The Tama County farmer who ran the U.S. Department of Agriculture for sixteen years — still the longest cabinet tenure in history.
Born in Scotland in 1835, James Wilson grew up farming in Tama County, Iowa — earning the nickname “Tama Jim.” He served in the Iowa legislature, in Congress, and as a professor of agriculture at Iowa State.
Appointed U.S. Secretary of Agriculture in 1897, he served under Presidents McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, and Taft until 1913 — sixteen years, still the longest tenure of any U.S. cabinet secretary. He built the USDA into a modern scientific agency.
“Tama Jim” Wilson modernized American agriculture — food-safety law, scientific research, and farm extension all grew under him. He gave Iowa an outsized hand in shaping the nation's farm policy.
He remains a record-holder in American government.
The Tama County farmer who ran the U.S. Department of Agriculture for sixteen years — still the longest cabinet tenure in history.
“Tama Jim” Wilson was from Tama, Iowa.
1835–1920.
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