Frank Carlucci

Frank Charles Carlucci III GCIH (October 18, 1930 – June 3, 2018) was an American politician and diplomat who served as the United States Secretary of Defense from 1987 to 1989 in the administration of President Ronald Reagan.[2]

Frank Carlucci
16th United 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
15th United 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
18th United States Deputy Secretary of Defense
In office February 4, 1981 – December 31, 1982
President	Ronald Reagan
Preceded by	Graham Claytor
Succeeded by	Paul Thayer
13th Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
In office February 5, 1978 – February 4, 1981
President	Jimmy Carter Ronald Reagan
Preceded by	John Francis 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 the Office 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
Spouse(s)	Jean Anthony ​ ( m. 1954; div. 1974) Marcia Myers ( m. 1976)
Children	Three (Two with Anthony; One with Myers)
Education	Princeton University (A.B.) Harvard University (M.B.A.)
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch/service	United States Navy
Years of service	1952–1954
Rank	Lieutenant

Carlucci served in a variety of senior-level governmental positions, including Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity in the Richard Nixon administration, Deputy Director of the CIA in the Jimmy Carter administration, and Deputy Secretary of Defense and National Security Advisor in the Reagan administration.

Early life

Carlucci was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the son of Roxann (née Bacon) and Frank Charles Carlucci, Jr., an insurance broker. His father was of Italian and Swiss descent.[3] His grandfather was from Santomenna in Italy.[4] After graduating from Wyoming Seminary in 1948, Carlucci attended Princeton University, where he roomed with Donald Rumsfeld. He graduated with an A.B. from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University in 1952 after completing a 153-page long senior thesis titled "Two American Businesses in Costa Rica."[5] He then attended Harvard Business School for an M.B.A. in 1954-55.[6] He was a Naval officer from 1952 until 1954.[7] He joined the Foreign Service, working for the State Department from 1956 until 1969.[8]

Early career

In 1961, Carlucci was the second secretary at the United States Embassy in the Congo. During that time, Patrice Lumumba, the first prime minister of independent Congo, was executed in January 1961 during the Congo Crisis.[9]

According to subsequently released US government documents, President Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered the CIA to eliminate Lumumba.[9][10] Minutes of an August 1960 National Security Council meeting confirm that Eisenhower told CIA chief Allen Dulles to "eliminate" the Congolese leader.[11] The official note taker, Robert H. Johnson, testified to this before the Senate Intelligence Committee in 1975. However, subsequent investigations indicate that Lumumba was ultimately executed by order of political rival Moïse Tshombe of the State of Katanga with Belgian assistance.[9][12]

According to James Schlesinger, a subsequent Prime Minister of the Congo, Cyrille Adoula, began a White House meeting with President John F. Kennedy with the question "Où est Carlucci?" ("Where is Carlucci?"). Kennedy first responded "Who the hell is Carlucci?'" and then sent Dean Rusk to find him.[13]

A fictionalized 2000 biopic of Lumumba, titled Lumumba, and directed by Raoul Peck, portrayed Carlucci as being involved during his service in Congo in the murder of Lumumba.[13][14] Carlucci furiously denied the claims, and successfully went to court to prevent being named in the film when it was released in the United States.[13][14]

Service in Presidential administrations

Secretary Carlucci at a press conference, 1988

In 1969, when President Nixon persuaded U.S. Rep. Donald Rumsfeld to leave his congressional seat to become director of the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO), the agency created by Sargent Shriver to fight President Johnson's War on Poverty, Rumsfeld had Carlucci transferred to OEO from the State Department to head up the Community Action Program.[15] Carlucci was Undersecretary of Health, Education and Welfare when Caspar Weinberger was secretary during the Nixon administration.[15]

Carlucci became Ambassador to Portugal, and served in this position from 1974 until 1977.[15] He was remembered in Portugal among the winners of the November 25 Coup d'État.[16] The Carlucci American International School of Lisbon, the oldest American school in the Iberian Peninsula, is named for him.

