William J. Perry

William Perry
Official portrait, 1994
19th United States Secretary of Defense
In office February 3, 1994 – January 23, 1997
President	Bill Clinton
Deputy	John M. Deutch John P. White
Preceded by	Les Aspin
Succeeded by	William Cohen
23rd United States Deputy Secretary of Defense
In office March 5, 1993 – February 3, 1994
President	Bill Clinton
Preceded by	Donald J. Atwood Jr.
Succeeded by	John M. Deutch
Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering
In office April 11, 1977 – January 20, 1981
President	Jimmy Carter
Preceded by	Malcolm R. Currie
Succeeded by	Richard D. DeLauer
Personal details
Born	William James Perry (1927-10-11) October 11, 1927 (age 96) Vandergrift, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Political party	Democratic[1]
Spouse	Leonilla Green (died 2017)
Children	5
Education	Stanford University (BA, MA) Pennsylvania State University (PhD)
Military service
Branch/service	United States Army
Years of service	1945–1947 (Active) 1950–1955 (Reserve)
Rank	2nd Lieutenant (Reserves)
Unit	United States Army Corps of Engineers United States Army Reserve

William James Perry (born October 11, 1927) is an American mathematician, engineer, businessman, and civil servant who was the United States Secretary of Defense from February 3, 1994, to January 23, 1997, under President Bill Clinton.^[2] He also served as Deputy Secretary of Defense (1993–1994)^[3] and Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (1977–1981).

Perry is the Michael and Barbara Berberian Professor (emeritus) at Stanford University, with a joint appointment at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and the School of Engineering.^[4] He is also a senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. He is the co-founder of the Palo Alto Unitarian Church^[5] and serves as director of the Preventive Defense Project.^[6] He is an expert in U.S. foreign policy, national security and arms control. In 2013 he founded the William J. Perry Project, a non-profit effort to educate the public on the current dangers of nuclear weapons.^[7]

Perry also has extensive business experience and serves on the boards of several high-tech companies. He was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 1970 for contributions to communications theory, radio propagation theory, and computer technology in the design of advanced systems. He is also a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Among Perry's numerous awards are the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1997) and the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun (2002), awarded by Japan.