Portrait of Robert Reich

Birthday profile

Robert Reich

Robert Reich, American economist and politician, 22nd United States Secretary of Labor

Born
June 24, 1946
Age in 2026
80
Zodiac sign
Cancer
Birth year
1946

About Robert Reich

Robert Bernard Reich (; born June 24, 1946) is an American professor, author, lawyer, and political commentator. He worked in the administrations of presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, and he served as secretary of labor in the cabinet of President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1997. He was also a member of President Barack Obama's economic transition advisory board. In 2008, Time magazine named him one of the Ten Most Effective Cabinet Members of the century; in the same year The Wall Street Journal placed him sixth on its list of Most Influential Business Thinkers. Reich has also had a long teaching career. From 1981 to 1992 he was a lecturer at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government and from 1997 to 2005 he was a professor of social and economic policy at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management of Brandeis University. In January 2006 he was appointed Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley. He taught his last class at Berkeley in the spring of 2023 and is currently emeritus Carmel P. Friesen Professor of Public Policy. Reich has published numerous books, including the best-sellers The Work of Nations (1991), Reason (2004), Supercapitalism (2007), Aftershock (2010), Beyond Outrage (2012), and Saving Capitalism (2015). The Robert Reich–Jacob Kornbluth film Saving Capitalism debuted on Netflix in November 2017, and their film Inequality for All won a U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Achievement in Filmmaking at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. He is board chair emeritus of the watchdog group Common Cause and blogs at Robertreich.org. While studying at Oxford, Reich first met Bill Clinton, also a Rhodes Scholar. Bill Clinton incorporated Reich's thinking into his 1992 campaign platform, and after Clinton won the election, he appointed Reich to head economic policy for the presidential transition. He won a Rhodes Scholarship to study Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at University College, Oxford.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Robert Reich timeline

  1. Bill Clinton incorporated Reich's thinking into his 1992 campaign platform, and after Clinton won the election, he appointed Reich to head economic policy for the presidential transition.
  2. The Robert Reich–Jacob Kornbluth film Saving Capitalism debuted on Netflix in November 2017, and their film Inequality for All won a U.S.

The world when Robert Reich was born

Robert Reich was born in 1946. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1946

  • #1 song"The Christmas Song" – Nat King Cole
  • Top movieThe Best Years of Our Lives
  • Best-selling bookThe King's General – Daphne du Maurier

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentFirst NBA (BAA) season begins
  • Top headlineUnited Nations General Assembly holds its first session
  • Technology milestoneENIAC — first general-purpose electronic computer
  • Defining fadBaby boom begins
  • Notable inventionTupperware
  • World population2.43 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderHarry S. Truman
  • Sports championSt. Louis Cardinals (World Series)
  • U.S. population141.4M

1946 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Robert Reich's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19462026
Gas$0.21$3.45/gal
Average home$6,600$435,000
Average income$4,300$67,500
Minimum wage$0.40$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$0.35$11.95
Postage stamp$0.03$0.73
Population141.4M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Library of Congress. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.