OVERVIEW:

FULL NAME:
Donald Henry Rumsfeld

BORN:
July 9, 1932;
Chicago, Illinois

DIED:
June 29, 2021 (age 88),
Taos, New Mexico

EDUCATION:
Princeton University (AB, 1954)

POLITICAL PARTY:
Republican

HIGHLIGHTS:
1945-1957:
Aviator and Flight Instructor, U.S. Navy
1957-1959:
Administrative Assistant to Rep. David Dennison (R-OH)
1959:
Staff of Rep. Robert Griffin (R-MI)
1960-1962:
Investment Broker in Chicago, Illinois
1963-1969:
U.S. House of Representatives (R-IL)
1969-1970:
Director, Office of Economic Opportunity
1970-1971:
Counselor to President Richard M. Nixon
1971-1973:
Director, Cost of Living Council
1973-1974:
U.S. Ambassador to NATO
1974:
Chairman of the Transition for President Gerald Ford
1974-1975:
White House Chief of Staff to President Gerald Ford
1975-1977:
U.S. Secretary of Defense
1977-1985:
Chief Executive Officer, President, and then Chairman of G.D. Searle & Co (pharmaceutical company.)
1982-1986:
Member of President Ronald W. Reagan’s General Advisory Committee on Arms Control
1982-1983
Special Presidential Envoy on the Law of the Sea Treaty
1983-1984
Senior Advisor to the President’s Panel on Strategic Systems,
Member of the U.S. Joint Advisory Commission on U.S./Japan Relations,
Special Presidential Envoy to the Middle East
1987-1990:
Member of the National Commission on Public Service (1987-1990);
1988-1989:
Member of the National Economic Commission
1988-1992
Member of the Board of Visitors of the National Defense University
1989-1991
Member of the Commission on U.S./Japan Relations
1990-1993:
Chairman/ Chief Executive Officer of General Instruments Corporation
1999-2000
Member of the U.S. Trade Deficit Review Commission
2001-2006:
U.S. Secretary of Defense

PORTRAITS:

Artist: Steven Polson (Department of Defense Portrait)

RESOURCES:

Donald Rumsfeld4.3.16 — President Gerald R. Ford Chatting with Chief of Staff Donald Rumsfeld and Rumsfeld’s Assistant Richard Cheney in the Oval Office, 4/28/1974 (National Archives)

BIOGRAPHIES:
Department of Defense
Biographical Directory of Congress
Bush White House
Ford White House
Miller Center
Wikipedia

ORAL HISTORY:
Gerald R. Ford Oral History Project

MEDIA COVERAGE:

Donald Rumsfeld — President George W. Bush (right) and Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld prepare for a press conference on an update on the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan at the Pentagon, Washington, D.C., Jan. 4, 2005. (DoD photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Chad J. McNeeley)

DOD NOMINATION (12/28/2000)
New York Times
Los Angeles Times
Washington Post

DOD RESIGNATION (11/8/2006)
New York Times
Washington Post

PROFILES:
New Yorker (11/20/2006)
Atlantic (7/2008)
Washington Post (6/14/2009)

OBITUARIES (6/30/2021):
Washington Post
New York Times
Wall Street Journal