President Barack Obama, America’s first black president, had fewer black members on his cabinet during his first term than George W. Bush, the Pew Research Center noted Tuesday.
Historically, only 12 percent of cabinet positions, which are nominated directly by the president, have been made up of African-Americans. Under Obama’s first term, only a single member was black.
Only 6 percent of Obama’s cabinet was made up of blacks during his first term. That increased to 19 percent during his second term, the same amount of diversity that Bush had during his first term.
“The members of the Cabinet are often the President’s closest confidants,” according to an article from WhiteHouse.gov. “In addition to running major federal agencies, they play an important role in the Presidential line of succession — after the Vice President, Speaker of the House, and Senate President pro tempore, the line of succession continues with the Cabinet offices in the order in which the departments were created.”
The largest number of black appointees was during Bill Clinton’s presidency where four served on his cabinet.
“Roughly four-in-ten black adults (38%) say that striving to get more black people elected to office would be a very effective tactic for groups working to help blacks achieve equality,” reads the Pew report.