In 1995 while running for president, Lamar Alexander, a former education secretary under President George H.W. Bush, vowed to eliminate the department he once ran.

Alexander previously served as the U.S. secretary of education and as a faculty member in Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Alexander is one of the most accomplished Tennesseans in history. He served as governor, University of Tennessee president, U.S. Secretary of Education and three terms in the U.S. Senate.