--- title: Rex Tillerson Could Have a Historically Short Tenure description: Rex Tillerson could be on his way to serving one of the shortest tenures of any Secretary of State in U.S. history. canonical: https://time.com/5043206/rex-tillerson-secretary-state-tom-cotton/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-11-30T19:31:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T18:24:21.497Z article:section: Politics og:title: Rex Tillerson Could Have a Historically Short Tenure og:description: James G. Blaine had a shorter tenure — in 1881 og:url: https://time.com/5043206/rex-tillerson-secretary-state-tom-cotton/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt323f0f52d2a43352/6988e53097cdffbe6d6b32fb/gettyimages-861992880.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Tillerson Trump og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Rex Tillerson Could Have a Historically Short Tenure twitter:description: James G. Blaine had a shorter tenure — in 1881 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt323f0f52d2a43352/6988e53097cdffbe6d6b32fb/gettyimages-861992880.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Rex Tillerson Could Become One of the Shortest-Serving Secretaries of State > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Nov 30, 2017 7:31 PM UTC  U.S. President Donald Trump, joined by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Oct. 16, 2017 in Washington D.C. U.S. President Donald Trump, joined by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Oct. 16, 2017 in Washington D.C. Mark Wilson—Getty Images  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Nov 30, 2017 7:31 PM UTC Rex Tillerson could be on his way to serving one of the shortest tenures of any Secretary of State in U.S. history. The former ExxonMobil CEO may be replaced as the nation’s top diplomat within several weeks by CIA Director Mike Pompeo, who would be replaced by Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, according to [a report in the New York _Times_](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/30/us/politics/state-department-tillerson-pompeo-trump.html) Thursday. The White House downplayed the report. “There are no personnel announcements at this time,” White House spokesman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement. “Secretary Tillerson continues to lead the State Department and the entire cabinet is focused on completing this incredibly successful first year of President Trump’s administration.” During an Oval Office meeting with the crown prince of Bahrain, President Trump [ducked a question](http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/362562-trump-on-tillerson-rex-is-here) about Tillerson’s future as well. “He’s here. Rex is here,” he said. If Tillerson leaves in the next few months, he would likely be viewed as one of the most underperforming secretaries of State in U.S. history with one of the shortest tenures to boot, say experts on American foreign policy. “It will ratify what is emerging as almost a consensus view that Rex Tillerson was the worst Secretary of State in modern time,” said Paul Musgrave, a political science professor at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst who studies American foreign policy. “I actually think there is a good case to be made, ever.” If Tillerson leaves in the next few weeks, he will have served for roughly a year, inordinately short for a first-term Secretary of State in the modern era. The last three first-term secretaries of State — Warren Christopher, Colin Powell and Hillary Clinton — all remained in their posts for the entire term. The only first-term Secretary of State to [last less than three years](https://www.state.gov/secretary/former/) since 1949 was Alexander Haig, who served under President Ronald Reagan for nearly 18 months. James G. Blaine, who served under President James Garfield, appears to have had the shortest tenure, serving nine months in 1881, but he was appointed to the post again under Benjamin Harrison, serving for three years. Aside from his short time in office, Tillerson has little to show as accomplishments. “On every major policy including climate change … the Secretary of State has seen himself overruled,” said Musgrave. “I can’t imagine anything happening to repair the legacy of someone who has done so little and harmed so much.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5043206/rex-tillerson-secretary-state-tom-cotton/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5043206/rex-tillerson-secretary-state-tom-cotton/"},"headline":"Rex Tillerson Could Become One of the Shortest-Serving Secretaries of State","datePublished":"2017-11-30T19:31:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T18:24:21.497Z","description":"Rex Tillerson could be on his way to serving one of the shortest tenures of any Secretary of State in U.S. history.","url":"https://time.com/5043206/rex-tillerson-secretary-state-tom-cotton/","keywords":["Foreign Policy","History","White House","State Department","Donald Trump","onetime","Rex Tillerson"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt323f0f52d2a43352/6988e53097cdffbe6d6b32fb/gettyimages-861992880.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alana Abramson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt323f0f52d2a43352/6988e53097cdffbe6d6b32fb/gettyimages-861992880.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Tillerson Trump","caption":"Tillerson Trump","creditText":"Mark Wilson—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/foreign-policy/","name":"Foreign Policy"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5043206/rex-tillerson-secretary-state-tom-cotton/","name":"Rex Tillerson Could Become One of the Shortest-Serving Secretaries of State"}}]}] ```