Editing Donald Rumsfeld (section)

== Secretary of Defense (1975–1977) ==
[[File:Associate Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart Swearing Donald Rumsfeld in as Secretary of Defense at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia - NARA - 23898551.jpg|left|thumb|Rumsfeld is sworn in as [[United States Secretary of Defense|Secretary of Defense]] in November 1975.]]
In October 1975, Ford reshuffled his cabinet in the [[Halloween Massacre (Ford administration)|Halloween Massacre]]. Various newspaper and magazine articles at the time identified Rumsfeld as having orchestrated these events.<ref>{{cite magazine |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=The Nation: Scenario of the Shake-Up| url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,917908,00.html| magazine=[[Time Magazine|Time]]| location=New York| publisher=Time| date=November 17, 1975| volume=106| issue=20| access-date=July 5, 2017 }}</ref> Ford named Rumsfeld to succeed Schlesinger as the 13th U.S. Secretary of Defense and [[George H. W. Bush]] to become [[Director of Central Intelligence]]. According to [[Bob Woodward]]'s 2002 book ''[[Bush at War]]'', a rivalry developed between the two men and "Bush senior was convinced that Rumsfeld was pushing him out to the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] to end his political career."<ref>{{cite book|last=Woodward|first=Bob|title=Bush at War|publisher=Simon and Schuster|year=2002|isbn=978-0-7432-4461-9|url=https://archive.org/details/bushatwar00wood|url-access=registration|quote=rumsfeld ford bush cia director.|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bushatwar00wood/page/21 21]–22}}</ref>

Rumsfeld's confirmation hearing as Secretary of Defense began on November 12, 1975. During the hearing, Rumsfeld was mostly asked about the administration's defense policy on the Cold War. Rumsfeld stated that the Soviet Union was a "clear and present danger," especially following the end of the Vietnam War, which Rumsfeld described as the USSR's chance to build up its domination.<ref name="Litlovers.com" /> On November 17, 1975, Rumsfeld was confirmed as [[United States Secretary of Defense|Secretary of Defense]] by a vote of 97–2.<ref name="Litlovers.com" /> At the age of 43, Rumsfeld became the youngest person to serve as [[United States Secretary of Defense]] as of 2025.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Rumsfeld Was Nation |url=https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/2678350/rumsfeld-was-nations-youngest-oldest-defense-secretary/ |access-date=2022-03-25 |website=U.S. Department of Defense |language=en-US}}</ref>
[[File:Ford-rumsfeld.jpg|thumb|Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and President Ford share a laugh in a Cabinet meeting, 1975.]]
[[File:Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General George S. Brown.jpg|thumb|Rumsfeld with [[Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff]] General [[George Scratchley Brown|George S. Brown]] at a [[United States Senate Committee on Armed Services|Senate Armed Services Committee]] hearing on January 15, 1976]]
During his tenure as Secretary of Defense, Rumsfeld oversaw the transition to an all-volunteer military. He sought to reverse the gradual decline in the defense budget and to build up U.S. strategic and conventional forces, undermining Secretary of State [[Henry Kissinger]] at the [[SALT]] talks.<ref name="NYTInfighter">{{cite news|title=Defense Choice Made a Name As an Infighter |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/08/us/defense-choice-made-a-name-as-an-infighter.html |first1=Elaine |last1=Sciolino |first2=Eric |last2=Schmitt |date=January 8, 2001 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=August 18, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110714182443/http://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/08/us/defense-choice-made-a-name-as-an-infighter.html |archive-date=July 14, 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref> He asserted, along with [[Team B]] (which he helped to set up),<ref>{{cite news|url=http://hnn.us/articles/18668.html |author=Sidney Blumenthal |title=The Long March of Dick Cheney |publisher=[[History News Network|HNN]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051217110948/http://hnn.us/articles/18668.html |archive-date=December 17, 2005 |url-status=live}}</ref> that trends in comparative U.S.-[[Soviet armed forces|Soviet]] military strength had not favored the United States for 15 to 20 years and that, if continued, they "would have the effect of injecting a fundamental instability in the world".<ref name="defenselink1" /> For this reason, he oversaw the development of [[cruise missile]]s, the [[B-1 Lancer|B-1 bomber]], and a major naval shipbuilding program.<ref name="NYTInfighter" />

Rumsfeld made some changes at the [[The Pentagon|Pentagon]], including appointing a second [[United States Deputy Secretary of Defense|deputy secretary of defense]] (a position created in 1972 but, before [[Robert Ellsworth]], never filled before<ref>{{Cite web |title=Robert F. Ellsworth |url=https://history.defense.gov/DOD-History/Deputy-Secretaries-of-Defense/Article-View/Article/585216/robert-f-ellsworth/ |access-date=2024-11-20 |website=Historical Office |language=en-US}}</ref>) and combining certain offices. More than his predecessors, Rumsfeld frequently traveled both within the U.S. and internationally, acting as a key representative for the [[United States Department of Defense|Defense Department]], focusing on the politics of his defense role, to fulfill an imperative goal of budget increase, in order to maintain strategic parity with the Soviet Union.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Donald H. Rumsfeld |url=https://history.defense.gov/Multimedia/Biographies/Article-View/Article/571288/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240924220651/https://history.defense.gov/Multimedia/Biographies/Article-View/Article/571288/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 24, 2024 |access-date=2024-09-24 |website=Historical Office |language=en-US}}</ref>

Rumsfeld, who previously was assigned to the House Committee on Science and Astronautics, emphasized the importance of the next stage of the space program following the successful Moon landing in 1969. While serving as Secretary of Defense, Rumsfeld organized a joint-cooperation between the [[United States Department of Defense|Department of Defense]] and [[NASA]] to develop [[Skylab]].<ref name="Litlovers.com" /> Another result of the cooperation was the [[Space Shuttle program]].<ref name="Litlovers.com" />

=== SALT II Treaty ===
During his tenure as Secretary of Defense, Rumsfeld worked to finish the SALT II Treaty.<ref name="Litlovers.com" /> Rumsfeld, together with [[Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff]] General [[George Scratchley Brown|George S. Brown]] drafted the treaty.<ref name="Litlovers.com" /> However, an agreement was not made before the 1976 election. SALT II was finished and signed during the Carter administration.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Rearden|first=Steven L.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/867144095|title=Council of war : a history of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 1942–1991|date=2012|publisher=NDU Press for the Joint History Office, Office of the Director, Joint Staff, Joint Chiefs of Staff|isbn=978-1-78039-886-0|location=Washington, D.C.|oclc=867144095}}</ref><ref name="Litlovers.com" />

In 1977, Rumsfeld was awarded the nation's highest civilian award, the [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]].<ref name="Historical Office Rumsfeld Bush Administration" /> Kissinger, his bureaucratic adversary, later paid him a different sort of compliment, pronouncing him "a special Washington phenomenon: the skilled full-time politician-bureaucrat in whom ambition, ability, and substance fuse seamlessly".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2003/11/rumsfelds-roots/378570/ |title=Rumsfeld's Roots |last=Mann |first=James |date=October 8, 2003 |work=The Atlantic |access-date=August 18, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080709025136/http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200310u/int2003-10-08 |archive-date=July 9, 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Rumsfeld's first tenure as Secretary of Defense ended on January 20, 1977. He was succeeded by former [[United States Secretary of the Air Force|Secretary of the Air Force]] [[Harold Brown (Secretary of Defense)|Harold Brown]].<ref name="Litlovers.com" />