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Appointment of Donald Rumsfeld as the President's Personal Representative in the Middle East

November 03, 1983

The President today announced his intention to appoint Donald Rumsfeld as his Personal Representative in the Middle East with the personal rank of Ambassador. He will succeed Robert C. McFarlane.

Mr. Rumsfeld has served as president and chief executive officer of G. D. Searle & Company since 1977. Previously Mr. Rumsfeld served as Secretary of Defense in 1975-1977; Chief of Staff, the White House, in 1974-1975; U.S. Ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization located in Belgium in 1973-1974; Counsellor to the President and Director of the Economic Stabilization Program in 1970-1972; and Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity and Assistant to the President in 1969-1970. He was elected to the U.S. Congress from Illinois in 1962 and reelected in 1964, 1966, and 1968.

In 1977 Mr. Rumsfeld was awarded the Nation's highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Mr. Rumsfeld presently serves as a member of the boards of directors of Sears, Roebuck and Co. and of Eastern Air Lines and as chairman of the board of the Rand Corp. He also serves on the President's U.S. General Advisory Committee on Arms Control and on the U.S. Presidential Commission on the Conduct of U.S.-Japan Relations.

He graduated from Princeton University (1954). He is a married, has three children, and resides in Winnetka, Ill. He was born July 9, 1932.

Ronald Reagan, Appointment of Donald Rumsfeld as the President's Personal Representative in the Middle East Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/262058

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