Melvin R. Laird

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Melvin R. Laird (undated)

Melvin Robert (Bom) Laird (* 1. September 1922 in Omaha , Nebraska ; † 16th November 2016 in Fort Myers , Florida ) was an American politician ( Republican Party ), 1969-1973 Secretary of Defense and author.

Life

Melvin Laird is the grandson of William D. Connor (1864-1944), who was Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin between 1907 and 1909 . His niece Jessica Laird Doyle is the wife of former Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle . He graduated from Carleton College , Minnesota with a BA in 1942 and then served in the US Navy . From 1946 to 1952 he was his father's successor in the Wisconsin Senate and from 1952 a member of the US House of Representatives . President Richard Nixon appointed him to his cabinet as the tenth Secretary of Defense in 1969 .

He urged Nixon to continue the Vietnamization of the Vietnam War . To strengthen the South Vietnamese army, he started the Enhance Plus project in 1972 , which showed short-term success. Laird resigned during the Watergate affair . On January 30, 1973, he was succeeded by Elliot L. Richardson as Secretary of Defense. Laird then worked as an international relations consultant for Reader's Digest, among others .

literature

  • Dale Van Atta: With Honor: Melvin Laird in War, Peace, and Politics. Univ. of Wisconsin Pr .; Second edition. (February 29, 2008), ISBN 0299226808 .

Web links

Commons : Melvin R. Laird  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ David Henry: Melvin Laird, Who Oversaw US Pullout From Vietnam, Dies at 94 . Bloomberg , November 16, 2016, accessed November 19, 2016.
personal data
SURNAME Laird, Melvin R.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Laird, Melvin Robert; Laird, Bom
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American politician
DATE OF BIRTH September 1, 1922
PLACE OF BIRTH Omaha , Nebraska
DATE OF DEATH November 16, 2016
Place of death Fort Myers , Florida