Rubin, Robert Edward (1938-…), was United States secretary of the treasury under President Bill Clinton from 1995 to 1999. Before Rubin became secretary, he had served as director of the National Economic Council since 1993. As the council’s director, Rubin helped shape the Clinton Administration’s economic policies. He also helped win congressional approval of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Before he became director of the National Economic Council, Rubin had been a major political fund-raiser for Clinton and other Democratic presidential nominees.
Rubin was born in New York City on Aug. 29, 1938. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University in 1960 and studied at the London School of Economics in 1960 and 1961. He graduated from Yale Law School in 1964. That same year, Rubin began working as a corporate lawyer in New York City. In 1966, he joined Goldman, Sachs & Co., a New York investment-banking firm. He was cochairman of the firm from 1990 to 1992. After stepping down as secretary of the treasury in 1999, Rubin joined Citigroup, the largest financial services company in the United States, becoming a cochairman. He was a coauthor of In an Uncertain World: Tough Choices from Wall Street to Washington (2003).
