Nicholas Frederick Brady (born April 11, 1930) is an American banker and politician from New Jersey who briefly served in the United States Senate for eight months in 1982 and served as the 68th United States Secretary of the Treasury under U.S. Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush from 1988 to 1993.

[4] After graduating from St. Mark's School in Southborough, Massachusetts, Brady attended Yale University (Bachelor of Arts, 1952), where he was a member of Chi Psi fraternity.

[6] In 1982, Kean faced the duty of filling a vacancy caused by the resignation of United States Senator Harrison A. Williams, following a planned expulsion vote in the wake of the Abscam sting operation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Williams delayed his resignation for ten months following his conviction for bribery, preventing Democratic governor Brendan Byrne from appointing a successor, until junior senator Bill Bradley announced he would vote for expulsion on March 10, 1982.

[6] At the time of Williams' resignation, two Republican candidates, U.S. Representative Millicent Fenwick and conservative activist Jeff Bell, were already in the race for the next full term for the U.S. Senate.

After a month of deliberation and consulting with over one hundred state and local Republicans, Kean chose to remain neutral in the primary and appointed Brady as a caretaker.

He resigned from office before the expiration of the term, so that Frank Lautenberg, the winner of the 1982 election, could enter the Senate early for purposes of seniority.

[7] In 1984, Reagan appointed Brady to be Chairman of the President's Commission on Executive, Legislative and Judicial Salaries.

Brady became the 68th United States Secretary of the Treasury on September 15, 1988, and served during the last four months of Reagan's presidency and throughout the George H. W. Bush administration.

Early in his tenure as Treasury Secretary, The New York Times wrote that Brady had a rocky start and was "bland on television and awkward as a public speaker."

Chuck Schumer of New York, who was a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives at the time, expressed the prevailing view: "Is he the smartest guy in the world?