Question: What was the former political position of the president who appointed Melvyn R. Paisley United States Assistant Secretary of the Navey (Research, Engineering and Systems)?  

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United States Under Secretary of War: The Under Secretary of War was a position created by an act of 16 December 1940 (54 Stat.  1224).  At the same time, section 5a of the National Defense Act (1920) was amended to allow the United States Secretary of War to assign his responsibilities for procurement to any of his subordinates.  The statute formerly assigned these responsibilities to the United States Assistant Secretary of War.  The Assistant Secretary of War, Robert P. Patterson was nominated and confirmed in the post.  The Secretary of War delegated his responsibilities for procurement to the Under Secretary on 28 April 1941.  By November 1941 the Office of the Under Secretary of War (OUSW) employed 1,136 people, of whom 257 were military officers and the remainder civilians.

USS Chicago (SSN-721): USS "Chicago" (SSN-721) is a "Los Angeles"-class submarine, the fourth ship of the United States Navy to be named for the city of Chicago, Illinois.  The contract to build her was awarded to Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company in Newport News, Virginia on 13 August 1981 and her keel was laid down on 5 January 1983.  She was launched on 13 October 1984 sponsored by Mrs. Vicki Ann Paisley, wife of Melvyn R. Paisley assistant Secretary of the Navy, and commissioned on 27 September 1986, with Commander Robert Avery in command.

Melvyn R. Paisley: Melvyn R. Paisley (October 9, 1924 – December 19, 2001) was appointed United States Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Research, Engineering and Systems) by President Ronald Reagan from 1981 to 1987.  He was prosecuted in Operation Ill Wind in which he, numerous other government employees and 60 private citizens were arrested.  In 1991, he admitted that while in office he had accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars of bribes and was sentenced to four years in prison.

United States Assistant Secretary for Health: The United States Assistant Secretary for Health (ASH) serves as the Secretary of Health and Human Services's primary advisor on matters involving the nation's public health and, if serving as an active member in the regular corps, is the highest ranking uniformed officer in the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps (PHSCC).  The ASH oversees all matters pertaining to the Public Health Service (PHS), the main division of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), for the Secretary as well as provide strategic and policy direction for the PHSCC.  The PHS comprises almost all the agency divisions of the HHS as well as the PHSCC, a uniformed service of more than 6,700 health professionals who serve at the HHS, other federal agencies, and/or are assigned details to the armed forces.  The ASH is a civilian or a uniformed member of the regular corps and is nominated for appointment by the President.  The nominee must also be confirmed by the Senate.  The ASH serves a four-year term of office at the pleasure of the President.  If the appointee is a serving member of the regular corps, he or she is also appointed as a four-star admiral in the regular corps.  The President may also nominate a civilian appointee to also be appointed a direct commission into the regular corps if the nominee so chooses.  As such the position of ASH is the only office in the PHS that merits a four-star grade in the regular corps.  The current Acting Assistant Secretary for Health is Don Wright.

Brett Giroir: Brett P. Giroir (born November 4, 1960 in Marrero, Louisiana) is an internationally recognized expert in medicine, public health, and life sciences innovation.  On May 25, 2017 President Donald Trump nominated Dr. Giroir to be the Medical Director in the Regular Corps of the United States Public Health Service and the United States Assistant Secretary for Health.  If confirmed as assistant secretary, he will also be appointed to the rank of admiral in the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.

Harold H. Saunders: Harold Henry Saunders (December 27, 1930 – March 6, 2016) served as the United States Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research between 1975 and 1978 and United States Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs between 1978 and 1981.  Saunders was a key participant in the Camp David Accords, helped negotiate the Iran Hostage Crisis, and developed the sustained dialogue model for resolving conflicts He later launched the Sustained Dialogue Institute, which uses the sustained dialogue model to address racial and other issues in the United States and abroad.

Ronald Reagan: Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American statesman and actor who served as the 40th President of the United States from 1981 to 1989.  Before his presidency, he was the 33rd Governor of California, from 1967 to 1975, after a career as a Hollywood actor and union leader.

Kim Holmes: Kim R. Holmes is an author and a former American diplomat and Assistant Secretary of State.  A Distinguished Fellow at Heritage Foundation, he speaks and writes on a variety of issues facing the United States.  Between 1992 and 2012, he served twice as the foundation’s Vice President of Foreign and Defense Policy Studies and Director of its Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies.  From 2002 to 2005, he served as the United States Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs.

Amanda Simpson: Amanda Simpson (born March 26, 1961) is the former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Operational Energy.  Operational Energy is the energy required for training, moving, and sustaining military forces and weapons platforms for military operations.  The term includes energy used by power systems, generators, logistics assets, and weapons platforms employed by military forces during training and in the field.  Previously Ms. Simpson was the Executive Director of the U.S. Army Office of Energy Initiatives (OEI) (previously named the Army Energy Initiatives Task Force) leading the Army’s efforts to implement large-scale renewable energy projects.  Her first posting in the Army was as the Special Assistant to the Army Acquisition Executive.  In that role she was a principal advisor to the United States Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology on all matters relating to Army acquisition, procurement, research & development and logistics.  Upon her appointment to the position of Senior Technical Advisor in the Bureau of Industry and Security in 2010, she became the first openly transgender woman political appointee of any Presidential administration.  Simpson worked in the United States Department of Defense.

Bradford P. Campbell: Bradford P. Campbell was the Assistant Secretary for Employee Benefits Security of the United States Department of Labor (DOL), the official in charge of the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA).  Mr. Campbell was nominated by President George W. Bush as Assistant Secretary on May 3, 2007, and was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate on August 3, 2007.  He held the position until January 20, 2009.  Prior to his confirmation as Assistant Secretary, Mr. Campbell had served as Acting Assistant Secretary since October 30, 2006 and as EBSA's Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy since March 5, 2004.

Supporting paragraphs: Melvyn R. Paisley Ronald Reagan
Answer: 33rd Governor of California