Known and Unknown_ A Memoir - Donald Rumsfeld [127]
I immediately knew it was a disaster. I called Cheney and urged him to get the President to correct himself fast. Apparently Cheney and Scowcroft had already tried repeatedly but failed. The next day, Ford agreed to issue a clarification, but the damage had been done.
Two weeks later a Pentagon public relations fiasco brought the Department of Defense to the center stage of the campaign, if only briefly. I had formed a close working relationship with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General George Scratchley Brown, who had a distinguished military career.* But unlike many military officers who reach high posts in the Pentagon, Brown had little patience with bureaucratic procedures and little political polish. He tended to say what he thought, including things that, on reflection, might have been better left unsaid.
In April 1976, Brown had what he assumed was a private conversation with a cartoonist. He mused that the Shah of Iran, a U.S. partner, had an insatiable appetite for weapons because he had “visions of the Persian Empire.” He said that the military capabilities of Great Britain were “pathetic,” with nothing more than “generals and admirals and bands.” Brown gave a few other choice opinions, including some offensive comments about U.S. support for Israel. Many months later, a few weeks before the presidential election, his remarks made their way to the press. I winced when I read them.5
Jimmy Carter demanded that Brown be reprimanded. Ford called me and said we needed to decide quickly on whether to keep Brown or fire him, making it clear he leaned to the latter.6
“Let me try to handle it,” I said. “Give me one more news cycle, and I will see if I can put this behind us.” I called in Brown and told him that the President and I both believed the things he said had been inappropriate, but that Ford had given me a brief opportunity to see if I could help the situation.
I proposed that we go down to the Pentagon press room and give a brief statement, making clear that we understood the comments were regrettable. Brown agreed and we headed to the lion’s den.
I told the Pentagon press corps that General Brown’s comments were inappropriate, and that “the absence of a reprimand should not be taken as an endorsement of obviously inelegant phraseology.”7
Brown stepped forward after a reporter asked, “Is there any suspicion at all in your mind that there may be something political about the timing in all this? What do you think?” The reporter posed this question since Brown’s comments had not appeared in the press until six months after he said them, right before the presidential election.
“I’m not in a position to judge,” Brown replied. “I do think it’s a little strange…” I had no idea what Brown was about to say next, but I had a sinking feeling it wouldn’t do him any good. So I stepped up next to him, put my arm around him, and with a big smile I said, “He’s not in a position to judge, he’s exactly right, I agree with him completely.”8
General Brown and the assembled reporters broke out in laughter. And with that, I ended our press conference, and the General and I made our escape. The story died, George Brown remained as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for the remainder of his full term, and a fine officer’s career was not tarnished by an early dismissal or presidential reprimand.
On the night before the 1976 presidential election, Joyce and I attended a dinner at the home of the legendary publisher of the Washington Post, Kay Graham. Another guest at the dinner was the Democratic National Committee and Carter campaign chairman, Bob Strauss. As the evening drew to a close, the Strausses and the Rumsfelds were leaving the dinner at the same time.
“You know, Don,” Bob said, “the only thing worse than losing tomorrow would be to have it go on one more day.”
I knew what he meant. The election contest—from the beginning of the Reagan challenge to the general election fight against Carter—seemed to have gone on forever.
It was not until the early hours of the morning after the election