Frank Carlucci

Frank Carlucci
Official portrait, 1987
Frank Carlucci
Born	Frank Charles Carlucci III 18 10, 1930
Birthplace	Scranton, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	Template:Death date and age McLean, Virginia, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Politician, diplomat, businessman
Known for	16th United States Secretary of Defense; Chairman of The Carlyle Group
Education	Princeton University (A.B.) Harvard Business School (M.B.A.)
Spouse(s)	Template:Plainlist
Awards	Presidential Medal of Freedom, Distinguished Intelligence Medal, Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service

Frank Charles Carlucci III (October 18, 1930 – June 3, 2018) was an American politician, diplomat, and businessman whose career spanned nearly four decades of public service and another two decades in the private sector. A grandson of immigrants from southern Italy, Carlucci rose from Scranton, Pennsylvania, to occupy some of the most consequential positions in the United States government, serving under every president from John F. Kennedy to Ronald Reagan. He served as the 16th United States Secretary of Defense from 1987 to 1989, becoming the first Italian American to hold that office. Before that appointment, he held a series of senior government roles including Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity, United States Ambassador to Portugal, Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Deputy Secretary of Defense, and National Security Advisor. Known within Washington circles for his low-key demeanor and bureaucratic skill, Carlucci was described as an expert "budget-whacker" and a trusted problem-solver for presidents and cabinet secretaries alike. After leaving government, he became chairman of The Carlyle Group, one of the world's largest private equity firms, where he spent more than a decade shaping its growth into a global investment powerhouse.

Early Life

Frank Charles Carlucci III was born on October 18, 1930, in Scranton, Pennsylvania, to Roxanne and Frank Charles Carlucci Jr. He was the grandson of immigrants from southern Italy who had settled in the coal country of northeastern Pennsylvania. His father was a successful insurance broker in Scranton.

Growing up in Scranton, Carlucci developed an early aptitude for athletics and academics. He attended the Wyoming Seminary, a college preparatory school in nearby Kingston, Pennsylvania, where he was a standout wrestler. His wrestling career continued through college and would later prove formative in shaping his competitive and disciplined approach to public life.

Carlucci enrolled at Princeton University, where he was a member of the Class of 1952. At Princeton, he was a roommate of Donald Rumsfeld, who would go on to become Secretary of Defense himself — a coincidence that would link the two men's careers in government for decades to come. Carlucci was a varsity wrestler at Princeton and earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1952.

After completing his undergraduate education, Carlucci served as an officer in the United States Navy during the Korean War. Following his military service, he attended Harvard Business School, where he earned a Master of Business Administration degree.

Education

Carlucci's formal education spanned three notable institutions. He first attended Wyoming Seminary in Kingston, Pennsylvania, for his secondary education. He then earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Princeton University in 1952, where he was a member of the wrestling team and roomed with future Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. After his service in the Navy, Carlucci obtained his Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School. His Princeton connection would remain important throughout his life; his daughter, Kristin Carlucci Weed, later honored his legacy through the university, and the Princeton Alumni Weekly profiled the family's efforts to preserve his story of public service.

Career

Early Diplomatic Career

Carlucci entered the United States Foreign Service in 1956 and spent the first phase of his career as a diplomat in several developing nations. His early postings included assignments in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (then Congo), Zanzibar, Brazil, and other locations where American interests were active during the Cold War.

His posting in the Congo proved particularly dangerous. While serving there in the early 1960s, during a period of intense political upheaval following the country's independence from Belgium, Carlucci was stabbed and nearly killed in a confrontation. The incident left lasting scars and underscored the physical risks that accompanied American diplomatic work in volatile regions during the Cold War era. In Zanzibar, he was also declared persona non grata by the revolutionary government there, further illustrating the hazardous nature of his early foreign service assignments.

His posting to Brazil in the late 1960s coincided with the country's military dictatorship. Carlucci served as a political counselor at the U.S. Embassy and later as an assistant to the ambassador. These early experiences in unstable political environments gave Carlucci a deep understanding of Cold War geopolitics and established his reputation as a capable operator in difficult circumstances.

Office of Economic Opportunity

In 1970, Carlucci's career shifted from diplomacy to domestic policy when President Richard Nixon appointed him to lead the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO), the agency that administered many of the Great Society anti-poverty programs originally established under President Lyndon B. Johnson. He succeeded his Princeton roommate Donald Rumsfeld in the post, serving as director from January 1971 to December 1972.

The OEO assignment was politically fraught. Many in the Nixon administration sought to dismantle or drastically curtail the agency's programs, while advocates for the poor fought to preserve them. Carlucci navigated these competing pressures with the pragmatic approach that would characterize his career, earning a reputation for competent management even in politically charged environments.

Following his time at the OEO, Carlucci served in other domestic policy positions in the Nixon and Ford administrations, including a role at the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, where he served as an undersecretary.

