Daniels, Mitchell Jr.: Files, 1985-1988, Assistant to the President for Political and Intergovernmental Affairs

Office of Political and Intergovernmental Affairs

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Biography

Mitchell Elias Daniels Jr. is a Republican politician who served as the 49th governor of Indiana from 2005-2013. He later served as president of Purdue University from 2013-2022. Daniels is also a businessman and an author.

Mitchell was born on April 7, 1949 in Monongahela, Pennsylvania. His father's parents were Syrian Immigrants from Qalatiyah, Syria of Antiochian Greek Orthodox descent. His mother's ancestry was mostly English. Daniels spent his early childhood years in Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Georgia. The Daniels family moved to Indiana from Tennessee in 1959 and have remained there since that time. Daniels attended public schools in northern Indianapolis and in 1967 was named one of Indiana's Presidential Scholars. He also served as his high school's student body president.

Daniels went on to Princeton University and the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. He graduated in 1971. While at Princeton, Daniels was a member of the American Whig-Cliosophic Society along with future Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito. Daniels has spoken and written about his arrest for drug charges during his Princeton years stating the incident was the "unfortunate confluence of my wild oats period and America's libertine apogee." Daniels has said the arrest "jerked [him] back in line."

While still a teenager, Daniels had worked on the unsuccessful senatorial campaign of Princeton alumnus William Ruckelshaus against incumbent Democrat Birch Bayh. He then secured an internship in the office of Indianapolis mayor Richard Lugar, a Ruckelshaus ally. Daniels worked on Lugar's re-election campaign for mayor in 1971. By 1974, Daniels was attending law classes at the Indiana McKinney School of Law in Indianapolis and serving as the vice-president of Campaign Communicators, Inc. Via Campaign Communicators, Daniels also worked on Richard Lugar's first campaign for Senator. At the close of 1974, Daniels formally joined Lugar's mayoral staff. Within three years, he became Lugar's principal assistant. After Lugar was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1976, Daniels came to Washington, DC as his Chief of Staff. Due to this move, Daniels transferred to the Georgetown University Law Center where he earned his law degree in 1979.

Daniels served as Chief of Staff during Lugar's first term (1977-1982). In 1983, Senator Richard Lugar was elected the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the chief fundraising arm for Republican senators campaigns. Daniels was tapped as the executive director of the Committee. It was during his term as executive director that the Republican party managed to keep control of the Senate for the first Reagan administration. He finished his time as Executive Director in December 1984.

With his wide background in political campaigning and experience in local governments, Daniels was appointed as the Assistant to the President for Political and Intergovernmental Affairs in 1985. The Reagan White House had separate offices for Political Affairs and Intergovernmental Affairs, but after the 1984 re-election of Reagan, the functions were brought under a single Assistant. Daniels was in charge of seeing that state and local interests were represented in Reagan policies and that Reagan's goal of boosting federalism and greater authority to lower levels of government were happening. In addition he handled relations with the Republican Party and its candidates. Daniels left the White House in 1987 and returned to Indiana as president and CEO of the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank.

In 1990, Daniels left the Hudson Institute to accept a position at Eli Lilly and Company, at the time the largest corporation headquarters in Indiana. He became President of North American Operations (1993-1997) and then Senior Vice President for Corporate Strategy and Policy (1997-2001). Lilly faced some fines and damages and personal injury claims and problems with marketing Zyprexa, but the firm experienced dramatic growth during Daniels' term doubling its assets and doubling its revenue. Daniels managed the strategy for Lilly when its product, Prozac, was attacked by the Church of Scientology.

During this time period, Daniels also served on the board of directors of the Indianapolis Power & Light (IPL). He resigned from the IPL Board in 2001 to rejoin the federal government and sold his IPL stock along with all other holdings to comply with federal ethics requirements.

On December 22, 200, President-elect George W. Bush announced he was nominating Daniels to serve as the director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). He was confirmed by the Senate (100-0) on January 23, 2001. In this role he was also a member of the National Security Council and the Homeland Security Council (created after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks).

Daniels bore the brunt of Congressional complaints about his turndowns of requests for spending. While Daniels fought hard for federal budget cuts to balance Bush's tax cuts, nevertheless the $236 billion federal budget surplus turned into a $400 billion federal budget deficit. This was also largely due to a 2001 recession, the War in Afghanistan, and the Iraq War. There were concerns that he and the Bush Administration were underestimating the costs of the Iraq War. On May 7, 2003 Daniels announced his resignation from OMB to return to Indiana. It was widely believed he was going to run for governor of Indiana.

Daniels did run for governor of Indiana in 2004. He easily won the Republican primary and comfortably defeated incumbent Democratic Governor Joe Kernan.

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Last Modified Date

2025-02-25

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Daniels, Mitchell Jr.: Files, 1985-1988, Assistant to the President for Political and Intergovernmental Affairs

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