Secretaries of Defense Historical Series

Vol 1: The Formative Years

1947-1950

Vol 2: The Test of War

1950-1953

Vol 3: Strategy, Money, and the New Look

1953-1956

Synopsis

Synopsis

Synopsis

Stephen L. Rearden

1984

Doris M. Condit

1988

Richard M. Leighton

2001

Vol 4: Into the Missile Age

1956-1960

Vol 5: The McNamara Ascendancy

1961-1965

Vol 6: McNamara, Clifford, and the Burdens of Vietnam

1965-1969

Synopsis

Synopsis

Synopsis

Robert J. Watson

1997

Kaplan, Landa, Drea

2006

Edward J. Drea

2011

Vol 7: Melvin Laird and the Foundation of the Post-Vietnam Military

1969-1973

Vol. 8: The Decline of Détente: Elliot Richardson, James Schlesinger, and Donald Rumsfeld

1973-1977

Vol 9: Harold Brown: Offsetting the Soviet Military Challenge

1977-1981

Synopsis

Full Volume

Richard A. Hunt

2015

Joel C. Christenson, Anthony R. Crain, and Richard A. Hunt

2024

Edward C. Keefer

2017

Vol. 10: Caspar Weinberger and the U.S. Military Buildup, 1981-1985

Edward C. Keefer

2023