Ambassador to Portugal

In January 1975, President Gerald Ford appointed Carlucci as the United States Ambassador to Portugal, a post he held until February 1978, serving also under President Jimmy Carter. Carlucci arrived in Lisbon during one of the most turbulent periods in modern Portuguese history. The Carnation Revolution of April 1974 had overthrown the authoritarian Estado Novo regime, and Portugal was in the midst of a chaotic transition that included a strong leftist and communist movement that sought to pull the country away from the Western alliance.

Carlucci's role in Portugal was considered one of the most critical diplomatic assignments of the Cold War era in Western Europe. He worked to support democratic forces in Portugal and to prevent the country from falling under communist influence at a time when such an outcome was considered a real possibility by American policymakers. His performance in Lisbon was widely credited with helping to stabilize the situation and keep Portugal within the NATO alliance. The posting cemented his reputation as a skilled diplomat capable of operating effectively in crisis conditions.

Deputy Director of the CIA

On February 10, 1978, Carlucci was appointed Deputy Director of Central Intelligence under DCI Stansfield Turner, serving under President Jimmy Carter and continuing briefly under President Reagan until February 5, 1981. As the 13th Deputy Director of the CIA, Carlucci played a key role in the management and reform of the intelligence agency during a period when it was still recovering from the revelations of the Church Committee investigations of the mid-1970s, which had exposed widespread abuses by the intelligence community.

His tenure at the CIA was marked by efforts to rebuild morale and operational capacity within the agency. Carlucci was respected within the intelligence community for his administrative competence and his ability to work across partisan lines, having now served in senior positions under both Republican and Democratic presidents.

Deputy Secretary of Defense

When Ronald Reagan took office in January 1981, Carlucci was appointed Deputy Secretary of Defense under Secretary Caspar Weinberger, serving from February 4, 1981, to December 31, 1982. In this role, Carlucci was responsible for the day-to-day management of the Department of Defense during a period of significant military buildup. The Reagan administration was committed to a massive increase in defense spending as part of its strategy to confront the Soviet Union, and Carlucci played a central role in overseeing the implementation of that buildup.

His reputation as a skilled manager and budget expert was put to use in the Pentagon, where he worked to ensure that the increased defense spending was directed effectively. He departed the position at the end of 1982, and was succeeded by Paul Thayer.

After leaving the Pentagon, Carlucci moved to the private sector, becoming president and chief operating officer of Sears World Trade, a trading subsidiary of Sears, Roebuck and Company.

National Security Advisor

Carlucci returned to government in December 1986, when President Reagan appointed him as National Security Advisor, succeeding Vice Admiral John Poindexter, who had resigned in the wake of the Iran–Contra affair. The Iran-Contra scandal had deeply damaged the credibility of the National Security Council staff, and Carlucci was brought in specifically to restore order and professionalism to the office.

As the 14th National Security Advisor, serving from December 2, 1986, to November 23, 1987, Carlucci undertook a thorough reorganization of the NSC staff. His deputies included Peter Rodman and Colin Powell, the latter of whom would succeed him as National Security Advisor. Carlucci's approach was to depoliticize the NSC process and restore the traditional role of the National Security Advisor as an honest broker among competing government agencies rather than an independent policy operator.

His low-key management style proved effective in calming the crisis atmosphere that had surrounded the NSC in the aftermath of Iran-Contra. Carlucci's success in the role led directly to his next and most prominent appointment.

Secretary of Defense

On November 23, 1987, President Reagan appointed Carlucci as the 16th United States Secretary of Defense, succeeding Caspar Weinberger, who had resigned. Carlucci served in the position until the end of the Reagan administration on January 20, 1989, and was succeeded by Dick Cheney under President George H. W. Bush.

As Secretary of Defense, Carlucci inherited the enormous Pentagon budget that had been built up during the Reagan years and was tasked with managing it during a period when fiscal pressures were beginning to demand reductions. He was known for his willingness to make difficult budget decisions, earning the nickname of a "budget-whacker" for his pragmatic approach to defense spending. Unlike his predecessor Weinberger, who had fought vigorously against any defense cuts, Carlucci adopted a more realistic stance, acknowledging that the era of unrestrained defense spending growth was coming to an end.

Carlucci's tenure as Secretary of Defense also coincided with an important transitional period in the Cold War. The late 1980s saw significant changes in the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union, as Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev pursued policies of glasnost and perestroika. Carlucci worked with Secretary of State George Shultz and other senior officials to manage this evolving relationship while maintaining American military readiness.

He was the first Italian American to serve as Secretary of Defense, a distinction noted at the time and in subsequent accounts of his career.

Earlier in his career, in 1981, while serving as Deputy Secretary of Defense, Carlucci delivered a notable speech at the Munich Security Conference, calling on European NATO members to support the United States in securing common interests in the Persian Gulf region. This speech reflected the broader Reagan administration concern about Soviet influence in the Middle East and the need for allied burden-sharing in defense.

