Word: laird
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Around the Nixon White House loyalty comes first, and in recent months Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird has been getting low marks for his performance in supporting the President's Viet Nam policy- not because he is against it in substance but because he would like withdrawal to proceed even faster. From the Administration's viewpoint, he has been too far out in front of his boss on a withdrawal timetable. For example, Laird predicted a lowering of the troop level to 50,000 by the end of 1972 weeks in advance of Nixon's televised speech...
...Laird, a delicate balancing act is involved. He and Nixon remain personally close, and among the Pennsylvania Avenue elite only Henry Kissinger wields greater influence on matters relating to national security. But the candid Laird has made no secret of his intention to leave the Pentagon after four years and return to the political arena. "I am a politician, I always have been, and I am proud of it," he says...
...Laird, 48, is a driving, restless individual who becomes impatient when things do not go exactly as planned, and he is privately impatient with the pace of many of the Administration's programs. When he leaves the Pentagon, he would like to be remembered as the Secretary of Defense who took the nation out of the war via Vietnamization and who got the defense budget under control. Neither project is proceeding as well as he had hoped...
Consequently Laird is faced with the ticklish problem of being different without being disloyal. Any future political ambitions depend upon the good graces of party regulars who, like their leader, place a premium on loyalty. Laird clearly does not wish to offend Nixon...
...politician of Laird's stature and background, the options are limited once he does leave the Pentagon; there are few lesser positions he would willingly accept. There is speculation around Washington that he has his eye on the Republican presidential nomi nation in 1976. "I couldn't believe you were talking about Mel if you didn't talk in terms of his presidential plans," says one G.O.P. insider...