Ben Carson

1951 – 20??

Benjamin Solomon Carson Sr. is an American retired neurosurgeon who served as the 17th U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 2017 to 2021 after a distinguished career as director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins. As HUD Secretary he had no prior housing or government experience and presided over an agency repeatedly faulted by its own inspector general, while sustaining attention for ill-informed public statements such as describing slaves as "immigrants" who came to America "in the bottom of slave ships," and asking aides whether the agency's REO program was "a cookie." His 2016 presidential campaign was marked by a string of disproven personal anecdotes, including the West Point scholarship he had not actually been offered.

Last checked: May 10, 2026, 1:06 PM