James Rodney Schlesinger

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James Rodney Schlesinger

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | 2008 | The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

James Rodney Schlesinger 1929-, U.S. Secretary of Defense (1973-75) and Secretary of Energy (1977-79), b. New York City. After graduating from Harvard (A.B., 1950; A.M., 1952; Ph.D., 1956), he taught economics (1955-63) at the Univ. of Virginia and was then (1963-69) a specialist in strategic studies for the RAND Corp. In 1969 he was appointed assistant director of the Bureau of the Budget by President Richard Nixon, under whom he later assumed the offices of chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission (1971), director of the Central Intelligence Agency (Feb., 1973), and Secretary of Defense (July, 1973). Under President Jimmy Carter, he was the first Secretary of Energy.

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Schlesinger, James R.

The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military | 2001 | © The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military 2001, originally published by Oxford University Press 2001. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Schlesinger, James R. (1929?–) secretary of defense, born in New York City. Schlesinger received a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard in 1956 and worked as a consultant to the Federal Reserve Board. In 1960 he published a major work, The Political Economy of National Security, and in 1963 he joined the RAND Corporation as director of strategic studies. In 1969 he became assistant director of the federal Bureau of the Budget (later the Office of Management and Budget); he later served as chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission before being named director of the Central Intelligence Agency in 1973. Later that year he was named secretary of defense by President Richard M. Nixon. From 1977 to 1979 he was the first U.S. secretary of energy, under President Jimmy Carter.

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"Schlesinger, James R." The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. 29 Nov. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

"Schlesinger, James R." The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. (November 29, 2009). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O63-SchlesingerJamesR.html

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Schlesinger, James R.

The Oxford Companion to American Military History | 2000 | | © The Oxford Companion to American Military History 2000, originally published by Oxford University Press 2000. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Schlesinger, James R. (1929–), economist, strategic analyst, secretary of defense, and first secretary of energy.Schlesinger served as secretary of defense during 1973–75, a turbulent period marked by the final stages of the Vietnam War, severe cuts in the defense budget, the end of conscription, and the beginning of the All‐Volunteer Force. A Phi Beta Kappa and 1950 summa cum laude graduate of Harvard College, he subsequently earned a Ph.D. at Harvard, then taught economics at the University of Virginia (1955–63). Next came service at the RAND Corporation as a senior staff member (1963–67) and director of strategic studies (1967–69). He entered government in 1969 as assistant director of the Bureau of the Budget, in 1971 became chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, and in 1973 was appointed Director of Central Intelligence.

Moving later that same year to the Department of Defense, Schlesinger forthrightly portrayed the impact of declining budgets, inflation, and spiraling personnel costs on force structure, modernization, and readiness. He laid before Congress a series of hard choices and the likely consequences of each. The United States, Schlesinger maintained, could not escape great responsibilities in a world where “military power remains relevant.” He offered a vision of continued American involvement in world affairs based on strength, prudence, and reliability. Because of his background at RAND, Schlesinger was perhaps the secretary of defense most accomplished as a nuclear strategist. He claimed that it was “a dangerous illusion” to think that in the 1990s, when the United States no longer dominated in nuclear weapons, that deterrence of the Soviet Union could be based on the ability to inflict “unacceptable” retaliatory damage. “Deterrence is not a substitute for defense,” he stressed. Instead, he maintained, deterrence, defense, and also detente “are inextricably bound up with one another in the maintenance of an equilibrium of power.”

In 1976, Schlesinger was named assistant to the president to develop a national energy policy; when the Department of Energy was established the following year, he became its first secretary.
[See also Consultants; Nixon, Richard M.; Strategy: Nuclear Warfare Strategy.]

Bibliography

James Schlesinger , The Political Economy of National Security, 1960.
James Schlesinger , America at Century's End, 1989.

Lewis Sorley

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John Whiteclay Chambers II. "Schlesinger, James R." The Oxford Companion to American Military History. Oxford University Press. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. 29 Nov. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

John Whiteclay Chambers II. "Schlesinger, James R." The Oxford Companion to American Military History. Oxford University Press. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. (November 29, 2009). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O126-SchlesingerJamesR.html

John Whiteclay Chambers II. "Schlesinger, James R." The Oxford Companion to American Military History. Oxford University Press. 2000. Retrieved November 29, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O126-SchlesingerJamesR.html

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