Aspin, Les, Jr. (1938–1995), member of Congress, secretary of defense.Aspin was a loyalist critic of the U.S. defense establishment. Born in Milwaukee, the son of a British immigrant, he earned degrees at Yale, Oxford, and MIT. In 1966–68, he worked as a policy analyst for Secretary of Defense
Robert McNamara. Aspin became convinced that
the Pentagon was making many mistakes in Vietnam and in Washington.
Returning to Wisconsin, he taught briefly at Marquette University, then won election to the House of Representatives as a liberal, anti–
Vietnam War Democrat. Serving in the House from 1971 to 1993, Aspin found and publicized evidence of waste, mismanagement, and fraud, exposing evidence of Pentagon cost overruns, corruption, and abuse of privileges. In 1975, he helped overthrow autocratic F. Edward Hébert as head of the House Armed Forces Committee.
Unlike most liberal, antiwar Democrats, however, Aspin was committed to strengthening the military, not diminishing it. As he became more conservative, he broke with many liberals and supported a 5 percent annual growth in military spending, as well as draft registration, and the MX missile. In 1985, Aspin became chair of the Armed Forces Committee, continuing his drive to streamline defense spending and curtail procurement abuses while encouraging modernization. He was a key supporter of President
George Bush's decision to fight Iraq in 1991.
Appointed President Clinton's first secretary of defense in 1993, Aspin was forced out after a controversial year involving Somalia, gays in the military, and a “bottom up” review of U.S. defense strategy and structure. He died two years later of a stroke.
[See also
Defense, Department of.]
John Whiteclay Chambers II
