Secretary of state followed by the rest of the Cabinet. President Barack Obama named Hillary Clinton as his choice for 67th Secretary of State on December 1, 2008. She was confirmed on January 21, 2009, the day after Obama's inauguration and is the third woman to hold the position. On December 21, 2012 President Obama announced his choice for Secretary of State during his second term, Senator John Kerry. His confirmation hearing took place on January 24, 2013, before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The committee unanimously voted to approve him on January 29, 2013, and the same day the full Senate confirmed
William White (Secretary of State) The legislature elected his former clerk, William Hill, to succeed him. White's father-in-law was Governor Richard Caswell. White's daughter, Eleanor, married Governor David L. Swain in 1826. William White (Secretary of State) William White (1762–1811) was the second North Carolina Secretary of State, serving from 1798 until 1811. White represented Lenoir County in the state legislature, first in the North Carolina House of Commons and then in the North Carolina Senate, from the county's creation in 1792 until the legislature appointed him Secretary of State in 1798. The same year he built the White-Holman House, listed on the National Register