Harold Brown (19 September 1927-4 January 2019) was the US Secretary of Defense from 21 January 1977 to 20 January 1981, succeeding Donald Rumsfeld and preceding Caspar Weinberger.
Biography[]
Harold Brown was born in Brooklyn, New York City, New York in 1927, and he graduated from high school at the age of 15 and earned a Ph.D. in physics from Columbia University at the age of 21. He worked under Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara as Director of Defense Research and Engineering from 1961 to 1965 (succeeding Herbert York and preceding John S. Foster Jr.), as Secretary of the Air Force from 1965 to 1969 (succeeding Eugene M. Zuckert and preceding Robert Seamans), and as President of the California Institute of Technology from 1969 to 1977 (succeeding Lee Alvin DuBridge and preceding Robert F. Christy). In 1977, he became the first natural scientist to serve as Secretary of Defense, serving under President Jimmy Carter; he supported the groundwork for the Camp David Accords, took part in strategic arms negotiations with the Soviet Union, and supported the unsuccessful SALT II treaty. He defended the Carter administration's policies after its end, and he died in 2019 at the age of 91.