Butz Earl

United States government official who served as Secretary of Agriculture under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. His policies favoured large-scale corporate farming and an end to New Deal programs, but he is best remembered for a series of verbal gaffes that eventually cost him his job. Butz met the former Mary Emma Powell (1911–1995) from North Carolina in 1930, at the National 4-H Camp in Washington, D.C. They were married on 22 December 1937. They had two sons, William Powell and Thomas Earl Butz. On 22 May 1981, Butz pleaded guilty to federal tax evasion charges for having under-reported income he earned in 1978. On 19 June he was sentenced to five years in prison. All but 30 days of the term were suspended. He was also fined $10,000 and ordered to pay $61,183 in civil penalties. Butz died in his sleep on 2 February 2008, in Kensington, Maryland. At his death, Butz was the oldest living former Cabinet member from any administration. Link to Wikipedia biography Read less