Wisconsin congressman and former Secretary of Defense Melvin R. Laird Jr. was the offspring of a family with deep roots in Wisconsin politics and business. Laird's grandfather William Duncan Connor (1864-1944) served as lieutenant governor, 1907-1909, and chairman of the Republican State Central Committee. Connor's daughter Helen, who later became a member of the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents, married Melvin R. Laird (1877-1946). A native of Griggsville, Illinois, Laird was a graduate of the University of Illinois and Princeton University, and he received his D.D. from James Millikin University. He taught in schools in Wisconsin and Illinois and served as a Presbyterian minister in Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin and Omaha, Nebraska. He was also a member of the Wood County Board of Supervisors and credit manager of the Connor Lumber and Land Company. According to biographers of Melvin Jr., it was the teenage son who persuaded the elder Laird to first run for the Wisconsin Senate in 1941. The same newspaper accounts indicate that the son made more campaign speeches than the candidate.
Melvin R. Laird Jr. was born in Omaha, Nebraska, on September 1, 1922, but one year later the family moved to Wood County. There Laird attended Marshfield public schools before enrolling at Carleton College. He graduated in 1942 as president of his class with a degree in political science. Laird immediately enlisted in the Navy. After training in Minnesota and at Wellesley College he was commissioned an ensign in March 1944. Laird served in six battles on the destroyer Maddox in Task Force 58 and the Pacific Third Fleet, and he was twice wounded.
After his return from service Laird married Barbara Masters (died 1992) in 1945. They became the parents of three children: John Osborne (born 1948), Alison Large (born 1951), and David Malcolm (born 1954). After his father's death on March 19, 1946, Laird, still in uniform, ran for his father's seat in the Legislature, becoming the youngest senator in Wisconsin history. He was reelected without opposition in 1948. As a member of the Legislature, Laird served on the Joint Finance Committee and the Labor and Management Committee; chaired the Veterans and Military Affairs Committee and the Legislative Council; and was a member of the Wisconsin Commission on Improvement of the Educational System (1947-1949). Laird was frequently the legislative spokesman for Governors Rennebohm and Kohler. As chair of the Legislative Council's Committee on Taxation, Laird published the “Laird Report,” a detailed paper on the Wisconsin tax system. At the same time, Laird quickly advanced in party circles, serving as a delegate to the 1948 and 1952 National Republican conventions and participating in deliberations of the National Platform Committee in 1952. During this time Laird also attended the University of Wisconsin Law School.
In 1952 Laird ran for the 7th Congressional seat left vacant by Congressman Reid Murray, winning by a margin of 56,000 votes. In five subsequent elections Laird never received less than 65 per cent of the vote. Rep. Laird quickly won a reputation for brilliance and tough-minded pragmatic partisanship. During the 83rd Congress he served on the House Agriculture Committee, a natural assignment given the economy of the 7th District. In this position Laird quickly won a reputation as “Dairyland's Best Friend in Congress.” During his early congressional career Laird was also known for his strong support of Menominee tribal interests.
Laird was also the only Wisconsin legislator elected to the powerful House Appropriations Committee where he served on the Defense, Military Construction, Commerce, Health, Education, Welfare, and Labor subcommittees. As a member of the most important subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee, the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, Laird developed a nationally respected expertise on military matters.
Somewhat overshadowed by his reputation on military matters, was Laird's expertise on health care, a subject which also grew from his position on the Appropriations Committee. Because of his work on health care Laird received the Albert Lasker Medical Research Award. He was also an adviser to the American delegation to the World Health Organization.
During the 1960s Laird's role within Republican Party circles grew. “I'm a professional politician and like to be called one,” he is quoted as saying in 1963. “There is no profession which offers more real satisfaction--the feeling that you are really doing something.” During the 1960s Laird was increasingly identified with the party's conservative wing, in part because of his work as chair of the Joint House-Senate Committee which set forth the Republican Party's statement of principles and policy in 1962 and also because of his publication of A House Divided, which called for a strong anti-Communist position around the globe. In 1964 Laird edited The Conservative Papers, a compilation of 14 essays by leading conservatives. As chairman of the National Platform Committee in 1964 Laird was instrumental in shaping the conservative Goldwater-endorsed party platform. After the party's loss in the Presidential election Laird became a leader in the efforts to resurrect the party's fortunes. In 1965 he became head of the Republican Conference, the caucus that represented all congressional Republicans. Laird developed the conference into a more active body, calling frequent meetings and setting up task forces with expert staff to study party positions. By this time Laird was described by U.S. News and World Report as a “creative conservative.” Along with Minority Leader Gerald Ford, Laird emerged as one of the nation's most powerful political figures, and many thought that behind the scenes Laird was more powerful than Ford. Joseph W. Sullivan of the Wall Street Journal wrote in 1967, for example: “top ranked among (the House Republicans) and more aggressive and sharp tongued than Mr. Ford, is Rep. Laird....When it comes to shaping grand designs or exerting force internally, clearly the prime mover is Mr. Laird. More so than any of his fellow lawmakers, he sees the House as just one of the many pieces in a national political puzzle. And by force of intellect and personality, he gained an early feel for all of them.” Because of his position as ranking minority member of the Defense Appropriations Committee Laird emerged as one of the foremost Republican critics of President Lyndon Johnson's Vietnam War policy and a chief advocate of a tougher anti-Communist policy and increased spending for the war. On domestic matters Laird was an advocate of revenue sharing. By 1968 the National Committee for an Effective Congress termed Laird the “most powerful Republican in the House.”
In 1968 Laird first supported George Romney and then Governor Nelson Rockefeller as candidates who could win the Presidency, but he eventually backed Nixon with whom he was personally and philosophically friendly. Prior to the party convention Laird edited The Republican Papers, which placed him with the party's more moderate wing. After the Republican victory, Richard Nixon nominated Laird as Secretary of Defense, the first civilian to be named to that post. Laird accepted despite a preference to remain in the Congress. As a congressman, Laird had been critical of the management of Secretary Robert McNamara, and as a result he instituted a number of reforms including decentralized participatory decisionmaking, a policy that was calculated to win support from the military leadership for the need to reduce the Defense budget. Laird's political background also helped him to win congressional support for defense programs. The majority of his administration was focused on the development of “Vietnamization,” the gradual disengagement of American combat troops, and the creation of an all-volunteer Army.
Because he had stated that he would serve only four years, Laird resigned his Pentagon post on January 29, 1973. After leaving the Pentagon, Laird continued as top domestic policy adviser to President Nixon for eight months. In February 1974 he resigned to become senior adviser for national and international affairs for Reader's Digest. With Robert Strauss he headed the Commission on National Elections formed in 1985 and he continued to serve on the boards of over a dozen corporations.
