Don Rumsfeld's Memoir

Not many Americans have a record of service to their country as distinguished as Don Rumsfeld. I was delighted when I saw his memoir Known and Unknown on the shelf at the local library. I am finding it absolutely riveting.

One of the first things he writes about is Lebanon. I have always thought of that period of 1983 and 1984 as a time when we let down the people in the Middle East, however few they may be, who want to live in peace. Rumsfeld reminds us that it was our Congress that pushed for the withdrawal of our troops after the Marines were slaughtered there. Defense Secretary Weinberger also wanted out, because he did not think he could keep our troops secure from this new phenomena of suicidal terrorism.

At the age of 29, Rumsfeld successfully ran for Congress from his district in suburban Chicago, and was elected when he was just 30. Before that, he flew jets in the Navy. His dad had also been in the Navy, serving in World War II. Just after graduating from Princeton, and just before serving in the Navy, Don married his high school sweetheart, to whom he is still married.

Rumsfeld is candid in this memoir, as I knew he would be. His self-deprecating sense of humor is always near the surface, too. He was a high school and college wrestler.

I just finished reading a vignette about Viet Nam, in which as a new Congressman, he was briefed by LBJ and his Vice President, Hubert Humphrey. He did not seem too impressed with LBJ. (I never was, either).