Editing Melvin Laird (section)

==Legislative career==
Laird entered the [[Wisconsin State Senate]] at age 23, succeeding his deceased father.<ref>{{cite web |title=Members of the Legislature |url=https://images.library.wisc.edu/WI/EFacs/WIBlueBks/BlueBks/WIBlueBk1948/reference/wi.wibluebk1948.i0011.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210116051445/https://images.library.wisc.edu/WI/EFacs/WIBlueBks/BlueBks/WIBlueBk1948/reference/wi.wibluebk1948.i0011.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=2021-01-16 |publisher=University of Wisconsin–Madison |access-date=7 October 2024}}</ref> He represented a legislative district encompassing [[Stevens Point, Wisconsin]]. He remained in the Senate until his [[election]] in November 1952 to the [[United States House of Representatives]] representing Wisconsin's 7th District in central Wisconsin, including the areas of [[Marshfield, Wisconsin|Marshfield]], [[Wausau, Wisconsin|Wausau]], [[Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin|Wisconsin Rapids]] and [[Stevens Point, Wisconsin|Stevens Point]]. In the [[Republican Party (United States) presidential primaries, 1964|1964 Republican presidential primaries]], Laird was an "unannounced" supporter of [[Arizona]] Senator [[Barry Goldwater]], and chaired the Platform Committee at that year's Republican convention, at which Goldwater was nominated.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20111018182222/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,939007-1,00.html Nation: What the Platform Says], ''[[Time Magazine]]'' (July 24, 1964).</ref>

Laird was re-elected eight consecutive times and he was chairman of the House Republican Conference when Nixon selected him for the cabinet. He was 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 January 22, 1969, that he intended to serve no more than four years.

As a congressman Laird had supported a strong defense posture and had sometimes been critical of Secretary [[Robert McNamara|McNamara]]. In September 1966, characterizing himself as a member of the [[loyal opposition]], he publicly charged the [[Lyndon Johnson|Johnson administration]] with deception about [[Vietnam]] war costs and for delaying decisions to escalate the ground war until after the 1966 congressional elections. Laird also criticized McNamara's management and decision-making practices. Laird voted in favor of the [[Civil Rights Act of 1957|Civil Rights Acts of 1957]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/85-1957/h42|title=HR 6127. CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1957.|work=GovTrack.us}}</ref> [[Civil Rights Act of 1960|1960]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/86-1960/h102|title=HR 8601. PASSAGE.}}</ref> [[Civil Rights Act of 1964|1964]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/88-1964/h128|title=H.R. 7152. PASSAGE.}}</ref> and [[Civil Rights Act of 1968|1968]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/90-1967/h113|title=TO PASS H.R. 2516, A BILL TO ESTABLISH PENALTIES FOR INTERFERENCE WITH CIVIL RIGHTS. INTERFERENCE WITH A PERSON ENGAGED IN ONE OF THE 8 ACTIVITIES PROTECTED UNDER THIS BILL MUST BE RACIALLY MOTIVATED TO INCUR THE BILL'S PENALTIES.}}</ref> as well as the [[Twenty-fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution|24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution]] and the [[Voting Rights Act of 1965]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/87-1962/h193|title=S.J. RES. 29. CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT TO BAN THE USE OF POLL TAX AS A REQUIREMENT FOR VOTING IN FEDERAL ELECTIONS.|work=GovTrack.us}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/89-1965/h87|title=TO PASS H.R. 6400, THE 1965 VOTING RIGHTS ACT.}}</ref>

Laird was reportedly the elder statesman chosen by the Republicans to convince [[Vice President of the United States|Vice President]] [[Spiro Agnew]] to resign his position after Agnew's personal corruption became a public scandal. He also had a prominent role in the selection of [[Gerald Ford]] as Agnew's successor as vice president.