Donald Rumsfeld

Donald Rumsfeld
Born	Donald Henry Rumsfeld 9 7, 1932
Birthplace	Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Died	Template:Death date and age Taos, New Mexico, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Politician, businessman, naval officer
Known for	Serving as both the youngest and oldest U.S. Secretary of Defense; central role in the Iraq War and War in Afghanistan
Education	Princeton University (AB)
Spouse(s)	Joyce Pierson (m. 1954)
Children	3
Awards	Presidential Medal of Freedom
Website	[http://www.rumsfeld.com/ Official site]

Donald Henry Rumsfeld (July 9, 1932 – June 29, 2021) was an American politician, businessman, and naval officer whose career in public life spanned more than four decades and left a lasting imprint on American defense policy and political culture. He served as the 13th United States Secretary of Defense from 1975 to 1977 under President Gerald Ford and as the 21st Secretary of Defense from 2001 to 2006 under President George W. Bush, making him both the youngest and the oldest person to hold the position. He was the only person to serve twice as Secretary of Defense. Before his ascent to the Pentagon, Rumsfeld represented Illinois's 13th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives for four terms (1963–1969), served as director of the Office of Economic Opportunity (1969–1970), counselor to the president (1969–1973), U.S. Permanent Representative to NATO (1973–1974), and White House Chief of Staff (1974–1975). Between his two stints at the Pentagon, he held senior positions in the private sector, serving as CEO and chairman of several major corporations. His second tenure as Secretary of Defense, dominated by the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the controversy over weapons of mass destruction, and the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal, became one of the most debated chapters in modern American military history.

Early Life

Donald Henry Rumsfeld was born on July 9, 1932, in Chicago, Illinois. He grew up in the northern suburbs of Chicago, in a middle-class family of German descent. His father, George Donald Rumsfeld, was a real estate salesman, and his mother was Jeannette Kearsley Husted.

Rumsfeld attended New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois, where he was active in athletics, particularly wrestling. He earned an academic and ROTC scholarship to Princeton University. At Princeton, Rumsfeld studied political science and was a member of the varsity wrestling team, competing at 157 pounds and captaining the squad. He was also involved in student government and other campus activities.

After graduating from Princeton in 1954 with an A.B. degree in political science, Rumsfeld entered the United States Navy, serving as a naval aviator and flight instructor. He served on active duty from 1954 to 1957 and continued his service in the Navy Reserve, ultimately attaining the rank of Captain. His military service shaped his interest in national defense and public policy, and would later inform his approach to the Department of Defense.

During his time in the Navy, Rumsfeld married his high school sweetheart, Joyce Pierson, on December 27, 1954. The couple would go on to have three children together. After completing his active-duty service, Rumsfeld moved to Washington, D.C., where he served as an administrative assistant to Congressman David S. Dennison Jr. and later to Congressman Robert P. Griffin of Michigan, gaining his first exposure to the workings of Capitol Hill.

Education

Rumsfeld attended Princeton University on a scholarship, graduating in 1954 with an A.B. degree in political science. At Princeton, he was a standout student-athlete, serving as captain of the wrestling team and participating in the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC). He also attended Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C., though he did not complete a law degree there, choosing instead to pursue a career in politics.

Career

Congressional Career (1963–1969)

In 1962, at the age of 30, Rumsfeld won election to the United States House of Representatives from Illinois's 13th congressional district, succeeding Marguerite Stitt Church. He was re-elected three times, serving from January 3, 1963, until his resignation on May 25, 1969. As a congressman, Rumsfeld was considered part of the reform-minded wing of the Republican Party. He supported civil rights legislation, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

In Congress, Rumsfeld gained a reputation for fiscal conservatism and an interest in government reform. He was among a group of younger Republican members who sought to modernize the party's approach to governance and challenge the entrenched leadership. His congressional career, while relatively brief, established him as an ambitious and energetic figure within Republican politics.

Nixon Administration (1969–1974)

In 1969, President Richard Nixon appointed Rumsfeld to head the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO), an agency created as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson's War on Poverty. Rumsfeld served as OEO director from May 27, 1969, to December 11, 1970. In this role, he was tasked with managing an agency that many in the Nixon administration wanted to dismantle. Rumsfeld hired a young Dick Cheney as a special assistant, beginning a professional partnership that would shape American politics for decades. According to accounts of their first meeting, Cheney's initial job interview with Rumsfeld was notably awkward, but the memo Cheney subsequently wrote so impressed Rumsfeld that it sparked their lasting professional alliance.

On December 11, 1970, Rumsfeld was appointed Counselor to the President, a position carrying Cabinet-level status. In this capacity, he advised Nixon on a range of domestic policy issues. From October 15, 1971, to February 2, 1973, he served concurrently as Director of the Cost of Living Council, overseeing the Economic Stabilization Program that administered the wage and price controls Nixon had imposed in August 1971.

