Donald Rumsfeld: George H.W. Bush 'Disappointed' Me

Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said recently that President George H.W. Bush had left him "disappointed," a statement that is likely to revive whispers of a still ongoing rivalry between the two men.

"No, I was kind of disappointed in him," Rumsfeld said in a recent interview with ABC News. "He decided he wanted to leave people with the impression that he didn't want to go to the CIA [in the Ford administration]. And that someone made him go there. And it was probably Rumsfeld or something."

Rumsfeld then admitted that his contentious relationship with Bush had left him "amazed" when his son picked him years later to return to the administration.

Politico reported last week on the genesis of the conflict:

Beginning in 1975, the elder Bush began grumbling that Rumsfeld, then chief of staff to President Gerald Ford, had sent him to run the CIA so he wouldn't be in the running to be on Ford's 1976 ticket, Rumsfeld recounts.

Rumsfeld details the situation in his book Known and Unknown.

"The circumstances surrounding George H.W. Bush's nomination to be director of the CIA is a particularly stubborn chapter of the myth that I had stage-managed Ford's staff reorganization," he writes, according to Politico. "By repeating the myth instead of setting the record straight, Bush in effect endorsed it."

While the majority of the tension between Rumsfeld and the elder Bush seemed to be based off of decade-old contests, Salon reported in 2006 that some degree of hostility had resurfaced during the George W. Bush administration.

Former President George H.W. Bush waged a secret campaign over several months early this year to remove Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. The elder Bush went so far as to recruit Rumsfeld's potential replacement, personally asking a retired four-star general if he would accept the position, a reliable source close to the general told me. But the former president's effort failed, apparently rebuffed by the current president. When seven retired generals who had been commanders in Iraq demanded Rumsfeld's resignation in April, the younger Bush leapt to his defense. "I'm the decider and I decide what's best. And what's best is for Don Rumsfeld to remain," he said. His endorsement of Rumsfeld was a rebuke not only to the generals but also to his father.

The first segment of Rumsfeld's interview is set to air Monday night on "World News with Diane Sawyer."

Comments

[kfdan]

06:48 PM on 02/08/2011

There is a growing focus on former Bush officials like Donald Rumsfeld that is designed to white wash their actions. We've just seen 'W' warned of arrest in Switzerland and of course, last year Donald Rumsfeld had to leave Europe ... fast ... because a warrant was going to be served on him for mass murder and war crimes. It goes without saying that these criminals need to be behind bars but that is not going to happen anytime soon!

[Jim Pasterczyk]

06:39 PM on 02/08/2011

Aww, poor baby!

[springsm]

05:18 PM on 02/08/2011

Oh for pete's sakes ..who is Rumsfeld trying to fool?  Himself, perhaps?  He was on the first Bush's list of workers...he knew what Georgie was all about.  I figure that Rummy and Cheney and a few others knew that W wasn't "conscious" most of the time and they could have him do the duties that R and C wanted done.  Even to Iraq.

[springsm]

05:21 PM on 02/08/2011

Actually Ford was his president...but still little bush was around.

[Marilyn Gott]

05:00 PM on 02/08/2011

Well, Rummy, you disappointed a lot of dead military personnel.

[steveobviously]

04:28 PM on 02/08/2011

Does anybody really think that Ford was ever actually in charge of anything? Rummy's crew has been pulling the strings for so long that their own minds are tangled messes.

[falco]

04:04 PM on 02/08/2011

"Former President George H.W. Bush waged a secret campaign over several months early this year to remove Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld." This should scare us all. What kind of influence should an ex-president have? The kind where he can replace someone in someone else's administration that he doesn't like? Who the heck is running this country? Bush Sr.?

Actually, I don't fall for Rumsfeld distancing himself from Bush Sr. The "Vulcans" as they were called - Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Cheney, Armitage - helped Bush Sr.'s criminal activities and then were invited back years later to cover up the evidence.

[BillyClub]

04:02 PM on 02/08/2011

Why doesn't Rummy come clean about his crony, Paul "The Neocon" Wolfowitz?

[muhltrayne]

03:52 PM on 02/08/2011

Yeah, whatever Donnie. Now go to jail. Go directly to jail. Do not pass go, do not collect $200.

[springsm]

05:19 PM on 02/08/2011

Heck if it would get him into jail...give him the $200.

[realpolitic]

03:32 PM on 02/08/2011

Man, everytime Rumsfeld opens his mouth I like him less.

[LiberalUnderYourBed]

01:56 PM on 02/08/2011

"Donald Rumsfeld: George H.W. Bush 'Disappointed' Me"

Oh well, deal with it Rummy.
Your whole stinkin' WH 'Disappointed' Me for eight long dreadful years.
Payback's a b ia tch, innit?

[castlerider]

01:35 PM on 02/08/2011

It shows W's vapid relationship and rebelious nature against his dad, who let him know he felt it should be Jeb to run for POTUS first. He was furious that his father did not "finish the job" in taking out Saddam, and voiced repeatedly that he felt this was the reason his dad had lost his re-election to Clinton.

It gets really stupid at the top, and apparently, and so easy to see now after the fact, W always was quite stupidly eaten up with himself..

[Supersteel]

03:08 PM on 02/08/2011

Oliver Stone's movie is not necessarily truth.

[springsm]

05:20 PM on 02/08/2011

Bush on a couch is an interesting book.

[Robert Cantor]

01:03 PM on 02/08/2011

Broke Back Politics?
'I Wish I Could Quit You!'

[Eagleman]

11:36 AM on 02/08/2011

Rummy going crummy on Dubya ?

[twain307]

11:46 AM on 02/08/2011

Nope, you missed the H (as did I on first glance). Rummy going crummy on 41.

[Michael in NYC]

11:34 AM on 02/08/2011

IF Daddy Bush hadn't been CIA he never could have contributed to the slaughter of JFK in Dallas (look it up).

[Robert Cantor]

01:06 PM on 02/08/2011

Do You Remember

[Robert Cantor]

01:06 PM on 02/08/2011

Guns
Contras
Drugs
CIA
Bush?