Died: June 29, 2021
DONALD Rumsfeld, who has died aged 88, was an outstanding example of the American political fixer. As well as being, for several terms, a Congressman, he served (twice) as Secretary for Defence, was White House Chief of Staff and US representative on Nato, a close confidant of Presidents Nixon, Ford and George W Bush, and described by Henry Kissinger as “the most ruthless man” he knew.
Rumsfeld’s political fortunes and reputation fluctuated wildly, even by the standards of Washington’s Beltway. Shortly after the attacks of 9/11, and during the period when he was the chief strategist behind the – initially popular – invasion of Afghanistan, he was the subject of highly favourable profiles describing him as an unlikely sex symbol (he was 70 at the time).