Donald Rumsfeld
\n
Donald Henry Rumsfeld (born
July 9,
1932) is the current
Secretary of Defense of the
United States, since
2001, under
President George W. Bush. His current term of office is as the 21st Secretary of Defense, and he is the oldest person to have held that position. He served as the 13th Secretary of Defense from
1975 to
1977, making him also the youngest person to have held the position, under President
Gerald Ford. Rumsfeld has also had a long career in private industry and public service.
Life
Born in Chicago, Illinois, of German descent, Donald Rumsfeld attended Princeton University on scholarship (AB, 1954) and served in the United States Navy (1954-57) as a Naval aviator. He went to Washington, DC, in 1957, during the Eisenhower Administration, to serve as Administrative Assistant to a Congressman from Ohio. After a stint with an investment banking firm, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois in 1962, at the age of 30, and was re-elected in 1964, 1966, and 1968.
Rumsfeld resigned from Congress in 1969 during his fourth term to serve in the Nixon Administration as Director of the United States Office of Economic Opportunity, Assistant to the President, and a member of the President's Cabinet (1969-1970); Counselor to the President, Director of the Economic Stabilization Program; and member of the President's Cabinet (1971-1972).
In 1973, he left Washington, DC, to serve as U.S. ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Brussels, Belgium (1973-1974).
In August 1974, he was called back to Washington, DC, to serve in the Ford Administration successively as Chairman of the transition to the Presidency of Gerald R. Ford (1974); White House Chief of Staff member of the President's Cabinet (1974-1975); and the 13th U.S. Secretary of Defense (1975-1977). In 1977, Rumsfeld was awarded the nation's highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
's special envoy to the Middle East, meeting with Saddam Hussein during a visit to Baghdad, Iraq in 1983. Video frame capture, see the complete video]]
From 1977 to 1985 Rumsfeld served as Chief Executive Officer, President, and then Chairman of G.D. Searle & Co., a worldwide pharmaceutical company. (It was under Rumsfeld that Searle got FDA approval for the artificial sweetener aspartame, after many years of rejection.) The successful turnaround there earned him awards as the Outstanding Chief Executive Officer in the Pharmaceutical Industry from the Wall Street Transcript (1980) and Financial World (1981).
From 1985 to 1990 he was in private business. During his business career, Rumsfeld continued public service in a variety of posts, including:
- Member of the President's General Advisory Committee on Arms Control - Reagan Administration (1982 - 1986); \n*President Reagan's Special Envoy on the Law of the Sea Treaty (1982 - 1983); \n*Senior Advisor to President Reagan's Panel on Strategic Systems (1983 - 1984); \n*Member of the U.S. Joint Advisory Commission on U.S./Japan Relations - Reagan Administration (1983 - 1984); \n*President Reagan's Special Envoy to the Middle East (1983 - 1984); \n*Member of the National Commission on the Public Service (1987 - 1990); \n*Member of the National Economic Commission (1988 - 1989); \n*Member of the Board of Visitors of the National Defense University (1988 - 1992); \n*Member of the Commission on U.S./Japan Relations (1989 - 1991); \n*FCC's High Definition Television Advisory Committee (1992 - 1993); \n*Chairman, Commission on the Ballistic Missile Threat to the United States (1998 - 1999); \n*Member of the U.S. Trade Deficit Review Commission (1999 - 2000); and \n*Chairman of the U.S. Commission to Assess National Security Space Management and Organization (2000).
Rumsfeld served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of General Instrument Corporation from 1990 to 1993. A leader in broadband transmission, distribution, and access control technologies for cable, satellite and terrestrial broadcasting applications, the company pioneered the development of the first all-digital high definition television (HDTV) technology. After taking the company public and returning it to profitability, Rumsfeld returned to private business in late 1993. Until being sworn in as the 21st Secretary of Defense, Rumsfeld served as Chairman of
Gilead Sciences, Inc. He was also chair of the
RAND Corporation.
During his period as Reagan's Special Envoy to the Middle East, Rumsfeld was the main conduit for crucial American military intelligence, hardware and strategic advice to Saddam Hussein, then fighting Iran in the
Iran-Iraq war. During this period, US policy supported Iraq, believing it to be a useful buffer against Iran's new religious government, although the United States had originally been hesitant to work with a Soviet client state. When he visited on December 19-20, 1983, he and
Saddam Hussein had a 90 minute discussion which covered
Syria's occupation of
Lebanon, preventing Syrian and Iranian expansion, preventing arms sales to Iran by foreign countries, increasing Iraqi oil production via a possible new oil pipeline across Jordan. Not mentioned was
Iraqi production and use of chemical weapons. The Iranian government had cited several Iraqi air and ground chemical weapons attacks in the preceding two months, and the Iranian news agency had reported the use of chemical weapons as early as 1981. The US State Department first condemned the use of chemical weapons in the war on March 5, 1984, two days before the
ICRC confirmed Iranian allegations.
Rumsfeld's civic activities included service as a member of the National Academy of Public Administration and a member of the boards of trustees of the Gerald R. Ford Foundation, the Eisenhower Exchange Fellowships, the
Hoover Institution at
Stanford University, and the National Park Foundation. He was also a member of the U.S./Russia Business Forum and Chairman of the Congressional Leadership's National Security Advisory Group.
Rumsfeld was active in the
Project for the New American Century, whose goal is to promote American global leadership and which in September 2000
proposed to invade Iraq.
, and Secretary of State
Colin Powell listen to President
George W. Bush speak.]]
