Rumsfeld heads class of Princetonians in Bush administration

The landscape of foreign policy has changed dramatically since the last time Donald Rumsfeld '54 served as secretary of defense. Vietnam and the Cold War have given way to terrorism and missile attacks. But Rumsfeld is headed to the Pentagon again this year to serve under President-elect George W. Bush.

University politics professor Fred Greenstein said Bush made "a brilliant move to have a guy like Rumsfeld," whom he characterized as a "fierce bureaucratic operative," working alongside Secretary of State-designate Colin Powell.

Rumsfeld will head the next class of Princetonians advising the president when he takes the post for the second time — after a 25-year leave of absence from politics — as secretary of defense under Bush.

A long-time politician and adviser in Washington, Rumsfeld became the youngest secretary of defense in history at the age of 43 after President Gerald Ford took over the presidency in the aftermath of Watergate.

"After Watergate and after James Schlesinger left, President Ford wanted expert help," Greenstein said. "It was clear Ford thought of [Rumsfeld] as first rate."

Though it was unusual for someone so young to take over the Pentagon, Rumsfeld had great ability and sophistication, Greenstein said.

"Maybe he was just an overachiever at the time," said Wilson School professor Robert Hutchings. "That he has been out of office isn't really a handicap for Rumsfeld."

A politics major at Princeton, Rumsfeld was a wrestling teammate of another Princetonian secretary of defense, Frank Carlucci '52, who served under President Ronald Reagan.

After walking through FitzRandolph Gate, Rumsfeld joined the Navy where he served as an aviator from 1954-57. An Illinois native, Rumsfeld made an early foray into politics as an assistant to two congressmen before embarking on his own political career in 1962. He served as a Republican member of the House of Representatives for eight years.

Rumsfeld made the switch to an advisory role soon after, as part of Nixon's team of foreign policy advisers. As secretary of defense, Rumsfeld served for two years alongside Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

When the Republicans lost the White House in the 1976 election to Jimmy Carter and the Democrats, Rumsfeld left politics, taking a job in the private sector as president and chief executive of drug-maker G.D. Searle and Company.

While out of office, Rumsfeld headed an influential commission in 1998 on emerging countries and their potential to pose missile threats to the United States, an issue that came to the forefront in this year's campaign.

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"It's an issue that comes and goes," Hutchings said. "I don't know how big [the ballistic missile defense shield] will be, but it will be a priority."

"He has certainly kept his hand in everything since his last term," Greenstein said.

Mitch Daniels Jr. '71 will direct the Office of Management and Budget after a career in both the private and public sectors. Josh Bolten '76, who joined Bush's campaign team as a domestic policy expert, will assist White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card Jr. as a deputy. Ted Cruz '92, who received a job on the Bush campaign from Bolten is currently listed as "staff," according to a spokesperson with the Bush-Cheney transition team.

Daniels, a Wilson School major, was the vice president of corporate strategy and policy at Eli Lilly before being recently named to head the Office of Management and Budget in the Bush administration. He previously served as executive director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee and was the head of the Hudson Institute, a public policy organization.

Unlike Rumsfeld, Bolten was not a politician himself, though he spent long hours involved in international law for the Senate Finance Committee and then as general counsel to the U.S. Trade Representative under former President George Bush.

After he left government work, Bolten moved to London to work on international law in the private sector for Goldman, Sachs & Co. He returned to another Bush, serving as a policy expert on President-elect Bush's campaign.

Also a Wilson School major at Princeton, Bolten worked behind the scenes on the campaign trail, prepping Bush on domestic policy matters.

Cruz, a Wilson School major and a lawyer, is a native of Houston. After graduating from Harvard law school, he went on to clerk for Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist. A son of a Cuban exile, Cruz advised Bush on legal issues, immigration and campaign-finance reform. At Princeton, Cruz served on the U-Council and won national championships for Whig-Clio.