Following the tragic attacks of September 11, 2001, Ashcroft reorganized the Justice Department to focus on its number one priority: to prevent another terrorist attack. Leveraging every legal tool available to law enforcement, including the critical tools provided in the USA PATRIOT Act, the Justice Department initiated a tough antiterrorism campaign that has assisted in disrupting over 150 terrorist plots worldwide, dismantling terrorist cells in 6 cities across America, and convicting 191 individuals in terrorism-related investigations to date.

Violent crime has dropped to a 30-year low as the Department has employed tough tools and tough penalties against criminals who have victimized the innocent. The Department has implemented President Bush’s Project Safe Neighborhoods’ initiative, increasing federal gun prosecutions by 68%. The war on drugs has been reinvigorated and the country is celebrating record lows in student drug use while government seizures of heroin have doubled in two years. The Department developed the government’s first ban on racial profiling by federal law enforcement, successfully resolved decades-long civil rights investigations, and worked to bring communities together in a way that respects the rights of all Americans. At the direction of President Bush, the Department established the Corporate Fraud Task Force to restore integrity to the marketplace by cracking down on companies and corporate executives who abused the trust of their employees and investors.

Ashcroft was born in Chicago, Illinois, on May 9, 1942. Raised in Springfield, Missouri, he attended public schools until enrolling at Yale University, where he graduated with honors in 1964. He received his Juris Doctor from the University of Chicago in 1967. His career of public service began in 1973 as Missouri Auditor and he was later elected to two terms as the state’s Attorney General. His colleagues in the non-partisan National Association of Attorneys General elected him Chairman.

Ashcroft served as Governor of Missouri from 1985 through 1993, spearheading the state’s efforts to reduce the use of illegal drugs, balancing eight consecutive budgets, and serving as Chairman of the Education Commission of the States. Fortune magazine rated him one of the top ten education governors, while Financial World and City and State magazines credited him with making Missouri one of the best financially managed states. In 1991, the non-partisan National Governors Association elected him Chairman.

Ashcroft was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1994, and worked to combat illegal drugs, increase the quality of public education, reduce crime and safeguard the rights of crime victims. He also co-sponsored the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, and fought to toughen penalties for gun crimes.

Prior to entering public service, Ashcroft taught business law at Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield. He authored a book honoring his father, Lessons from a Father to His Son, and co-authored multiple editions of two college law textbooks with his wife, Janet. The Ashcrofts have three children: Martha (Mrs. James Patterson), John and Andrew, and one grandchild, Jimmy Patterson