In February 1973, Rumsfeld was appointed the U.S. Permanent Representative to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a posting that took him to Brussels, Belgium. This assignment removed him from Washington during the height of the Watergate scandal, a circumstance that some observers noted served to insulate his reputation from the scandal that ultimately brought down the Nixon presidency.

Ford Administration (1974–1977)

Following Nixon's resignation in August 1974, President Gerald Ford recalled Rumsfeld from Brussels and appointed him White House Chief of Staff on September 21, 1974. At 42, Rumsfeld became one of the youngest persons to serve in that role. As Chief of Staff, he was responsible for organizing the new Ford administration in the chaotic aftermath of Watergate and Nixon's departure. He worked to establish orderly decision-making processes within the White House and served as a key gatekeeper to the Oval Office.

In what became known informally as the "Halloween Massacre" of November 1975, Ford carried out a major reshuffling of his national security team. Rumsfeld was nominated to succeed James Schlesinger as Secretary of Defense, and he recommended Dick Cheney as his replacement as Chief of Staff. Rumsfeld was confirmed and sworn in as the 13th Secretary of Defense on November 20, 1975, becoming, at 43, the youngest person to hold the position — a record that still stands.

During his first tenure as Secretary of Defense, Rumsfeld oversaw the Pentagon in the final stages of the Cold War, advocating for increased defense spending and modernization of the U.S. military's strategic forces. He was skeptical of détente with the Soviet Union and pressed for robust defense capabilities. He served in this capacity until January 20, 1977, when Ford left office following his defeat in the 1976 presidential election to Jimmy Carter.

Private Sector Career (1977–2001)

After leaving government in 1977, Rumsfeld entered the private sector. He was named president and then CEO of G. D. Searle & Company, a major pharmaceutical corporation. During his tenure at Searle, the company successfully obtained Food and Drug Administration approval for the artificial sweetener aspartame, marketed under the brand name NutraSweet, which became a major commercial success. Rumsfeld led the company until its acquisition by Monsanto in 1985.

From 1990 to 1993, Rumsfeld served as CEO of General Instrument Corporation, a technology and electronics company. He later served as chairman of the board of Gilead Sciences, a biopharmaceutical company, from 1997 to 2001.

During his years in the private sector, Rumsfeld remained involved in public policy discussions. In 1983, President Ronald Reagan appointed him as Special Envoy to the Middle East, a role he held from November 3, 1983, to May 15, 1984. In this capacity, Rumsfeld traveled to Iraq and met with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein — meetings that would become the subject of significant scrutiny two decades later when the United States went to war against Hussein's regime.

In 1998, Rumsfeld chaired the Commission to Assess the Ballistic Missile Threat to the United States, known as the Rumsfeld Commission, which concluded that several nations, including North Korea and Iran, could develop intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the United States within five years of a decision to do so. The commission's findings were influential in subsequent debates over missile defense.

Second Tenure as Secretary of Defense (2001–2006)

On January 20, 2001, Rumsfeld was sworn in as the 21st Secretary of Defense under President George W. Bush, becoming the oldest person to serve in the role. He succeeded William Cohen and entered office with an agenda focused on military transformation — modernizing the armed forces to address post-Cold War threats with lighter, more agile, and technologically advanced capabilities.

September 11 Attacks and Afghanistan

The September 11 attacks of 2001 fundamentally altered Rumsfeld's tenure at the Pentagon. On the morning of the attacks, Rumsfeld was in his office at the Pentagon when American Airlines Flight 77 struck the building. He assisted with rescue efforts outside the damaged section before returning to the Pentagon's command center to coordinate the military response.

In the weeks following the attacks, Rumsfeld oversaw the planning and execution of Operation Enduring Freedom, the U.S. military invasion of Afghanistan that began on October 7, 2001. The campaign, which employed a combination of small numbers of U.S. Special Operations forces working with the Afghan Northern Alliance, supported by precision airpower, quickly toppled the Taliban regime. The approach was seen by many military analysts as a model of the kind of transformed warfare Rumsfeld had championed.

Iraq War

Rumsfeld played a central role in the decision to invade Iraq in March 2003. Before and during the Iraq War, he asserted that Iraq possessed an active weapons of mass destruction (WMD) program, claims that served as a principal justification for the invasion. No stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction were ever found in Iraq.

A Pentagon Inspector General report subsequently found that Rumsfeld's top policy aide, Douglas Feith, "developed, produced, and then disseminated alternative intelligence assessments on the Iraq and al-Qaeda relationship, which included some conclusions that were inconsistent with the consensus of the Intelligence Community," and that these assessments were provided to senior decision-makers.

Rumsfeld's approach to the Iraq War drew significant criticism on several fronts. He was accused of deploying too few troops for the invasion and, in particular, for the post-invasion occupation. His reported dismissal of widespread looting in Baghdad with the remark "stuff happens" became one of the most cited quotes of the conflict. When questioned by soldiers about inadequate vehicle armor, Rumsfeld responded that "you go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time," a statement that drew further public criticism.

