United States Secretary of Defense

The United States Secretary of Defense is the head of the United States Department of Defense concerned with the armed services and military matters. The Secretary is a member of the President's Cabinet.

Secretaries of Defense

Name	Term of Office	President(s) served under
James V. Forrestal	September 17, 1947 - March 28, 1949	Harry S. Truman
Louis A. Johnson	March 28, 1949 - September 19, 1950	Harry S. Truman
George C. Marshall	September 21, 1950 - September 12, 1951	Harry S. Truman
Robert A. Lovett[?]	September 17, 1951 - January 20, 1953	Harry S. Truman
Charles E. Wilson[?]	January 28, 1953 - October 8, 1957	Dwight D. Eisenhower
Neil H. McElroy[?]	October 9, 1957 - December 1, 1959	Dwight D. Eisenhower
Thomas S. Gates[?]	December 2, 1959 - January 20, 1961	Dwight D. Eisenhower
Robert McNamara	January 21, 1961 - February 29, 1968	John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson
Clark Clifford	March 1, 1968- January 20, 1969	Lyndon Johnson
Melvin Laird	January 22, 1969 - January 29, 1973	Richard Nixon
Elliot L. Richardson[?]	January 30, 1973 - May 24, 1973	Richard Nixon
James R. Schlesinger[?]	July 2, 1973 - November 19, 1975	Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford
Donald H. Rumsfeld (1st time)	November 20, 1975 - January 20, 1977	Gerald Ford
Harold Brown[?]	January 21, 1977 - January 20, 1981	Jimmy Carter
Caspar W. Weinberger[?]	January 21, 1981 - November 23, 1987	Ronald Reagan
Frank C. Carlucci[?]	November 23, 1987 - January 20, 1989	Ronald Reagan
Richard B. Cheney	March 21, 1989 - January 20, 1993	George H. W. Bush
Les Aspin[?]	January 21, 1993 - February 3, 1994	Bill Clinton
William J. Perry	February 3, 1994 - January 23, 1997	Bill Clinton
William S. Cohen[?]	January 24, 1997 - January 20, 2001	Bill Clinton
Donald H. Rumsfeld (2nd time)	January 20, 2001 - present	George W. Bush

External Links

• Histories of the Secretaries of Defense (http://www.defenselink.mil/specials/secdef_histories/)