Crusader against ‘Vietnamisation’ Laird dies at 94
Washington, Nov. 16: Melvin Laird, who as defence secretary under President Richard Nixon from 1969 to 1973 helped extricate US Forces from the morass of the Vietnam War in a policy he dubbed “Vietnamisation”, has died at age 94.
His death was confirmed by the Richard Nixon Foundation on Wednesday.
Laird, a Republican from Wisconsin who once served in the US House of Representatives, also manoeuvred to get Nixon top pick Gerald Ford as vice-president when Spiro Agnew resigned, was instrumental in creating the all-volunteer US military and privately opposed Nixon’s incursion into Cambodia.
The current US defence secretary, Ash Carter, said Laird throughout out his career “demonstrated an unfailing commitment to protecting our country, strengthening our military, and making a better world”.
“As secretary of defence, I’ve often benefited from his counsel, his encouragement, and his friendship,” Mr Carter added in a statement.
Laird served as defence secretary at a time when the Vietnam War, escalated by Republican Nixon’s
Laird was Nixon’s counsellor on domestic affairs in October 1973, when Nixon had to replace V-P Agnew, who had resigned in a scandal
He presided over drawdown of US troops in Vietnam
Democratic predecessor, Lyndon Johnson, was provoking huge domestic protests in the United States, sapping American financial resources and killing tens of thousands of US troops.
Laird coined the term “Vietnamisation” in 1969 to describe a policy of enlarging, equipping and training the forces of US ally South Vietnam to fight the forces of Communist North Vietnam.