His concept of a lighter, faster military force — while effective in the initial military campaign — proved insufficient for the subsequent counterinsurgency and stabilization operations required in Iraq. The resulting insurgency, sectarian violence, and instability undermined the case for the war's planning and execution.

Abu Ghraib and Detainee Policy

Rumsfeld's tenure was further marked by the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal, which came to public attention in April 2004 when photographs depicting the abuse and humiliation of Iraqi detainees by U.S. military personnel at Abu Ghraib prison were published. The scandal prompted international condemnation and raised questions about the policies governing the treatment of detainees under Rumsfeld's authority. Rumsfeld twice offered his resignation to President Bush over the Abu Ghraib scandal, but Bush declined to accept it at the time.

The broader issue of detainee treatment under Rumsfeld's leadership — including the use of enhanced interrogation techniques at Guantanamo Bay detention camp and other facilities — remained a subject of intense legal and political debate throughout and after his tenure.

Resignation

As the situation in Iraq deteriorated and public support for the war declined, Rumsfeld faced increasing calls for his resignation from members of Congress in both parties, retired military officers, and editorial boards. In April 2006, a group of retired generals publicly called for his removal, in what became known as the "Generals' revolt."

On November 8, 2006, the day after the midterm elections in which the Republican Party lost control of both the House and Senate — with the Iraq War a central issue — President Bush announced that Rumsfeld would step down as Secretary of Defense. He was succeeded by Robert Gates on December 18, 2006.

"Known and Unknown"

One of Rumsfeld's most widely quoted formulations came during a February 12, 2002, Department of Defense news briefing, when he discussed the absence of evidence linking Iraq to weapons of mass destruction: "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." The statement attracted both ridicule and philosophical analysis, and it later became the title of his 2011 memoir, Known and Unknown: A Memoir.

Personal Life

Rumsfeld married Joyce Pierson on December 27, 1954; the couple had met while students at New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois. They had three children together. The marriage lasted until Rumsfeld's death in 2021.

After leaving government in 2006, Rumsfeld and his wife divided their time between homes in Taos, New Mexico, and the Eastern Shore of Maryland. He established the Rumsfeld Foundation, which supported microfinance initiatives and provided scholarships to students from Central Asia and other regions.

In retirement, Rumsfeld published two books: Known and Unknown: A Memoir (2011) and Rumsfeld's Rules: Leadership Lessons in Business, Politics, War, and Life (2013). He also developed a mobile application based on a solitaire card game, which he released in 2014.

Donald Rumsfeld died on June 29, 2021, at his home in Taos, New Mexico, at the age of 88. His family announced that the cause of death was multiple myeloma, a form of cancer. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Recognition

Rumsfeld received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award, in 1977 from President Ford. Over the course of his career, he received numerous other awards and commendations for his public and military service.

Following his death, President George W. Bush released a statement describing Rumsfeld as "a man of intelligence, integrity, and almost inexhaustible energy" who "never paled before tough decisions, and never flinched from responsibility."

His legacy, however, was fiercely contested. Human rights organizations and critics cited the Abu Ghraib scandal, the treatment of detainees, and the decision to invade Iraq based on intelligence claims that proved unfounded as defining elements of his tenure. PBS's Frontline produced multiple documentaries examining Rumsfeld's influence on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the policies that accompanied them.

Rumsfeld's career in the private sector also garnered recognition; he was credited with turning around G. D. Searle & Company and overseeing the commercial launch of aspartame, and his leadership of General Instrument and chairmanship of Gilead Sciences further established his profile in the business world.

Legacy

Donald Rumsfeld's legacy is among the most contested of any modern American political figure. His supporters credited him with a vision of military transformation that sought to make the U.S. armed forces more agile and technologically advanced, and with the rapid initial success of the military campaign in Afghanistan. His critics pointed to the Iraq War — launched on the basis of intelligence claims about weapons of mass destruction that proved unfounded — and to the subsequent occupation, which many military and political analysts described as marked by inadequate planning and insufficient troop levels.

The Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal and broader questions about detainee treatment under his authority remained central to assessments of his tenure. Multiple lawsuits were filed against Rumsfeld by former detainees alleging abuse, and human rights organizations continued to cite these issues as part of his record.

His professional relationship with Dick Cheney, which began with an awkward job interview in the Nixon White House, shaped American governance across multiple administrations. The two men's influence on the George W. Bush administration's national security policies — from the response to the September 11 attacks to the decision to invade Iraq — placed them at the center of debates that continued long after both left office.

The U.S. Department of Defense noted upon his death that Rumsfeld was the only person to have served twice as Secretary of Defense, and both the youngest and oldest to hold the position — a statistical distinction reflecting the unusual arc of his career across the span of American politics from the early Cold War through the post-9/11 era.

Rumsfeld's "known unknowns" formulation entered popular culture and philosophical discourse, cited as an example of epistemological reasoning by some and as evasive bureaucratic language by others. His memoir, titled Known and Unknown, was itself an acknowledgment of the phrase's enduring resonance.