In the aftermath of Sept. 11 and commencement of America's War on Terrorism, Princeton alum Donald Rumsfeld '54 has quickly become one of the most visible members of the Bush administration.
Considered the leading 'hawk' of the administration, Rumsfeld has become a trusted confidant and adviser to President Bush. And as the campaign against terrorism continues, Rumsfeld will likely become one of the most prominent defense secretaries since Robert McNamara during the Vietnam War.
But before arriving in Washington, Rumsfeld was a star both in the Navy and at Princeton.
Rumsfeld's life seems to be a unique mixture of corporate success and political leadership. Known as "Rummy" to his close friends, Rumsfeld has at various times been a scholar, a navy pilot, high government bureaucrat, national-level athlete, foreign diplomat and corporate honcho. Through it all, however, he has always maintained his friendly but professional demeanor that has been the hallmark of his success since graduating from Princeton in 1954.
For Rumsfeld, it seems as though anything and everything is possible. Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger perhaps best described him, writing, "Rumsfeld afforded me a close-up look at a special Washington phenomenon: The skilled full-time politician-bureaucrat in whom ambition, ability and substance fuse seamlessly."
Born in 1932 in Chicago to middle-class parents, the young Donald Rumsfeld attended New Trier High School, one of America's top 10 public schools at the time. An accomplished athlete in high school, he turned down athletic scholarships from a half-dozen mid-western colleges and instead decided to attend Princeton on an academic scholarship.
At Princeton, Rumsfeld won many Ivy League and All-Eastern wrestling titles, in addition to being a member of the lightweight football team. He majored in politics and wrote his thesis on "The Steel Seizure Case of 1952 and Its Effects on Presidential Powers." The thesis probed Harry Truman's controversial attempt to forestall a 1952 steelworker's strike by nationalizing the nation's steel mills.
At his commencement, Rumsfeld was inspired by an address given by Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson II '22, who urged Princeton graduates to pursue politically active careers and to serve their nation. Taking Stevenson's words to heart, Rumsfeld began a brief but successful career as a pilot for the Navy, serving from 1954 to 1957. he quickly acquired a reputation as one of the Navy's most daring and aggressive pilots, well liked and respected by his fellow Naval aviators.
While in the Navy, Rumsfeld won an All-Navy wrestling championship and went to the U.S. district trials for a slot on the 1956 Olympic team. However, a devastating shoulder injury shattered his hopes for an Olympic medal and he left the Navy the following year.
After leaving the Navy in 1957, Rumsfeld briefly studied law at Georgetown and Case Western universities. Still enamored with politics, however, he withdrew from school to work in Washington, D.C. as a top aide to Republicans Ohio Congressman David Dennison and future senator Robert Griffin.
After a brief stint with an investment banking firm in Chicago, Rumsfeld returned to the House of Representatives in 1962 as a congressman in his own right. Having won a congressional seat representing his home district on Chicago's North Shore, Rumsfeld quickly acquired a reputation as one of the leading liberals in the Republican party. Serving four terms, Rumsfeld became the leader of a group of like-minded Republicans known as the "Rumsfeld Raiders."
In 1969, Rumsfeld resigned from Congress to head the Office of Economic Opportunity in the Nixon administration. As director of OEO, Rumsfeld worked with Princeton friend Frank Carlucci '52 - later Reagan's Secretary of Defense - and former New Jersey governor and current Environmental Protection Agency administrator Christie Whitman.
Afterwards, Rumsfeld served as Nixon's economic stabilization program director, but then left Washington to serve as the U.S. ambassador to the NATO in 1973. Stationed in Brussels, Belgium during the Watergate scandal, Rumsfeld avoided being too closely associated with Nixon - a coincidence representing political good fortune for Rumsfeld.
Later in 1974, however, he returned to Washington to assist incoming President Gerald Ford's transition team, ultimately becoming the White House's de facto chief of staff. When Ford dismissed James Schlesinger as Defense Secretary in 1975, Rumsfeld quickly assumed the Cabinet position and managed to install his protegee Dick Cheney as his successor.
Although he was the youngest Secretary of Defense at age 43, Rumsfeld ran the Pentagon with an iron fist. In his one term at the Pentagon, Rumsfeld sought to promote greater preparedness for the U.S. armed forces and initiated the development of the B1 bomber, as well as the Trident nuclear submarine program.
