John Howard Dalton is a U.S. administrator

Independent agencies of the United States government

Independent agencies of the United States federal government are those agencies that exist outside of the federal executive departments...

 and banker. Dalton was Secretary of the Navy

United States Secretary of the Navy

The Secretary of the Navy of the United States of America is the head of the Department of the Navy, a component organization of the Department of Defense...

 from July 22, 1993 to November 16, 1998.

Education and Navy service

Dalton attended Louisiana State University

Louisiana State University

Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, most often referred to as Louisiana State University, or LSU, is a public coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in 1853 in what is now known as Pineville, Louisiana, under the name...

 for a year before transferring to the U.S. Naval Academy

United States Naval Academy

The United States Naval Academy is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located in Annapolis, Maryland, United States...

. He graduated with distinction from Annapolis in 1964 and was a finalist in the Rhodes Scholarship

Rhodes Scholarship

The Rhodes Scholarship, named after Cecil Rhodes, is an international postgraduate award for study at the University of Oxford. It was the first large-scale programme of international scholarships, and is widely considered the "world's most prestigious scholarship" by many public sources such as...

 competition. After graduating from Annapolis, Dalton served in the Navy from 1964 to 1969. During the that time he received naval nuclear power training and served aboard the submarine

Submarine

A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...

s USS Blueback (SS-581)

USS Blueback (SS-581)

USS Blueback is a decommissioned Barbel-class submarine formerly in the United States Navy. She was the second Navy submarine named for a form of the rainbow or steelhead trout found only in Lake Crescent on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state...

 as the Supply and Commissary Officer and USS John C. Calhoun (SSBN-630) as the Main Propulsion Assistant, Communications Officer and Weapons Officer. He attained the rank

Military rank

Military rank is a system of hierarchical relationships in armed forces or civil institutions organized along military lines. Usually, uniforms denote the bearer's rank by particular insignia affixed to the uniforms...

 of lieutenant

Lieutenant

A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...

 while on active duty and was promoted to Lieutenant Commander

Lieutenant Commander

Lieutenant Commander is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander...

 while in the U.S. Naval Reserve.

Business career

After leaving the Navy, Dalton ran the San Antonio, Texas

San Antonio, Texas

San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...

 office of the Little Rock, Arkansas

Little Rock, Arkansas

Little Rock is the capital and the largest city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 699,757 people in the 2010 census...

-based Stephens Inc.

Stephens Inc.

Stephens Inc. is a full service, privately owned investment bank based in Little Rock, Arkansas.-History:Stephens Inc. was founded in 1933 by W.R. Witt Stephens. His brother, Jackson T. Stephens joined the firm in 1946 and served as Chairman of the Board and CEO of Stephens Inc. from 1956 to 1986....

  investment banking

Investment banking

An investment bank is a financial institution that assists individuals, corporations and governments in raising capital by underwriting and/or acting as the client's agent in the issuance of securities...

 firm. Prior to his employment at Stephens Inc., he was Managing Director of Best Associates and Mason Best Company, merchant banking firms headquartered in Houston

Houston, Texas

Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...

 and Dallas

Dallas, Texas

Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...

 respectively. In 1971, Dalton received a Master of Business Administration

Master of Business Administration

The Master of Business Administration is a :master's degree in business administration, which attracts people from a wide range of academic disciplines. The MBA designation originated in the United States, emerging from the late 19th century as the country industrialized and companies sought out...

 degree from the Wharton School

Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

The Wharton School is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Wharton was the world’s first collegiate business school and the first business school in the United States...

 of the University of Pennsylvania

University of Pennsylvania

The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...

.

From 1984 to 1988 Dalton served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Freedom Capital Corporation in San Antonio, and President of the Sequin Savings Association. Prior to this position, he was President of the Real Estate Division of the Gill Companies of San Antonio. President Carter nominated Dalton to the Federal Home Loan Bank Board

Federal Home Loan Bank Board

The Federal Home Loan Bank Board was a board created by the Federal Home Loan Bank Act of 1932 that created and oversaw the Federal Home Loan Banks also created by the act. It was superseded by the Federal Housing Finance Board and the Office of Thrift Supervision in the Financial Institutions...

 in December 1979, where he served as a member and chairman until July 1981. Dalton was President of the Government National Mortgage Association

Government National Mortgage Association

The Government National Mortgage Association , or Ginnie Mae, was established in the United States in 1968 to promote home ownership. As a wholly owned government corporation within the Department of Housing and Urban Development , Ginnie Mae’s mission is to expand affordable housing in the U.S. by...

 of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development before being appointed to the Bank Board. He began his public service career after serving with the investment banking firm of Goldman, Sachs & Company

Goldman Sachs

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is an American multinational bulge bracket investment banking and securities firm that engages in global investment banking, securities, investment management, and other financial services primarily with institutional clients...

 in Dallas, Texas.

Since January 2005, Dalton has been President of the Housing Policy Council at The Financial Services Roundtable.

Trivia

• A speech that Dalton gave in 1997, citing a "true story" about the USS Constitution
  USS Constitution
  USS Constitution is a wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy. Named by President George Washington after the Constitution of the United States of America, she is the world's oldest floating commissioned naval vessel...
  
   is actually an urban legend
  Urban legend
  An urban legend, urban myth, urban tale, or contemporary legend, is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories that may or may not have been believed by their tellers to be true...
  
  .