Political Career
Mosbacher was the finance chairman of Gerald R. Ford's failed election bid in 1976. He also lost his own race for delegate to the 1976 Republican National Convention in Kansas City, Missouri, to a slate backing future U.S. President Ronald W. Reagan, Ford's rival for the party nomination. Mosbacher, running in the then 7th congressional district, lost to State Senator Walter Mengden of Houston, 39,276 to 26,344 votes.
Earlier, Mosbacher headed the fund-raising effort for George H.W. Bush in his losing Senate campaign against Lloyd M. Bentsen in 1970 and again in Bush's campaigns for President in 1980 and 1988.
As U.S. Secretary of Commerce, he was the principal Cabinet official responsible for initiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). He was a strong proponent of the agreement, which created the largest unified market in the world. The agreement was not signed into law in the U.S. until December 8, 1993, during the administration of President Bill Clinton. The agreement went into effect on January 1, 1994.
Mosbacher was also a Member of President Reagan's Task Force on Private Sector Initiatives 1981–1983, and Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. He then became Secretary of Commerce in 1989 after he directed the George H. W. Bush 1988 Presidential Election Campaign.
Mosbacher served as a Director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
In 2008, he was the general chairman of John McCain's bid for the White House.
Mosbacher was referenced in the 13th episode of The Simpsons' seventh season, "Two Bad Neighbors".
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