Topic: Ray Mabus

Raymond Edwin "Ray" Mabus, Jr. (born October 11, 1948) is the 75th United States Secretary of the Navy. Mabus served as the 60th Governor of the U.S. state of Mississippi from 1988 to 1992 and as United States Ambassador to Saudi Arabia from 1994 to 1996.

Mabus was born in Starkville and is a fourth-generation Mississippian; he grew up in Ackerman, the only child of the owner of the local hardware store. After attending public schools, he graduated summa cum laude from the University of Mississippi, where he was a member of Beta Theta Pi, with a B.A. in English and political science and holds an M.A. in political science from Johns Hopkins University and a Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School. He also served in the U.S. Navy aboard the cruiser USS Little Rock, and worked as a law clerk in the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Mabus began his professional career working in Washington as legal counsel to the U.S. House Agriculture Committee. Following the election of Governor William Winter, he returned to Mississippi to work in the governor's office, where the youthful staff– which included Mabus, Dick Molpus, John Henegan and Andy Mullins– earned the nickname "Boys of Spring" from a rival state legislator.