Carlucci was Deputy Director of the CIA from 1978 until 1981, under CIA Director Stansfield Turner.[8]

Department of Defense

Carlucci was United States Deputy Secretary of Defense from 1981 until 1983.[17] He later served as United States National Security Advisor from 1986 until 1987,[18] where he appointed Colin Powell, later his successor, as United States Deputy National Security Advisor.[19]

Carlucci became United States Secretary of Defense in 1987, following the resignation of Caspar Weinberger due to his involvement in the Iran-Contra Affair.[8] He served as Secretary of Defense until the end of the Reagan administration on January 20, 1989.[8][15] He was notable during the administration for advocating an arms build-up to hasten the end of the Cold War, a policy which Reagan followed.[15]

Post-Administration work

Business

Carlucci served as chairman of the Carlyle Group from 1992 until 2003, and chairman emeritus until 2005.[8][15] He had business interests in the following companies: Ashland Global Holdings, General Dynamics, Westinghouse, Neurogen, CB Commercial Real Estate, Nortel, BDM International, Quaker Oats, and Kaman.[20] Carlucci was at one time a director of the private security firm Wackenhut,[21] and was a co-founder and senior member of the Frontier Group, a private-equity investment firm.[22] Carlucci was an advisory board member of G2 Satellite Solutions and the Chairman Emeritus of Nortel Networks.[23]

Organizations

Carlucci was affiliated with the Project for the New American Century (PNAC), a conservative think tank.[24] He was Chairman Emeritus of the US-Taiwan Business Council having been Chairman from 1999-2002; he was succeeded in 2003 by William Cohen.[25][26] Carlucci was a member of the Board of Trustees of the RAND Corporation[27] and was founding co-chair of the Advisory Board for RAND's Center for Middle East Public Policy.[28] He was also a member of the Honorary Board of the Drug Policy Alliance, a group which advocates drug legalization.[29]

Personal life and death

Carlucci was married to Billie Jean Anthony from 1954 until the couple divorced in 1974.[30] They had two children.[30] Carlucci was later married to Marcia McMillan Myers from 1976 until his death. They had one daughter.[30]

Carlucci died on June 3, 2018, from complications of Parkinson's disease, at his home in McLean, Virginia, at the age of 87.[7][8]

Honours

• Grand-Cross of the Order of Prince Henry, Portugal (24 November 2003)[31]

