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Melvin R. Laird served from Jann 22, 1969 to Jan 29, 1973 and was the
first member of Congress to occupy the position.
Laird was born in Omaha, Nebraska, on 1 September 1922. In 1942 he
graduated from Carleton College in Minnesota, then entered the United
States Navy as an enlisted man. He received an ensign's commission in April
1944 and served on a destroyer in the Pacific. The recipient of the Purple
Heart and several other decorations, Laird left the Navy in April 1946.
At age 23, Laird entered the Wisconsin State Senate, succeeding his
recently deceased father. He remained there until his election in November
1952 to the United States House of Representatives. Subsequently reelected
eight consecutive times, he was chairman of the House Republican Conference
when Nixon selected him for the cabinet. A very active congressman, Laird
became known for his work on both domestic and defense issues, including
his service on the Defense subcommittee of the House Appropriations
Committee. He left Congress reluctantly, making it clear when he became
secretary on 22 January 1969 that he intended to serve no more than four
years.
After he became secretary of defense, Laird and President Nixon
appointed a Blue Ribbon Defense Panel that made more than 100
recommendations on DoD's organization and functions in a lengthy report of
1 July 1970. The department implemented a number of the panel's proposals
while Laird served in the Pentagon.
Laird pursued what he called "participatory management," an
approach calculated to gain the cooperation of the military leadership in
reducing the Defense budget and the size of the military establishment.
Laird decentralized policymaking and operations and accorded the service
secretaries and the JCS a more influential role in the development of
budgets and force levels. He revised the PPBS, including a return to the
use of service budget ceilings and service programming of forces within
these ceilings.
Laird did not shrink from centralized management where he found it
useful or warranted. His tenure saw the establishment of the Defense
Investigative Service, the Defense Mapping Agency, the Office of Net
Assessment, and the Defense Security Assistance Agency (to administer all
DoD military assistance programs). In October 1972 Congress passed
legislation creating a second deputy secretary of defense position, a
proposal Laird strongly supported, even though he never filled the
position.
Laird succeeded in improving DoD's standing with Congress. As a highly
respected congressional veteran, Laird had a head start in his efforts to
gain more legislative support for Defense programs. He maintained close contact
with old congressional friends, and he spent many hours testifying before
Senate and House committees. Initiatives such as troop withdrawals from
Vietnam, phasing out old weapon systems, base closures, and improved
procurement practices, enabled the Pentagon to hold the line on spending,
even at a time when high inflation affected both weapon and personnel
costs.
Vietnam preoccupied Laird as it had McNamara and Clifford. In 1968 Nixon
campaigned on a platform critical of the Johnson administration's handling
of the war and promised to achieve "peace with honor." Although
not receptive to demands for immediate withdrawal, Laird acknowledged the
necessity to disengage U.S. combat forces gradually. Thus he developed and
strongly supported "Vietnamization," a program intended to
expand, equip, and train South Vietnam's forces and assign to them an
ever-increasing combat role, at the same time steadily reducing the number
of U.S. combat troops. Laird publicized Vietnamization widely; in his final
report as secretary of defense in early 1973, he stated:
"Vietnamization . . . today is virtually completed. As a consequence
of the success of the military aspects of Vietnamization, the South
Vietnamese people today, in my view, are fully capable of providing for their
own in-country security against the North Vietnamese."
Although not intimately involved in the development of strategic nuclear
policy as McNamara had been, Laird subscribed to the Nixon administration's
program of "Strategic Sufficiency"‹that the United States
should have the capability to deter nuclear attacks against its home
territory and that of its allies by convincing a potential aggressor that
he would suffer an unacceptable level of retaliatory damage; it should also
have enough nuclear forces to eliminate possible coercion of its allies.
The policy, not much different from McNamara's except in name and phrasing,
embraced the need both to avoid mass destruction of civilians and to seek
mechanisms to prevent escalation of a nuclear conflict.
Other important Laird goals were ending the draft by 30 June 1973 and
the creation of an All Volunteer Force (AVF). Strong opposition to
selective service mounted during the Vietnam War and draft calls declined
progressively during Laird's years at the Pentagon‹from 300,000 in
his first year, to 200,000 in the second, 100,000 in the third, and 50,000
in the fourth. On 27 January 1973, after the signing of the Vietnam
agreement in Paris, Laird suspended the draft, five months ahead of
schedule.
Laird completed his term of office as secretary of defense on 29 January
1973. In his final report in January 1973 Laird listed what he
considered to be the major accomplishments of his tenure: Vietnamization;
achieving the goal of strategic sufficiency; effective burden-sharing
between the United States and its friends and allies; adequate security
assistance; maintenance of U.S. technological superiority through
development of systems such as the B-1, Trident, and cruise missiles;
improved procurement; "People Programs'' such as ending the draft and
creating the AVF; improved National Guard and Reserve forces; enhanced
operational readiness; and participatory management. One of Laird's most
active initiatives was his persistent effort to secure the release of the American
captives held by the enemy in Vietnam.
After a brief absence Laird returned to the Nixon administration in June
1973 as counselor to the president for domestic affairs, concerning himself
mainly with legislative issues. In February 1974, as the Watergate crisis
in the White House deepened, Laird resigned to become senior counselor for
national and international affairs for Reader's Digest. Since 1974 he has
written widely, in Reader's Digest and other publications, on national and
international topics.
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