Editing Melvin Laird (section)

==Later career==
Laird completed his term of office as secretary of defense on January 29, 1973. Because he had stated repeatedly that he would serve only four years (only [[Charles Erwin Wilson]] and Robert McNamara among his predecessors served longer), it came as no surprise when President Nixon on November 28, 1972, nominated Elliot Richardson to succeed him. 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 [[United States National Guard|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.

During his tenure as Defense Secretary, Laird did not share President Nixon's lingering timetable for withdrawal from Vietnam. He publicly contradicted the administrations policy, which upset the White House. Laird wished to return to the political arena, and was said to be planning a run for president in 1976. After [[Watergate scandal|Watergate]], this proved implausible. There was also talk of a Senate run and perhaps a return to his old House seat in hopes of becoming Speaker.

[[File:Melvin Laird, Donald Rumsfeld, Dale VanAtta · DD-SC-07-14896.JPEG|left|200px|thumb|Laird (left) with one of his successors, [[Donald Rumsfeld]], and biographer [[Dale Van Atta]], 2001]]
In spite of Vietnam and the unfolding Watergate affair, which threatened to discredit the entire Nixon administration, Laird retired with his reputation intact. Although not a close confidant of the president and not the dominant presence that McNamara was, Laird had been an influential secretary. He achieved a smooth association with the military leadership by restoring some of the responsibilities they had lost during the 1960s. His excellent relations with Congress enabled him to gain approval for many of his programs and budget requests.

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''. Following Richard Nixon's resignation, Laird was reported to be the first choice of successor Gerald Ford to be nominated vice president, a position ultimately filled by [[Nelson Rockefeller]].

In 1974, he received the [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]]. Since 1974, he wrote widely for ''Reader's Digest'' and other publications on national and international topics.

Laird was quietly opposed to the [[2003 invasion of Iraq]], and tried to use his influence together with that of the former National Security Adviser [[Brent Scowcroft]] to persuade President [[George W. Bush]] not to invade Iraq.<ref name=Atta/>{{rp|520–21}} In November 2005, Laird published an article in ''[[Foreign Affairs]]'' that was highly critical of the Bush administration's handling of the Iraq war, though Laird advised against an immediate pull-out from Iraq as that would cause more chaos.<ref name=Atta/>{{rp|525}} Laird advised a strategy of Iraqization along the same lines as Vietnamization, arguing that the American people would not tolerate endless war in Iraq any more than they did in Vietnam.<ref name=Atta/>{{rp|525}} Laird argued that as long the American forces were doing the majority of the fighting in Vietnam, the South Vietnamese government had no reason to try to improve its military, and it was only in 1969 when the South Vietnamese were informed that the United States was pulling out in stages that the South Vietnamese finally became serious by trying to make its military actually fight. He argued that the same strategy of Iraqization was needed, stating that as long as the American forces were doing the bulk of the fighting in Iraq that the Iraqi government had no reason to try to improve its military. Laird criticized human rights abuses, writing: "For me, the alleged prison scandals reported to have occurred in [[Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse|Iraq]], in Afghanistan and at [[Guantanamo Bay detention camp|Guantanamo Bay]] have been a disturbing reminder of the mistreatment of our own POWs by North Vietnam".<ref name=Atta/>{{rp|525}} He argued that retaining U.S. moral leadership would require that the "war on terror" be conducted with the standard humanitarian norms of the West and that the use of torture was a disgrace.<ref name=Atta/>{{rp|525}} About President Bush, Laird wrote: "His west Texas cowboy approach – shoot first and answer questions later, or do the job first and let the results speak for themselves – is not working".<ref name=Atta/>{{rp|526}} Laird's article attracted much media attention, all the more because he was a Republican and former Defense Secretary who had been a mentor to [[Donald Rumsfeld]].<ref name=Atta/>{{rp|526}}

On January 5, 2006, he participated in a meeting at the White House of former Secretaries of Defense and State to discuss United States foreign policy with Bush administration officials. Laird was disappointed by the meeting, which was a photo-op, as neither he nor the others present were allowed much time to speak, with the bulk of the conference consisting of video calls from servicemen in Iraq.<ref name=Atta/>{{rp|526}} In 2007, Laird came close to endorsing the presidential bid of his former intern, [[Hillary Clinton]], saying in an interview that she had been one of his best interns and that he felt certain she would make an excellent president.<ref name=Atta/>{{rp|528}}

In 2008, journalist [[Dale Van Atta]] published a biography of Laird entitled ''With Honor: Melvin Laird in War, Peace, and Politics'', published by [[University of Wisconsin Press]].<ref name=Atta/>{{rp|}}