What’s the most recent example of an senior elected official, a cabinet member or head of a major government agency who did not have a college education?
Can be Federal or state level, executive branch or legislative branch. Military also counts (maybe somebody who rose through the ranks?).
Here’s a slideshow of members of Congress without college degrees. The names I recognize are Mark Begich, who has a fair amount of power by virtue of being a Senator, and Rand Paul, who managed to get into ophthalmology school at Duke without a bachelor’s degree. (Since he has an M.D., though, I suspect he’s not what you’re looking for.)
It looks like Harry S Truman was the last US president without at least a bachelor’s degree, although he did take some coursework. It looks like Grover Cleveland was the last president who never went to college at all.
Yes, I probably phrased that poorly. I was looking for people without any academic degree whatsoever, either because they dropped out or because they never bothered to enter college, graduate school, divinity school, medical school, law school etc. in the first place.
Wisconsin Governor Jesse Ventura went to community college, but since no other college is listed for him I assume he didn’t get a bachelor’s degree.
As you did not specify the country I’d like to mention Ilse Aigner, the German minister for food, agriculture and consumer affairs. By training she is a journeywoman TV/radio technician (by apprenticeship) and an electrical technician (by Fachschule course) - both vocational qualifications, i.e. she was not educated at a tertiary education institution.
It looks like Jan Brewer, governor of Arizona, and Gary Herbert, governor of Utah are both college dropouts.
RL anecdote time - I was working for a small business a while back and helping put together a proposal package to drum up business. I was doing blurbs about our staff capability when I came to one who was a college dropout. I wrote that the person had “studied” at such and such college.
Good point. Actually, this wasn’t all that uncommon in German politics until recently. Leading politicians like Willy Brandt (Chancellor), Johannes Rau (Federal President), George Leber (Minister of Defense) and several Ministers of Agriculture never set foot in a university.
Unless I missed something, Ventura was governor of Minnesota.
UK prime minister John Major - John Major - Wikipedia - didn’t even have the equivalent of a high school diploma.
Nope, you didn’t miss anything. Wisconsin has its own history of flaky politicians; we don’t need to take credit for our neighbors’ weirdos, too. 
Out here in West Redneckistan (otherwise known as Idaho) the state superintendent of education, Tom Luna is a college dropout. He was elected on the strength of his standing in the all-powerful Idaho Republican party, and his percieved ability to bust the teacher’s union. When someone pointed out the incongruity of having a relatively uneducated man leading the state’s ed. Dept. he purchased a bullshit degree from an online diploma mill.
Also, two recent governors, Phil Batt and Cecil Andrus were dropouts, each with only about a year of college. Andrus also served as Jimmy Carter’s interior secretary. Both, incidentally were very competent governors.
SS
True, but our very own Scott Walker does not have a college degree.
Queen Elizabeth II seems not to have gotten any degrees. Granted, she was homeschooled by some notable notables… her father, a vice-provost from Eton, and an arch-bishop. But, no degrees listed on her home page.
Karl Rove attended several colleges but graduated from none of them.
She’s also not a senior governmental official. Just because we Americans have our head of state do double-duty as head of government, doesn’t mean everyone else does it the same way.