Frank Carlucci | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 1987 | |
| 16thUnited States Secretary of Defense | |
| In office November 23, 1987 – January 20, 1989 | |
| President | Ronald Reagan |
| Deputy | William Taft |
| Preceded by | Caspar Weinberger |
| Succeeded by | Dick Cheney |
| 14thUnited States National Security Advisor | |
| In office December 2, 1986 – November 23, 1987 | |
| President | Ronald Reagan |
| Deputy | Peter Rodman Colin Powell |
| Preceded by | John Poindexter |
| Succeeded by | Colin Powell |
| 19thUnited States Deputy Secretary of Defense | |
| In office February 4, 1981 – December 31, 1982 | |
| President | Ronald Reagan |
| Preceded by | Graham Claytor |
| Succeeded by | Paul Thayer |
| 13thDeputy Director of Central Intelligence | |
| In office February 10, 1978 – February 5, 1981 | |
| President | Jimmy Carter Ronald Reagan |
| Preceded by | John F. Blake |
| Succeeded by | Bobby Inman |
| United States Ambassador to Portugal | |
| In office January 24, 1975 – February 5, 1978 | |
| President | Gerald Ford Jimmy Carter |
| Preceded by | Stuart Scott |
| Succeeded by | Richard Bloomfield |
| 4th Director of theOffice of Economic Opportunity | |
| In office January 1971 – December 1972 | |
| President | Richard Nixon |
| Preceded by | Donald Rumsfeld |
| Succeeded by | Phillip V. Sanchez |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Frank Charles Carlucci III (1930-10-18)October 18, 1930 Scranton, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | June 3, 2018(2018-06-03) (aged 87) McLean, Virginia, U.S. |
| Resting place | Arlington National Cemetery[1] |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 3 |
| Education | Princeton University (AB) Harvard University (MBA) |
| Military service | |
| Branch/service | United States Navy |
| Years of service | 1952–1954 |
| Rank | Lieutenant |
Frank Charles Carlucci III (/ˌkɑːrˈluːtʃi/kar-LOO-chee; October 18, 1930 – June 3, 2018) was an American politician who served as theUnited States Secretary of Defense from 1987 to 1989 in the administration of PresidentRonald Reagan.[2][3] He was the firstItalian American to serve in that position.
Carlucci served in a variety of senior-level governmental positions, including Director of theOffice of Economic Opportunity in theNixon administration,Deputy Director of the CIA in theCarter administration, andDeputy Secretary of Defense andNational Security Advisor in theReagan administration.
Carlucci was born inScranton, Pennsylvania, the son of Roxann (née Bacon) and Frank Charles Carlucci, Jr., an insurance broker. His father was of Italian and Swiss-Italian descent.[4] His grandfather was fromSantomenna, Italy.[5]
After graduating fromWyoming Seminary in 1948, Carlucci attendedPrinceton University, where he roomed withDonald Rumsfeld. Carlucci graduated with an A.B. from theWoodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs atPrinceton University in 1952 after completing a 153-page senior thesis, "Two American Businesses inCosta Rica."[6] He then attendedHarvard Business School for an M.B.A. in 1954–1955.[7] He was an officer in theUS Navy from 1952 to 1954.[8] He joined theUS Foreign Service and worked for theUS State Department from 1956 to 1969.[9]
In 1961, Carlucci was the second secretary at theUS Embassy in the Congo.[10] During that time,Patrice Lumumba, the first prime minister of independent Congo, was killed in January 1961 during theCongo Crisis.[11]
According to subsequently-released US government documents, US PresidentDwight Eisenhower ordered the CIA to eliminate Lumumba.[11][12] Minutes of an August 1960National Security Council meeting confirm that Eisenhower told CIA chiefAllen Dulles to "eliminate" the Congolese leader.[13] The official notetaker, Robert H. Johnson, testified to that before theSenate Intelligence Committee in 1975. However, subsequent investigations indicate that Lumumba was ultimately executed by an order of a political rival,Moïse Tshombe, who led theState of Katanga, with Belgian assistance.[11][14]
According toRobert B. Oakley, Carlucci befriended the futureCongo Prime MinisterCyrille Adoula in 1959-1960, who was then a Congolese Member of Parliament.[15] According toJames Schlesinger, Adoula began a White House meeting with PresidentJohn F. Kennedy with the question "Où est Carlucci?" ("Where is Carlucci?"). Kennedy first responded, "Who the hell is Carlucci?" He then sentDean Rusk to find him.[16] Oakley added that that instance was "the beginning of Carlucci's meteoric rise!"[17]
A fictionalized 2000biopic,Lumumba, directed byRaoul Peck, portrayed Carlucci as being involved during his service in Congo in the murder of Lumumba.[16][18] Carlucci furiously denied the claims and successfully went to court to prevent his being named in the film when it was released in the United States.[16][18]
