The List: Republican Cabinet members in Democratic administrations

Chuck Hagel shakes hand with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. Former Virginia Sen. John Warner stands in the background. (Defense Department photo)

If Chuck Hagel is confirmed as Secretary of Defense — and that’s a big IF — he’ll join a short list of prominent Republicans who agreed to join the president’s Cabinet in a Democratic administration. Here’s a sampling of some previous Republican Cabinet officials over the past century:

Harold Ickes, Secretary of the Interior (1933-1946)
Progressive Republican who campaigned for Theodore Roosevelt, Charles Evans Hughes
Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S Truman

Frank Knox, Secretary of the Navy* (1940-1944)
Chicago Daily News publisher and 1936 Republican vice presidential nominee
President Franklin D. Roosevelt

Henry Stimson, Secretary of War* (1940-1945)
Secretary of War to President William Howard Taft
Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S Truman

C. Douglas Dillon, Secretary of the Treasury (1961-1965)
Former Dewey and Eisenhower campaign official, President Dwight Eisenhower’s Ambassador to France
Presidents John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johson

Robert McNamara, Secretary of Defense (1961-1968)
Self-described liberal Republican and auto executive
Presidents John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johson

James Schlesinger, Energy Secretary (1977-1979)
Defense Secretary for Republican Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford
President Jimmy Carter

William Cohen, Secretary of Defense (1997-2001)
Former Maine congressman and senator
President Bill Clinton

Robert Gates, Secretary of Defense (2006-2011)
Remained in place following transition from George W. Bush to Obama administration
President Barack Obama

Ray LaHood, Secretary of Transportation (2009-present)
Former Illinois congressman
President Barack Obama

* Then a Cabinet department