transportation industry, serving as vice president for administration
of Rohr Industries, Inc., in Chula Vista, California. He left Rohr to
return to the practice of law, engaging in corporate and general legal
work in San Diego County.
Meese is a graduate of Yale University, Class of 1953, and holds a law
degree from the University of California at Berkeley. He is a retired
colonel in the United States Army Reserve. He is active in numerous
civic and educational organizations. Meese is married, has two grown
children, and resides in McLean, Virginia.