Donald Rumsfeld, the two-time defense secretary best known for serving in that position at the height of the Iraq War, has died. He was 88.
The Illinois native passed away at his home in Taos, New Mexico, surrounded by his family, according to a statement posted on his official Twitter account Wednesday.
“History may remember him for his extraordinary accomplishments over six decades of public service,” the statement read, “but for those who knew him best and whose lives were forever changed as a result, we will remember his unwavering love for his wife, Joyce, his family and friends, and the integrity he brought to a life dedicated to country.”
Rumsfeld worked under three Republican presidents – Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and George W. Bush – over a career in public life that spanned more than 40 years. In a statement Wednesday, Bush hailed what he called Rumsfeld’s “steady service as a wartime secretary of defense — a duty he carried out with strength, skill, and honor.”
“A period that brought unprecedented challenges to our country and to our military also brought out the best qualities in Secretary Rumsfeld,” Bush’s statement continued. “A man of intelligence, integrity, and almost inexhaustible energy, he never paled before tough decisions, and never flinched from responsibility. He brought needed and timely reforms to the Department of Defense, along with a management style that stressed original thinking and accountability. As Commander in Chief, I especially appreciated how Don took his job personally and always looked out for the interests of our servicemen and women. He was a faithful steward of our armed forces, and the United States of America is safer and better off for his service … We mourn an exemplary public servant and a very good man.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) remembered Rumsfeld as an “American patriot who served his country honorably and tirelessly.”
“Donald Rumsfeld’s decades of service began and ended among the brave men and women working to keep America safe,” McConnell said. “His time on active duty in the Navy began a distinguished career that elevated his talents to the highest levels of policymaking and public leadership. At every step of the way, Donald Rumsfeld led with conviction and a cutting intellect.Our nation has lost one of its fiercest defenders. But today, I know the Senate’s deepest sympathies are with Joyce and the entire Rumsfeld family, who have lost a beloved husband, father, and role model.”
After serving a little more than six years as an Illinois congressman, Rumsfeld joined the Nixon administration in March 1969 and held a series of executive positions, including director of the Office of Economic Opportunity, counselor to the president, and ambassador to NATO.
Following Nixon’s resignation in August 1974, Ford tapped Rumsfeld to be White House Chief of Staff. Rumsfeld spent 14 months in that position before becoming defense secretary for the first time in November 1975. Aged 43 at the time of his appointment, Rumsfeld remains the youngest person ever to have led the Pentagon.
Rumsfeld left government following Ford’s defeat by Jimmy Carter in the 1976 presidential election and launched a successful corporate career interrupted only by a brief run for the 1988 Republican presidential nomination, a spectacular flop that Rumsfeld once described as humbling for a man used to success at the highest levels of government.
In 2001, Rumsfeld was recalled to public service by Bush, who nominated Rumsfeld to serve as defense secretary, making him the only person to hold that position twice.
Rumsfeld arrived at the Pentagon vowing to “transform” the armed forces, but his tenure was defined by the US response to the 9/11 terror attacks. He oversaw the early successes of the invasion of Afghanistan and the 2003 overthrow of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
However, Rumsfeld lost political support amid a series of setbacks in Iraq, including a bloody insurgency and the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal. He announced his resignation as defense secretary in November 2006 and left office the following month, to be replaced by Robert Gates.
Rumsfeld’s second spell at the Pentagon may be best remembered for his remarks in February 2002 when asked about the Bush administration’s contention that the Hussein government was supplying weapons of mass destruction to terror groups.
“Reports that say that something hasn’t happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns,” Rumsfeld began. “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. And if one looks throughout the history of our country and other free countries, it is the latter category that tends to be the difficult ones.”
The so-called “known unknowns” remark was co-opted by Rumsfeld’s critics and thrown back at him during the later months of his tenure; documentarian Errol Morris titled his 2013 retrospective on Rumsfeld’s life and career “The Unknown Known.” Rumsfeld himself titled his best-selling 2011 memoir “Known and Unknown”.
Rumsfeld’s critics took issue with his blunt and confrontational style, seeing it as a natural outgrowth of Bush’s supposed “cowboy” foreign policy. In a memo from April 2003, for example, Rumsfeld told Undersecretary of Defense Doug Feith: “We need more coercive diplomacy with respect to Syria and Libya, and we need it fast. If they mess up Iraq, it will delay bringing our troops home. We also need to solve the Pakistan problem. And Korea doesn’t seem to be going well. Are you coming up with proposals for me to send around?”
In another memo to Feith, sent July 31, 2001, Rumsfeld wrote: “We ought to have on our radar screen the subject of oil – Venezuela, the Caucuses, Indonesia – anywhere we think it may exist and how it fits into our strategies.”
After leaving government for the second and final time, Rumsfeld headed the Rumsfeld Foundation, which promoted public service and worked with charities that provide services and support for military families and wounded veterans. He also donated the proceeds from his 2011 memoir to veterans’ charities.
Born in Chicago on July 9, 1932, Rumsfeld grew up in suburban Winnetka, Illinois and attended Princeton University, where he was an accomplished wrestler.
In a 2004 article in Princeton’s alumni magazine, one of Rumsfeld’s college roommates recounted bumping into Rumsfeld and then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger outside the Oval Office while being led on a tour of the White House. The roommate recounted that Rumsfeld grabbed him in a wrestling hold and dropped him to the carpet in front of armed Secret Service agents.
“Must be one of your Princeton friends,” Kissinger remarked to Rumsfeld.
After graduating from Princeton in 1954, Rumsfeld spent three years on active duty in the Navy as an aviator and flight instructor. He spent another three years as a Capitol Hill staffer to Reps. David Dennison (R-Ohio) and Robert Griffin (R-Mich.). After a two-year stint at an investment banking firm, Rumsfeld ran for Congress in 1962, winning the right to represent Illinois’ 13th Congressional District at age 30.
Rumsfeld is survived by his wife, Joyce, three children and seven grandchildren.
With Post wires
