Melvin R. Laird
Melvin Robert "Bom" Laird (born September 1, 1922) is an American politician and writer. He was a U.S. congressman from Wisconsin before serving as Secretary of Defense from 1969 to 1973 under President Richard Nixon. Laird was instrumental in forming the administration's policy of withdrawing U.S. soldiers from the Vietnam War; he invented the expression "Vietnamization," referring to the process of transferring more responsibility for combat to the South Vietnamese forces.
Read more about Melvin R. Laird: Early Life, Legislative Career, Secretary of Defense, Later Career
Famous quotes containing the word laird:
“An amoeba is a formless thing which takes many shapes. It moves by thrusting out an arm, and flowing into the arm. It multiplies by pulling itself in two, without permanently diminishing the original. So with words. A meaning may develop on the periphery of the body of meanings associated with a word, and shortly this tentacle-meaning has grown to such proportions that it dwarfs all other meanings.”
—Charlton Laird (b. 1901)