This article incorrectly said that Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has four grandchildren. He has nine.
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He's Always on the Move
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood Says Safe Travel Is His Most Important Goal
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This is the third in KidsPost's series about members of President Barack Obama's Cabinet and what they do. To see stories about Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., and Education Secretary Arne Duncan, go to http:/
Most kids probably don't spend a lot of time thinking about the planes, trains, boats and automobiles that they take to go on summer vacation with their families. But there is a man in the nation's capital whose job it is to think about transportation all the time.
Ray LaHood is the secretary of transportation, selected by President Obama to make sure Americans have safe and reliable ways to travel.
The 63-year-old father of four and grandfather of four is Obama's top adviser on transportation and also one of two Republicans in Obama's Cabinet. (The other is Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates.)
LaHood was born and raised in Peoria, Illinois, and went to school there, too. He was not a very good student, he said, not even when he went to first a junior college and then Bradley University in Peoria. He said he had to take biology three times before he passed the class!
"I'm not that smart," he said. "I was an average student."
For years LaHood taught social studies to junior high students, developing an interest in politics. He decided to change careers and worked for nearly 20 years as a staff member to two congressmen. He then ran for Congress himself and served 14 years in the House of Representatives, earning a reputation for working with Republicans and Democrats.
"I ran because I think you can make a difference as a congressman," he said.
LaHood met Obama when he was in the House and Obama was a U.S. senator from Illinois, and both worked on transportation issues. About six months before November's election, Obama, a Democrat, told him that he wanted to include Republicans in his administration.
But LaHood said he really didn't think that Obama meant he might like to include him in his administration. In fact, LaHood supported the Republican candidate for president, Sen. John McCain of Arizona.
But when Obama asked LaHood to join his Cabinet, LaHood was delighted to become transportation secretary.
