Marshfield Native Melvin Laird has Passed Away
Thursday, November 17th, 2016 -- 8:06 AM
(Mike Warren, WDLB) -Marshfield native and former Defense Secretary Melvin Laird has died.The Marshfield man who served as President Nixon’s secretary of defense from 1969 until 1973 died Wednesday at the age of 94. Prior to serving in the Nixon cabinet, Laird was a Republican congressman representing Wisconsin’s 7th district from 1953 to 1969.
Laird was widely known for forming Nixon’s policy of withdrawing the U.S. military from Vietnam, and he is credited with coining the term “Vietnamization,” which described the goal of gradually handing over the war effort to the anti-communist South Vietnamese troops. Laird was also the secretary of defense who suspended the draft in 1973, making the U.S. military an all-volunteer force.
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