Kathleen A. Buck
American politician (1948–2001)
Kathleen Ann Buck (November 14, 1948 – August 12, 2001) was an American attorney and politician who served as the General Counsel of the Department of Defense under presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W Bush from October 1987 to December 1989. She was nominated by Reagan in July 1987 and was confirmed in October. She previously was an attorney, having studied at the Indiana University School of Law.
Early life and education
Kathleen Ann Buck was born on November 14, 1948, in South Bend, Indiana. Her mother was Betty Buck, who resided in Elkhart, Indiana, and she was one out of the four children in her family.
After graduating from high school, Buck went to St. Mary's College and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science in 1970. Buck also studied at Indiana University School of Law in Bloomington, Indiana. She worked at the office at Bloomington City Attorney, Fort Wayne Legal Services, and the Monroe County Probation Department. Buck graduated with a Juris Doctor in 1973 and later moved to Washington D.C to work at Swift & Company.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Kathleen A. Buck” is american politician (1948–2001). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Kathleen, Buck and American, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “american politician (1948–2001)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 11, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q137735763. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1948, 2001, 1987 and 1989.
A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
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- Building a first chronology
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Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Kathleen A. Buck”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Kathleen A. Buck primary sources, Kathleen A. Buck archive and Kathleen research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Kathleen A. Buck” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.