Here’s a look at the life of former US energy secretary and Texas governor Rick Perry.
Staff
Date of birth: March 4, 1950
Birthplace: Paint Creek, Texas
Birth name: James Richard Perry
Dad: Joseph Ray Perry, a farmer
Mother: Amelia (Holt) Perry
Married: Anita (Thigpen) Perry (6 November 1982 to present)
Kids: Sydney and Griffin
Education: Texas A&M University, BS, 1972
Military service: US Air Force, 1972-1977, Captain
Religion: Methodist
Other facts
It’s an Eagle Scout.
He met his wife, Anita, at primary school.
He is the oldest governor in the history of Texas.
Timeline
1972-1977 – Serves in the United States Air Force flying on transport planes.
1977 – He returns to Texas to live and work on his father’s farm.
1978 – Form JR Perry Farms with his father.
1985-1991 – Member of the Texas House of Representatives as a Democrat for the 64th District.
1989 – Switch to the Republican Party.
1991-1999 – Texas Department of Agriculture Commissioner.
1999-2000 – Lieutenant Governor of Texas.
December 21, 2000 – Perry takes office as governor after George W. Bush resigned to become president of the United States.
November 5, 2002 – Perry is elected for a four-year term.
November 7, 2006 – He is re-elected governor.
2008 – Perry’s book “In My Honor: Why American Scouts are Worth Fighting for” is published.
November 2, 2010 – Perry is elected for a third term.
August 13, 2011 – He declares his candidacy for the presidency during a speech in South Carolina.
January 19, 2012 – He suspends his presidential campaign and endorses Newt Gingrich.
July 8, 2013 – He announces that he will not run for re-election as governor of Texas in 2014.
August 15, 2014 – A grand jury charges Perry on charges of coercion by a public official and abuse of his official position. He reportedly threatened to veto funding for a state public health unit run by Travis County district attorney Rosemary Lehmberg unless she resigned after her arrest for drunk driving. She remained in office and he later vetoed the funding.
August 19, 2014 – Perry voluntarily appears in the Travis County courthouse to be sued, fingerprinted and take his picture. He pleads not guilty to charges of public official coercion and abuse of official capacity. The next day, he makes the first of six campaign-style stops in New Hampshire.
November 18, 2014 – A state district judge in Texas denies a defense motion to dismiss two criminal charges against Perry.
January 15, 2015 – He makes his farewell speech as governor.
June 4, 2015 – He announces that he is running for president at a rally in Addison, Texas.
July 24, 2015 – A Texas appeals court rejects one of two criminal charges against Perry. The court agrees with Perry’s legal team’s argument that a Texas law on “coercion of a public servant” violates Perry’s First Amendment free speech rights. The court is allowing an abuse-of-power charge to continue.
September 11, 2015 – He suspends his campaign to the presidency.
January 25, 2016 – Perry endorses Ted Cruz.
February 24, 2016 – The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals dropped the charges against Perry, claiming he abused his power while in office.
August 30, 2016 – Perry is revealed as one of the members of the next 23rd season of the reality dance competition “Dancing with the Stars” on ABC.
September 27, 2016 – He was eliminated from “Dancing With The Stars”.
November 22, 2016 – “Dancing With The Stars” returns for the end of the season. Perry dances with Vanilla Ice during a live performance of “Ice Ice Baby”.
December 13, 2016 – President-elect Donald Trump announces that he has chosen Perry as his nominee for energy secretary.
January 19, 2017 – Perry says he regrets having recommended the elimination of the Department of Energy during a 2012 presidential debate.
March 2, 2017 – Perry is confirmed as energy secretary with a 62-37 vote in the Senate.
July 26, 2017 – Perry’s office acknowledges that he was hoaxed on July 19. During the 20-minute Russian prank call, real names Vladimir Krasnov and Aleksey Stolyarov, respectively, one pretends to be Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman.
February 5, 2019 – The designated survivor for Trump’s second State of the Union address is named. As the only Cabinet member who remained outside the Chamber of Deputies during the disaster speech, Perry will remain in an undisclosed location.
October 10, 2019 – House Democrats send Perry a subpoena for documents related to the Trump administration’s contacts with Ukraine as part of the ongoing House impeachment investigation.
October 17, 2019 – Perry says he plans to step down in a video posted on YouTube.
November 20, 2019 – EU ambassador Gordon Sondland testified that he, along with Ukraine special envoy Kurt Volker and Perry, worked with Giuliani in Ukraine under Trump’s “express direction” and against his best judgment. Sondland also told lawmakers that he had discussed the investigation in a July 19 email sent to several American officials, including Perry. In response, the Department of Energy releases a statement denying Sondland’s allegations, saying he “distorted Secretary Perry’s interaction with Rudy Giuliani and the direction the secretary received from President Trump.”
December 1, 2019 – Perry resigns from the position of United States Secretary of Energy.
January 1, 2020 – Perry is appointed director of the general partner who controls Energy Transfer LP, a pipeline company.
February 17, 2021 – In a blog post on the website of minority leader in the House, Kevin McCarthy, Perry is quoted as saying “in part rhetorically,” that “Texans would be without electricity for more than three days to keep the federal government out of their Business”. Millions of Texans lost power when the state experienced a massive outage caused by a historic freeze and an electrical grid that – unlike the other 47 contiguous states – is separated from the rest of the country and is not under federal regulatory supervision, which prevents Texas to be able to borrow energy from other states.