Word: laird
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Very Disappointing. In a sharply worded memo, Nixon termed the economizing effort "very disappointing" and ordered another try. A prime target, of course, is the Defense Department. Nixon wants Defense Secretary Melvin Laird to sweat $2 billion out of the $80 billion budget. In his first attempt, Laird managed to cut only $550 million. Nixon told him to try again, and this time Laird brought the reductions up to $1.1 billion, chiefly in "ground munitions," including the anti-ballistic missile (ABM) system, which will take a $34 million...
Most startling, Laird proposed saving $185 million a year by curtailing one of the more effective weapons that the U.S. has in Viet Nam: B-52 raids. Despite what he called a "strong recommendation" from General Creighton Abrams, the U.S. commander in Viet Nam, Laird suggested reducing B-52 sorties by more than 10%, from 1,800 to 1,600 per month. The savings would come chiefly in the planes' 30-ton bomb loads, which cost $42,000. There would be little tactical impact; probably the same number of B-52 missions will be flown as before, but they...
...that the B-52 move was "strictly budgetary." But there was considerable speculation that the cutback, coming at a time when the Communists are pressing an offensive, was intended primarily as a political signal to Hanoi, indicating Washington's eagerness to end the war. Fueling such speculation was Laird's admission that "private"-i.e., secret-talks aimed at a settlement are under way in Paris. In addition, New York Times Columnist James Reston claimed that Nixon may go further, by withdrawing as many as 100,000 troops this year...
...technical-administrative problems can be equally galling. Defense contractors frequently bid low to get a contract, then considerably overrun the original estimate. When Laird took office, he found some $1.8 billion in so-called "overruns" in this year's budget, and he fears there will be more. Lockheed's giant C-5A transport, for example, may cost $1 billion to $2 billion more than its original price tag. Technical delays can add millions, too, because inflation raises the price...
Wisconsin's Seventh District, a picturesque region of forests, lakes and dairy farms, has long been an unassailable Republican stronghold. Before last week, the Seventh had not sent a single Democrat to Congress in this century, and it elected Melvin Laird to nine consecutive terms on Capitol Hill before he moved to the Pentagon. Thus, as the G.O.P. nominee in a special election held last week to choose Laird's successor, State Senator Walter J. Chilsen felt pretty good about his chances. Chilsen, 45, a former television newscaster from Wausau, felt so good, in fact, that he rather...