Hershel W. Gober

Hershel Wayne Gober (born December 21, 1936 ) is a former government official and Vietnam War veteran. He served as acting United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) on two occasions during the administration of Bill Clinton. The first occasion to serve as Acting Secretary was from July 1, 1997 until January 2, 1998 between the resignation of Secretary Jesse Brown and the appointment of Togo D. West, Jr. as Acting Secretary. The second time to serve as Acting Secretary came on July 25, 2000 and lasted until January 20, 2001 after the resignation of Secretary West; this time Gober served in the post until the end of the Clinton presidency.

He started out in the VA as Deputy Secretary, serving from February 4, 1993 until August 10, 2000. Gober was also briefly Secretary-designate, when Clinton named him on July 31, 1997 to replace Jesse Brown. However, the nomination was withdrawn before Senate action on October 27 the same year. This happened because of fears nomination hearings for Gober would become heated due to questions about a 1993 claim of sexual misconduct made against him; he also wished to stay as Deputy Secretary.

During his tenure Gober played an important role in the Clinton (to whom he was a close and longtime aide ) era VA. He headed a delegation traveled to Vietnam to seek the fullest possible accounting of missing veterans. He was also active in improving health care and expanding clinics for veterans.

Before serving in the VA, Gober was Director of the Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs from January 4, 1988 to February 4, 1993 during President Clinton's tenure as Governor.

In Vietnam
Gober served two tours in Vietnam. In addition to his combat duties, at one point he worked with an American/Vietnamese team that produced songs to help sway Vietnamese public opinion in favor of the American and South Vietnamese causes as and to encourage the leadership in Washington to favor reaching the hearts and minds of the Vietnamese people. Later, in 1969, he was wounded while serving as a company commander.

In 1970, Gober released a 45 rpm single,"Picture of a Man," which received some airplay on popular music radio stations.

Gober had at least 5 single releases and one album as a recording artist; the first two were as Hershel Almond on Ace and Challenge in 1959. The others were on ABC ("The Proud American", 1966), Tee Pee (1967) and Buddah (1969).