The Carlyle Group and Private Sector Career

After leaving government service in January 1989, Carlucci joined The Carlyle Group, a Washington-based private equity firm that had been founded in 1987. He became the firm's chairman, a position he held for more than a decade, and was instrumental in transforming Carlyle from a relatively small investment firm into one of the world's largest and most influential private equity companies.

Under Carlucci's leadership, The Carlyle Group leveraged connections in the defense and government sectors to build a significant portfolio of defense-related investments. The firm's roster of advisors and associates included numerous former senior government officials from both parties, and Carlyle became synonymous with the intersection of government service and private investment that characterized Washington's revolving-door culture.

Carlucci's role at Carlyle drew both admiration and criticism. Supporters credited him with building a successful and legitimate investment enterprise, while critics raised concerns about the influence that former government officials wielded in the defense industry. The Carlyle Group's investments ranged across defense, aerospace, telecommunications, and other sectors.

Carlucci also served on numerous corporate boards and advisory panels during his post-government career. He was associated with organizations including the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and the RAND Corporation, to which he was a notable donor.

In his later years, Carlucci faced a legal dispute involving investments. In 2017, he pursued legal action in a Florida court to enforce a $37 million judgment against an individual who had induced him to invest in a scheme that resulted in significant financial losses.

Personal Life

Frank Carlucci married Jean Anthony in 1954; the couple divorced in 1974. He married his second wife, Marcia Myers, in 1976. He had children from both marriages, including his daughter Kristin Carlucci Weed, who later wrote a book honoring her father's career in public service, building on an unfinished memoir he had begun before his death.

Carlucci was known for his physical fitness and competitive nature, attributes that traced back to his days as a wrestler at Princeton and Wyoming Seminary. He maintained an active lifestyle throughout his career and was described by colleagues as intense but approachable in person, with a management style that valued competence and discretion over public grandstanding.

Carlucci resided in McLean, Virginia, in the later decades of his life. He died there on June 3, 2018, at the age of 87. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery with military honors, a recognition of both his Navy service during the Korean War and his decades of service to the nation at the highest levels of government.

Recognition

Throughout his career, Carlucci received numerous awards and honors recognizing his contributions to national security and public service. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States. He also received the Distinguished Intelligence Medal for his service at the Central Intelligence Agency and the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service for his work at the Pentagon.

Politico described Carlucci in a posthumous profile as "the shrewdly low-key defense secretary," noting that despite being among the most powerful men in Washington for decades, he managed to maintain a relatively low public profile compared to many of his contemporaries. The New York Times, in its obituary, characterized him as an expert "budget-whacker" and a trusted troubleshooter whom presidents and cabinet secretaries called upon to manage difficult situations.

The Heritage Foundation, in a memorial tribute, described Carlucci as having "served under every president from Richard Nixon to Ronald Reagan" and noted the breadth of his government service across national security, intelligence, diplomacy, and domestic policy. The Richard Nixon Foundation described him as "an extraordinarily consequential public servant" whose legacy encompassed decades of service in critical government roles.

His daughter's 2024 book about his life and career was featured in the Princeton Alumni Weekly and discussed at the Richard Nixon Foundation, reflecting continued interest in his contributions to American government and foreign policy.

Legacy

Frank Carlucci's career represented a model of bipartisan public service that became increasingly rare in American political life. He served in senior positions under four presidents of both parties — Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Reagan — and was confirmed by the United States Senate multiple times for different positions, a testament to the broad respect he commanded across the political spectrum.

His management of the National Security Council in the aftermath of the Iran-Contra scandal is regarded as a significant achievement in restoring institutional credibility. By bringing in talented subordinates such as Colin Powell and by reestablishing the NSC's role as a coordinating body rather than an operational one, Carlucci set a template for how the National Security Advisor position should function. Powell, who served as Carlucci's deputy before succeeding him as National Security Advisor and later becoming Secretary of State, credited Carlucci's mentorship as an important influence on his own career.

Carlucci's diplomatic work in Portugal during the mid-1970s remains one of the notable episodes of Cold War-era American diplomacy in Europe. His success in helping to steer Portugal toward democracy and away from communist influence at a critical juncture is cited as an example of effective American engagement in European political transitions.

In the private sector, Carlucci's leadership of The Carlyle Group helped define the modern relationship between government service and private equity investment. While this legacy is debated — with supporters pointing to legitimate business success and critics raising questions about the revolving door between government and industry — the scale of Carlyle's growth under his chairmanship is undeniable.

His daughter Kristin Carlucci Weed has worked to preserve his legacy, completing a memoir based on his unfinished writings and speaking publicly about his life of service. As she told the Princeton Alumni Weekly, the book recounts her father's "story of service, hard work, and statesmanship."