Weinberger, Caspar Willard (1917-2006), was a Republican government official who held two Cabinet posts. He served as secretary of defense under President Ronald Reagan from 1981 to 1987 and helped direct a major increase in U.S. military forces. Weinberger was secretary of health, education, and welfare under Presidents Richard M. Nixon and Gerald R. Ford from 1973 to 1975.
Weinberger was born on Aug. 18, 1917, in San Francisco and graduated from Harvard University in 1938. He earned a law degree from the Harvard Law School in 1941. In 1952, he won election to the California Assembly. In 1968, he became California state finance director. Nixon named Weinberger chairman of the Federal Trade Commission in 1970. In 1972, Nixon appointed him director of the Office of Management and Budget. In 1989, he became publisher of Forbes magazine.
In 1992, Weinberger was charged with lying to Congress and government investigators and blocking their investigations of the Iran-contra affair. He was scheduled to stand trial in early 1993. But Weinberger declared that he was innocent of the charges, and in December 1992, President George H. W. Bush granted him a full pardon. Weinberger died on March 28, 2006.
See also Iran-contra affair ; Reagan, Ronald Wilson (The Iran-contra affair) .
