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Robert McNamara official portrait

2,595 days
Robert McNamara from 1961 to 1968

ElliotLeeRichardson

114 days
Elliot Richardson in 1973

This is a list of United States Secretaries of Defense by time in office. This is based on the difference between dates; if counted by number of calendar days all the figures would be one greater. (Note that the list of popes by length of reign use numbers of calendar days.)

Robert McNamara and Donald Rumsfeld are the only two people to have served as Secretary of Defense for more 7 years. Rumsfeld is the only Secretary of Defense ever to have served two non-consecutive terms. Elliot Richardson served as Secretary of Defense for less than four months before becoming Attorney General.

# in office Secretary Days Rank
8 Macnamara, RobertRobert McNamara 2,595 1
13/21 Rumsfeld, DonaldDonald Rumsfeld 2,585 2
15 Weinberger, CasparCaspar Weinberger 2,497 3
5 Wilson, Charles ErwinCharles Erwin Wilson 1,722 4
22 Gates, RobertRobert Gates 1,656 5
10 Laird, Melvin R.Melvin R. Laird 1,469 6
14 Brown, HaroldHarold Brown 1,460 7
20 Cohen, WilliamWilliam Cohen 1,457 8
17 Cheney, DickDick Cheney 1,402 9
19 Perry, WilliamWilliam Perry 1,085 10
12 Schlesinger, James R.James R. Schlesinger 870 11
6 Macelroy, Neil H.Neil H. McElroy 783 12
23 Panetta, LeonLeon Panetta 608 13
1 Forrestal, JamesJames Forrestal 558 14
2 Johnson, Louis A.Louis A. Johnson 540 15
4 Lovett, Robert A.Robert A. Lovett 491 16
16 Carlucci, FrankFrank Carlucci 424 17
7 Gates, Thomas S.Thomas S. Gates, Jr. 415 18
18 Aspin, LesLes Aspin 378 19
3 Marshall, GeorgeGeorge Marshall 356 20
9 Clifford, ClarkClark Clifford 326 21
24 Hagel, ChuckChuck Hagel 70034038000000000004,038 22
11 Richardson, ElliotElliot Richardson 114 23

See also[]

All or a portion of this article consists of text from Wikipedia, and is therefore Creative Commons Licensed under GFDL.
The original article can be found at List of United States Secretaries of Defense by time in office and the edit history here.

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