Rumsfeld details the making of the American icon. Whether you love him or hate him, you cannot deny that he is undoubtedly one of the most powerful people in the United States of America. He rose quite suddenly to the heights of political stardom in a somewhat unexpected development over the past few years. He has been the leading architect of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and thus thrust into a centralized position as the chief policymaker. With his televised briefings, he has leapt into the spotlight where many Americans have developed an almost slavish devotion to him due to his masterful manipulation of the American press. At the same time, throughout the world it is Rumsfeld who is second only to President Bush as the focal point of anti-American animosity.

Midge Decter, who has known Donald Rumsfeld for many years, utilized that acquaintance, documents, and interviews with him and his family, friends and colleagues to impart fascinating accounts of the high and low points on the journey Rumsfeld made from his hometown in Chicago to Washington, DC. He was at various times a young congressman, the head of the Office of Economic Opportunity, the ambassador to NATO under President Richard Nixon, the chief of staff in President Gerald Ford’s White House, the youngest Secretary of Defense ever to hold the office (also under President Ford), a wildly successful corporate executive, and ultimately, again Secretary of Defense under President George W. Bush.

For those wishing to know more about a major player in the workings of the government, Rumsfeld is a must-read.