Rumsfeld, Donald

(1932–)

U.S. Secretary of Defense

Born July 9, 1932, in Chicago, Illinois, Donald Henry Rumsfeld was both the 13th and the 21st U.S. secretary of defense. His career was distinguished by public service to four Republican presidents as well as management excellence in private industry. In the public sector, Rumsfeld has the distinction of being both the oldest and youngest individual ever to serve as secretary of defense. He assumed the highest civilian post at the Defense Department in January 2001 at the age of 68 under Pres. George W. Bush, having held the same position previously under Pres. Gerald R. Ford at the age of 44.

After attending Princeton University on dual academic and naval reserve officer training scholarships, Rumsfeld graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in 1954. He then served for three years in the U.S. Navy as a naval aviator and flight instructor. After discharge, Rumsfeld traveled to Washington, D.C., and served for one year as administrative assistant to Republican representative David Dennison of Ohio. He then spent a year working on the staff of Republican representative Robert Griffin of Michigan before returning to Chicago in 1960 for a job in investment banking.

In 1962, Rumsfeld was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives; the voters of Illinois reelected him three times before he resigned on May 25, 1969, to direct the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) and serve as administrative assistant to Pres. Richard M. Nixon. Following his one-year tenure at OEO, Rumsfeld continued to serve in various high-level positions for the Nixon administration for the next four years. He held the posts of counselor to the president as well as of director of the Economic Stabilization Program (1971–72). He was also U.S. ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization from 1973 until Nixon's resignation in 1974 following the Watergate scandal.

Although noted for his services in the Nixon administration, Rumsfeld assumed even greater responsibility and higher visibility during the three-year presidency of Gerald R. Ford. First designated head of the August 1974 transition team between the Nixon and Ford administrations, Rumsfeld served as White House chief of staff from 1974 to 1975 until he was succeeded by deputy chief of staff Richard B. Cheney. Immediately following the position change, Ford named Rumsfeld secretary of defense. Confirmed in 1975 as the 13th and youngest secretary of defense in American history, he remained at the Pentagon until Georgia governor Jimmy Carter assumed the presidency in January 1977. Before leaving office President Ford presented Rumsfeld with the Presidential Medal of Freedom on January 19, 1977, the highest national award available to civilians.

During the next 24 years Rumsfeld remained active both in the private and public sectors, heading various pharmaceutical and telecommunications firms while participating on federal panels. From 1977 until 1985 he headed G.D. Searle & Company, a corporation specializing in pharmaceutical production. Rumsfeld was named “Outstanding Chief Executive Officer in the Pharmaceutical Industry” twice during his eight-year tenure with Searle, first by the Wall Street Transcript in 1980 and again by Financial World in 1981. During that time he also served on President's General Advisory Committee on Arms Control (1982–86) and as special presidential ambassador to the Middle East (1983–84). After spending five more years in the private sector while also serving as a member of the Commission on U.S.–Japanese Relations (1989–91), Rumsfeld assumed the post of chairman and chief executive officer (1990–93) of General Instrument Corporation, a telecommunications [Page 756]company; from 1997 until January 2001, he served as board chairman of the pharmaceutical business Gilead Sciences.

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