After his years in government, Rumsfeld returned to his alma mater in 1977 to lecture at the Wilson School. During this time, economics professor Uwe Reinhardt noted, "One day, shortly after he arrived here, he wandered about the fourth floor of the [Wilson School] in a way that suggested to me he was looking for the men's room.
" 'You look lost, Mr. Secretary,' I said. 'Can I help you?' Whereupon Mr. Rumsfeld replied curtly, 'I'm never lost, son. I always know where I'm going.'
"That's Rumsfeld, the navy pilot," Reinhardt said.
Also in 1977, Rumsfeld received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award. In June of 1977, he became CEO of G.D. Searle & Co., a leading international pharmaceutical company. Under his direction and leadership, G.D. Searle & Co. experienced a remarkable financial recovery, earning Mr. Rumsfeld two awards as outstanding CEO in the pharmaceutical industry. He then went on to become Chairman and CEO of General Instruments, a company which pioneered the development of broadband technology and high definition television.
Despite his re-entry into the business sector in the 1980s, Rumsfeld continued to occupy a number of government positions, including special envoy to the Middle East, member of the President's General Advisory Committee on Arms Control, and member of the National Economic Commission.
Although he contemplated running for president in 1988, he withdrew from the race early on and decided to give his support to his friend Bob Dole, a Republican senator from Kansas. Consequently, George Bush Sr. refused to give Rumsfeld any position in his administration.
In 1996, Rumsfeld again gave support to Bob Dole's unsuccessful presidential campaign against Clinton. Ironically, it was only with Clinton's victory that Rumsfeld returned to Washington politics. Clinton asked Mr. Rumsfeld to chair an inquiry into the feasibility and need for a national missile defense program that had been proposed in Congress.
After chairing this inquiry board, Rumsfeld recommended that Clinton proceed with the development of a national missile defense system. Although Clinton pronounced himself unsold on the issue and left the issue to be decided by his successor, Rumsfeld nonetheless earned a name for himself as a leading advocate of missile defense.
With George W. Bush's victory in 2000, Rumsfeld was again appointed Secretary of Defense on account of his strong advocacy for national missile defense, his impeccable personal life and his vast experience in Washington politics.
Now the oldest man ever to serve as defense secretary, Rumsfeld, 69, has resurrected the same hard-nosed style of leadership that he employed as secretary under Nixon. Unlike his predecessors, Rumsfeld refuses to work at the large walnut desk in his office but, rather, prefers to work standing up at a small metal desk. As one of his aides has noted, "He never seems to sit down." Pentagon jargon now includes the term "snowflakes" - referring to the endless stream of instructions and queries Rumsfeld fires off into a dictaphone which are transcribed and directed into every corner of the building.
Rumsfeld has sought to eliminate what he terms the "iron triangle" - the military-industrial alliance of generals, manufacturers and Congressmen. Seeking to alienate all three elements of the "iron triangle," he has drawn a good deal of attention as a true military reformer. Similarly, Rumsfeld has challenged the long-standing military principle that the United States should be equipped to fight two large-scale wars simultaneously. Prior to Sept. 11, Rumsfeld had concentrated on revamping the armed forces to deal with modern global threats and to reform the inefficiencies that have historically plagued the U.S. military.
In the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, Rumsfeld's priorities have changed considerably as America's new war in Afghanistan has warranted his undivided attention. Having watched the World Trade Center attacks unfold on television, Rumsfeld was in a CIA. briefing when the hijacked 757 crashed into the Pentagon. Ignoring the advice of safety personnel that he be evacuated through the basement, Rumsfeld rushed to the pulverized wing of the Pentagon immediately after the crash to assist with rescue efforts for the wounded. In the words of Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, "He just kept on dealing with the crisis, without regard for his own safety."
More than two months after the attacks, Rumsfeld remains a highly visible figure and his approval rating has skyrocketed. He brings a wealth of experience to the Bush administration's new war on terrorism. Navy pilot, investment banker, Olympic-level wrestler, twice Secretary of Defense, NATO diplomat, CEO and family man, Donald Rumsfeld has been one of Princeton's most successful graduates.
Public information from the Department of Defense was used to help prepare this profile.
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