References

1. Frank Carlucci III Notice
2. "Frank C. Carlucci - Ronald Reagan Administration". Office of the Secretary of Defense - Historical Office. Archived from the original on February 7, 2017. Retrieved February 8, 2017.
3. Mazur, Suzan (June 30, 2005). "Suzan Mazur: Frank Carlucci I, "Sublime Prince"". Scoop News. Archived from the original on April 18, 2018. Retrieved April 17, 2018.
4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on June 17, 2019. Retrieved June 17, 2019.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
5. Carlucci, Frank Charles (1952). "Two American Businesses in Costa Rica". Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
6. "Frank Carlucci, Carlyle chairman who led Pentagon, dies at 87". Pensions and Investments. June 4, 2018. Archived from the original on September 22, 2018. Retrieved June 4, 2018.
7. Nelan, Bruce (June 4, 2018). "Frank Carlucci, defense secretary and tamer of federal bureaucracies, dies at 87". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on September 22, 2018. Retrieved June 4, 2018.
8. "Frank C. Carlucci, Diplomat and Defense Secretary to Reagan, Dies at 87". June 4, 2018. Archived from the original on June 5, 2018. Retrieved June 4, 2018 – via NYTimes.com.
9. David Akerman (October 21, 2000). "Who Killed Lumumba?". BBC. Archived from the original on July 16, 2015. Retrieved July 16, 2015.
10. Michael S. Mayer (2009). The Eisenhower Years. Infobase Publishing. p. 44. ISBN 978-0-8160-5387-2. Archived from the original on October 17, 2015. Retrieved July 16, 2015.
11. Kettle, Martin (August 10, 2000). "President 'ordered murder' of Congo leader". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
12. Witte, Ludo de (2002). The Assassination of Lumumba. Verso. p. 78. ISBN 1859844103. Retrieved April 17, 2018 – via Google Books.
13. Shorrock, Tim (March 14, 2002). "Company Man". The Nation. Archived from the original on September 21, 2002. Retrieved May 3, 2009.
14. ""Carlucci" bleeped from HBO version of Lumumba". WSWS. March 15, 2002. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved June 4, 2018.
15. "Frank Carlucci, Carlyle Chairman Who Led Pentagon, Dies at 87". Bloomberg. June 4, 2018. Archived from the original on June 4, 2018. Retrieved June 4, 2018.
16. Frank Carlucci parecia "um típico mafioso italiano" Archived July 7, 2012, at Archive.today, João Pedro Henriques, 13 de Novembro 2008
17. SecDef stories - Frank C. Carlucci Archived December 20, 2006, at the Wayback Machine, Department of Defense
18. "Frank C. Carlucci". history.defense.gov. Archived from the original on February 7, 2017. Retrieved June 5, 2018. Frank C. Carlucci, who had served as Caspar Weinberger's deputy secretary between 1981 and 1983, succeeded him as secretary of defense.
19. Bamford, James (January 18, 1987). "Carlucci and the N.S.C." The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
20. "BDM International". Brand.Edgar. Archived from the original on November 16, 2018. Retrieved June 4, 2018.
21. "Frank Carlucci Demands His $37 Million". Courthouse News. May 30, 2013. Archived from the original on September 22, 2018. Retrieved June 4, 2018.
22. "Frank C. Carlucci Biography". Bloomberg. Retrieved June 4, 2018.
23. "Frank C. Carlucci". CSIS. Archived from the original on July 1, 2017. Retrieved June 4, 2018.
24. B.W.Holmes (December 2004). "Partial list of people associated with the Project For The New American Century". Reasoned spirituality. Archived from the original on December 25, 2017. Retrieved April 18, 2018.
25. "About the Council". US-Taiwan Business Council. Archived from the original on April 18, 2018. Retrieved April 18, 2018.
26. Conley, Richard S. (2017). Historical Dictionary of the Reagan-Bush Era (2 ed.). Rowman & Littlefield. p. 50. ISBN 1538101815. Archived from the original on April 18, 2018. Retrieved April 18, 2018.
27. "The Carluccis Support RAND's Commitment to Follow the Research Wherever It Leads". RAND. Archived from the original on April 19, 2018. Retrieved April 18, 2018.
28. "Frank Charles Carlucci III". SourceWatch. Archived from the original on April 18, 2018. Retrieved April 18, 2018.
29. DPA 2010 Annual Report, p. 22.
30. "Frank Carlucci". NNDB. Archived from the original on June 3, 2018. Retrieved June 4, 2018.
31. "Cidadãos Estrangeiros Agraciados com Ordens Portuguesas". Página Oficial das Ordens Honoríficas Portuguesas. Archived from the original on February 8, 2012. Retrieved March 20, 2019.

External links

• Foreign Service Journal article on his Lifetime Contributions to American Diplomacy Award.

• Department of Defense biography
• Appearances on C-SPAN

Political offices
Preceded by Donald Rumsfeld	Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity 1971–1972	Succeeded by Philip Sanchez
Preceded by Graham Claytor	United States Deputy Secretary of Defense 1981–1983	Succeeded by Paul Thayer
Preceded by John Poindexter	National Security Advisor 1986–1987	Succeeded by Colin Powell
Preceded by Caspar Weinberger	United States Secretary of Defense 1987–1989	Succeeded by Dick Cheney
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by Stuart Scott	United States Ambassador to Portugal 1975–1978	Succeeded by Richard Bloomfield
Government offices
Preceded by John Francis Blake	Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency 1978–1981	Succeeded by Bobby Inman