In 1969, Rumsfeld surprised colleagues by resigning from the House and joining the Nixon administration. His new job, running the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO), seemed an odd fit. Robert Hartmann, then a Ford aide in Congress, recalled that conservatives thought Rumsfeld would work to abolish OEO, which had been established as part of Lyndon Johnson's "war on poverty." Nixon's domestic agenda, however, was only slightly less liberal than Johnson's. Rumsfeld not only kept OEO afloat, he seemed to thrive there, and made new friends across the political spectrum, a trait that marked his entire government and corporate career. But his most important new friendship was with a young Republican named Dick Cheney. ...
Rumsfeld left OEO in December 1970 to take another big-government job: director of the Cost of Living Council. His job was to oversee the board that imposed Nixon's ill-conceived program to set wages and prices to control runaway inflation. "It was madness every day," recalls Judge Silberman, who as undersecretary of labor frequently attended council meetings. Rumsfeld tells the story that when Labor Secretary George Shultz offered him the job, he answered, "But I don't agree with that stuff." Replied Shultz, "That's why we're appointing you." The job came with the seemingly added bonus of being a counselor to President Nixon. At age thrity-eight, he shared power with H.R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, and John Dean.
Thanks. I'll have to get that book and then read it.