Richard Edmund Lyng
Richard Edmund Lyng ( born June 29, 1918 in San Francisco, California, † February 1, 2003 in Modesto, California ) was an American politician ( Republican), who belonged to the cabinet of U.S. President Ronald Reagan as Minister of Agriculture.
Life and career
Lyng made 1940 his bachelor's degree at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. He then returned to his California home, where he worked in his father's seed. During the Second World War he served in the U.S. Army and took part in battles in the Pacific. In 1945 he retired with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel from the army.
In Modesto, he took over in 1949 the post of president in the family business, which he headed until 1967. In 1953, he also served as president of the California Seed Association.
Political career
His only run for public office took Richard Lyng 1966, when he to the Senate of California failed in the election. As a result, he resigned himself to work for elected politicians. So he advised Ronald Reagan before his election as Governor of California in agricultural issues; after Reagan took office in January 1967 appointed this Lyng deputy agriculture minister in his government. He later rose to become head of the authority.
After Richard Nixon was in 1969 became U.S. president, Lyng served in the new administration as Deputy Minister of Agriculture and was responsible for marketing and consumer affairs. In this post he remained until his resignation in 1974. For his successor, Gerald Ford, he went ahead of the 1976 presidential election as chairman of the pressure group Farmers for Ford strongly. Four years later he was again involved in the election campaign and belonged to the staff of Ronald Reagan as Director of the Department of Agriculture and Food ( farm and food committee ).
Reagan won the election and gave Lyng with the post of Deputy Minister of Agriculture. He now had the task of travel lobbyists ( Traveling lobbyist ) to. In 1986 he was promoted to Minister in succession to John Rusling Block. With the end of Reagan's presidency in January 1989, Richard Lyng resigned from the government.