Carla Hills was sworn in as HUD Secretary, becoming the first woman to lead HUD and only the third woman ever in a U.S. presidential Cabinet.
On March 10, 1975, Carla Anderson Hills took the oath of office as the 5th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, with President Gerald Ford presiding over the ceremony. This moment made her the first woman ever to lead HUD and only the third woman in American history to serve in a presidential Cabinet position, following in the footsteps of pioneers like Frances Perkins and Oveta Culp Hobby.
The swearing-in was covered by major media outlets, including The New York Times, which reported on Ford's praise for Hills during the ceremony. Her appointment was historically significant not only because of her gender but because of the scope of responsibility she assumed—overseeing federal housing policy, fair housing enforcement, and urban renewal programs across the entire nation.
Hills's rise to this position reflected both her considerable legal talent, honed as Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division, and a slowly shifting political culture that was beginning to recognize women's capability for the highest levels of executive government service. Her tenure at HUD would prove consequential, as she oversaw the implementation of transformative federal housing legislation.
This achievement remains a landmark in the history of women in American government, frequently cited by institutions such as the Ford Presidential Library and HUD itself in retrospectives on women's leadership in federal service.