As Secretary of Defense under
George W. Bush, Rumsfeld was frequently in the public eye as he headed the defense department during the
U.S. invasion of Afghanistan and the
2003 invasion of Iraq. His actions have been characterized by his aggressive personality, outspoken opinions, and unique sense of humor. His press conferences were frequent, and the Secretary has developed a strong love-hate relationship with many American reporters.
Due to the stance of the
German and
French governments against a war in Iraq, Rumsfeld labeled these countries in an offhand remark as part of "
Old Europe" (implying that those European countries which supported the war effort were part of a newer, modern Europe). The label gained instant popularity by a wide variety of commentators. In separate remarks, he named the countries which would not be willing to support the war effort at all as Cuba, Libya and Germany. Both remarks were regarded as offensive by the respective governments. On
February 27, 2003,
Spanish prime minister
José María Aznar personally requested of
George W. Bush that he discourage Rumsfeld from speaking about European defense policy because his remarks were so widely perceived as counterproductive and inflammatory. Aznar indicated that
Colin Powell would be better perceived.
The
BBC Radio 4 current affairs program
Broadcasting House had been so taken by Rumsfeld's various remarks that it once held a regular slot called "The Donald Rumsfeld Soundbite of the Week" in which they played his most amusing comment from that week. Rumsfeld himself is said to have found the slot "hilarious." Rumsfeld's penchant for talking with his hands also made him the butt of jokes, including
a series portraying him as a
martial arts master.
In May 2004, Rumsfeld came under especially severe criticism when photographs of abusive treatment of prisoners in
Abu Ghraib (prison) in
Iraq came to light. Many senior
Democratic leaders in Congress called for his resignation. A report by the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) listing abuses in detail, as early as October 2003, was given to the U.S. Army and briefed to high ranking members of the
Bush administration by the President of the ICRD during a meeting at the
White House.
[1] In a statement to the Senate Armed Services Committee, Rumsfeld stated that the US army and government had only been informed about the allegations in January, 2004. \n
[1] The abuses were found to be "widespread and routine",
[1] also in other US prisons such as those of
Guantanamo and Afghanistan.
[1]
During a visit to the prison in May 2004, he stated, "The people who engaged in abuses will be brought to justice. The world will see how a free and democratic society functions."
[1]
On 17 June 2004, Rumsfeld admitted during a news conference that he had personally ordered two prisoners to be concealled from the
International Committee of the Red Cross, one at
Camp Cropper, at the instigation of
CIA chief
George Tenet - whose resignation was effective 11 July 2004 - in apparent
violation of the
Geneva Convention.
(BBC) (NYT)
Quotes
\n
President Isaias Afewerki shake hands in Eritrea]]
Among the Pentagon press corps, Rumsfeld has a reputation as a master of
double speak. There is a common misconception that, in such instances, Rumsfeld is stumbling blindly through uncharted sentences; however, in many cases he answers questions this way intentionally, and for a laugh. Therefore, specific context should be considered with each quote. (See also: Rumsfeld poetry)
- "As we know,
There are known knowns.
There are things we know we know.
We also know
There are known unknowns.
That is to say
We know there are some things
We do not know.
But there are also unknown unknowns,
The ones we don't know
We don't know." — February 12, 2002, from a Department of Defense news briefing and sometimes set satirically as a poem—awarded 2003 ‘Foot in Mouth’ prize by Plain English Campaign[1] (although not everyone shares their view, see Mark Steyn's response).
- We know where they [the Iraqi weapons of mass destruction] are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat." — March 30, 2003 in an interview with George Stephanopoulos on ABC This Week.
- "It will be a long, hard slog." referring to the ongoing War on Terrorism.
- "Go massive. Sweep it all up. Things related and not." — September 11, 2001 at the National Military Command Center (quoted in notes taken by aides, as reported on CBS News)
- "Congress, the press, and the bureaucracy too often focus on how much money or effort is spent, rather than whether the money or effort actually achieves the announced goal."
- "There will be good moments, and there will be less good moments." — April 7, 2004, in reference to the 2004 spring uprising in Iraq
Henry Kissinger is reputed to have said "Donald Rumsfeld is the most ruthless man I have ever met… and I mean that as a compliment."
[1]
References
\n*Broadcasting House's "Donald Rumsfeld Library of Quotations"\n*
Government Biography of Rumsfeld\n*
The Saddam in Rumsfeld's Closet, Jeremy Scahill\n*
More Donald Rumsfeld Quotes\n*
Crude Vision: How Oil Interests Obscured US Government Focus On Chemical Weapons Use by Saddam Hussein, Institute for Policy Studies, March 24, 2003\n*
Close-Up: Young Rumsfeld, James Mann, The Atlantic Monthly, November 2003\n*
'This is war' Rumsfeld told Bush, Washington Times, February 23, 2004
External links
\n*Conspiracy theory about Rumsfeld\n*
Donald Rumsfeld caught lying about weapons of mass destruction\n*
Rumsfeld Fighting Technique - Rumsfeld's penchant for talking with his hands has additionally made himself the butt of jokes, including a series portraying him as a
martial arts master.\n*
Rumsfeld Humor
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Preceded by:
James R. Schlesinger \n| width="40%" align="center" rowspan="2"|
United States Secretary of Defense\n| width="30%" align="center"|
Succeeded by:
Harold Brown\n|-\n| width="30%" align="center"|
Preceded by:
William S. Cohen \n| width="30%" align="center"|
Succeeded by:
(in office)\n|-\n| width="30%" align="center"|
Preceded by:
Alexander Haig \n| width="40%" align="center"|
White House Chief of Staff\n| width="30%" align="center"|
Succeeded by:
Dick Cheney\n|}\nRumsfeld, Donald\nRumsfeld\nRumsfeld, Donald
\n \n \n\n\n