In 1969, when US PresidentRichard Nixon persuaded U.S RepresentativeDonald Rumsfeld to leave his seat to become the director of theOffice of Economic Opportunity (OEO), the agency created bySargent Shriver to fightLyndon Johnson'sWar on Poverty, Rumsfeld had Carlucci transferred to OEO from the State Department to head up theCommunity Action Program.[19] Carlucci was Undersecretary of Health, Education and Welfare whenCaspar Weinberger was secretary during the Nixon administration.[19]
In the aftermath of the catastrophic flooding caused byHurricane Agnes in June 1972, Nixon designated Carlucci to lead the federal response in northeastern Pennsylvania because of his personal ties to the region. At the time, Agnes was the costliest tropical cyclone in U.S. history, and theWyoming Valley of Pennsylvania was one of the worst hit areas. Carlucci's time in this role was viewed positively by commonwealth and local officials, as well as the general public, given his local ties and effectiveness.[20]
Carlucci becameAmbassador to Portugal and served in that position from 1974 to 1977.[19] He was remembered in Portugal among the winners of thecoup of 25 November 1975.[21][failed verification] TheCarlucci American International School of Lisbon, the oldestAmerican school in theIberian Peninsula, is named after him. In 2019, the official residence of the U.S. Ambassador to Portugal, located in theLapa neighborhood ofLisbon, was named in his honor.[22]
Carlucci was Deputy Director of the CIA from 1978 to 1981, under DirectorStansfield Turner.[9]
Carlucci wasUnited States Deputy Secretary of Defense from 1981 to 1983.[23] He served asUnited States National Security Advisor from 1986 to 1987,[24] where he appointedColin Powell, later his successor, asDeputy National Security Advisor.[25]
Carlucci becameUS Secretary of Defense in 1987 afterCaspar Weinberger resigned due his wife's disabling back pain.[26] Carlucci served in that position until the end of the Reagan administration, on January 20, 1989.[9][19] Carlucci was notable during the administration for advocating an arms build-up to hasten the end of theCold War, a policy that Reagan followed.[19]
After leaving the Reagan administration in 1983, Carlucci was named president and later chairman of Sears World Trade, a subsidiary ofSears.[27] Sears announced it would wind down the subsidiary in October 1986.[28] By December, 1986, Carlucci returned to government service. Carlucci served as chairman of theCarlyle Group from 1992 to 2003 and chairman emeritus until 2005.[9][19] He had business interests in the following companies:Ashland Global Holdings,General Dynamics,Westinghouse, Neurogen, CB Commercial Real Estate,Nortel,BDM International,Quaker Oats, andKaman.[29] Carlucci was at one time a director of the private security firmWackenhut[30] and was a co-founder and senior member of the Frontier Group, a private-equity investment firm.[31] Carlucci was an advisory board member of G2 Satellite Solutions and the Chairman Emeritus ofNortel Networks.[32]
Carlucci was affiliated with theProject for the New American Century (PNAC), aconservative think tank.[33] He was Chairman Emeritus of theUS-Taiwan Business Council after he had been Chairman from 1999 to 2002; he was succeeded in 2003 byWilliam Cohen.[34][35] Carlucci was a member of the Board of Trustees of theRAND Corporation[36] and was a founding co-chair of the Advisory Board for RAND's Center for Middle East Public Policy.[37] He was also a member of the Honorary Board of theDrug Policy Alliance, a group that advocatesdrug legalization.[38]
Carlucci was married to Billie Jean Anthony from 1954 until the couple divorced in 1974.[39] They had two children.[39] Carlucci was later married to Marcia McMillan Myers from 1976 until his death. They had one daughter.[39]
Carlucci died on June 3, 2018, from complications ofParkinson's disease, at his home inMcLean, Virginia, at the age of 87.[8][9]
Grand-Cross of theOrder of Prince Henry,Portugal (November 24, 2003)[40]{{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal= (help)Frank C. Carlucci, who had served as Caspar Weinberger's deputy secretary between 1981 and 1983, succeeded him as secretary of defense.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Director of theOffice of Economic Opportunity 1971–1972 | Succeeded by Philip Sanchez |
| Preceded by | United States Deputy Secretary of Defense 1981–1983 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | National Security Advisor 1986–1987 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | United States Secretary of Defense 1987–1989 | Succeeded by |
| Diplomatic posts | ||
| Preceded by | United States Ambassador to Portugal 1975–1978 | Succeeded by |
| Government offices | ||
| Preceded by | Deputy Director of Central Intelligence 1978–1981 | Succeeded by |
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