James R. Schlesinger, CIA chief and Cabinet member, dies

Source: Washington Post

By Timothy R. Smith, Thursday, March 27, 11:00 AM

James R. Schlesinger, a Republican economist who advanced rapidly to some of the highest positions of government power in the 1970s but whose abrasive leadership style led to conflicts with presidents, bureaucrats and the American public, died March 27 at a hospital in Baltimore. He was 85.

The cause was complications from pneumonia, said his daughter Ann Schlesinger. He was an Arlington resident.

Mr. Schlesinger specialized in the economics of national security, which helped propel his rise during the Cold War from academia to influential jobs in the federal government, including CIA director, secretary of defense and the nation’s first secretary of energy.

He gained a reputation as someone willing to cut jobs and implement unpopular policies with little regard for what other people thought of him. In 1969, Mr. Schlesinger joined the Nixon White House staff as deputy director of the Bureau of the Budget, where he overcame Pentagon opposition to cut $6 billion from the defense budget during the Vietnam War. Impressed, Nixon named him chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, which ran the nuclear weapons complex and regulated the nuclear power industry.



Bob Daugherty/AP - President Jimmy Carter shakes hands with Secretary of Energy James R. Schlesinger, left, following swearing-in ceremonies at the White House in 1977.


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