Henry McMaster is the Governor of South Carolina. He assumed office on January 24, 2017. His current term ends on January 13, 2027. McMaster was born in Columbia, South Carolina, in 1947. His father, John Gregg McMaster, served two terms in the South Carolina House of Representatives. McMaster received a bachelor’s degree in history and a J.D. from the University of South Carolina in 1969 and 1973, respectively. Following law school, he was a legislative aide to U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond in Washington D.C. before joining his family’s legal practice in 1974. McMaster also served in the U.S. Army Reserve from 1969 to 1975. In 1981, President Ronald Reagan appointed McMaster to serve as United States attorney for the District of South Carolina. During his four-year tenure, McMaster worked on Operation Jackpot, an investigation into international drug smuggling that resulted in more than 100 convictions. McMaster ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in 1986 and for lieutenant governor of South Carolina in 1990. In 1991, Gov. Carroll A. Campbell Jr. appointed McMaster to the state Commission on Higher Education. He served on the Board of Directors of the nonprofit South Carolina Policy Council from 1991 to 2003 and was chair from 1992 to 1993.
