Weinberger Remembered As a Tough Leader

AP via Yahoo News ^ | 4 April 2006 | ELIZABETH WHITE

[A.A. Cunningham]

Weinberger Remembered As a Tough Leader
By ELIZABETH WHITE, Associated Press Writer

Caspar Weinberger was remembered Tuesday as a defense secretary who took on totalitarian regimes and helped to end the Cold War — and also hid chocolate in his desk and liked to catch a daytime nap.

Weinberger, who was President Reagan's Pentagon chief, died last week at 88 in Maine. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery after a funeral service at nearby Fort Myer Memorial Chapel attended by Vice President Dick Cheney, former Reagan officials and former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell told mourners, who included Weinberger's widow, Jane, that Weinberger's life "rested on a bedrock of beliefs."

And though "he became 'Cap the Knife' in California and Washington," Powell said of Weinberger's reputation for efforts to slash government spending, "he was also ... 'Cap the Compassionate'" and a man of habits, such as a daytime snooze.

The guest list at the farewell read like a who's who of Reagan-era politics. It included former Reagan ally Thatcher, 80, who has rarely appeared in public after suffering a series of small strokes, former National Security Adviser John M. Poindexter, former Attorney General Edwin Meese III, former U.N. Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick and Reagan Navy Secretary John F. Lehman.

Weinberger had supported Thatcher's decision to dispatch British forces for the Falkland Islands war in 1982.

Also in attendance were Cheney, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Peter Pace and Maine's two Republican senators, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Weinberger "made changes that helped restore pride in our country's uniform and helped win the Cold War."

Weinberger oversaw the Pentagon's biggest peacetime spending increase.

He later faced federal felony charges of lying and concealing notes detailing White House discussions of the Iran-Contra affair, the sale of weapons to Iran to finance secret illegal aid to the Nicaraguan Contras. Weinberger was pardoned by the first President Bush in 1992, just before he was to go to trial.

The graveside ceremony included a 19-gun salute and a bugler playing "Taps." Weinberger's flag-draped casket was carried on a caisson to his burial spot on a shaded hill with a view of the Washington Monument and the Pentagon.

Snowe called Weinberger "a genuine patriot" and said the world's totalitarian governments "met their match in Caspar Weinberger."

Born Aug. 18, 1917, in San Francisco, graduated from Harvard in 1938 and got his law degree there in 1941. He enlisted in the Army as a private with America's entry into World War II and came out of the war a captain.

Weinberger served as President Nixon's budget director and later was publisher of Forbes and then chairman of Forbes Inc.

Besides his wife of 63 years, Weinberger is survived by their son, Caspar Weinberger Jr., and daughter, Arlin Weinberger.

Copyright © 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

[A.A. Cunningham]

The casket containing former Reagan Administration Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger is carried out of a chapel by U.S. military honor guard members at Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington, April 4, 2006. REUTERS/Larry Downing

Members of the military march at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., Tuesday, April 4, 2006 during funeral services for former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, left, is escorted to former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger funeral service, Tuesday, April 4, 2006 at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va. Weinberger died last week, he was 88. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Former United Nations Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick arrives for funeral services for former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, Tuesday, April 4, 2006 at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va. Weinberger died last week, he was 88. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Former Attorney General Edwin Meese, left, followed by Steve Forbes, arrives for funeral services for former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger,Tuesday, April 4, 2006 at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va. Weinberger died last week, he was 88. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Jane Weinberger, the wife of former Reagan Administration Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, watches her husband's casket before his burial at Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington, April 4, 2006. REUTERS/Larry Downing

In this photo provided by the Department of Defense, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld expresses his condolences to widow of former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, at the funeral for her husband at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., Tuesday, April 4, 2006. Weinberger died on March 28, 2006, at the age of 88. (AP Photo/Department of Defense, Petty Officer 1st Class Chad J. McNeeley, U.S. Navy)

In this file photo from 1987 US President Ronald Reagan wiped his eye during an emotional retirement ceremony at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. for Caspar Weinberger (L). Weinberger was eulogized as a tough but charming Cold Warrior whose 1980s military buildup helped bring down the Soviet Union.(AFP/File)

[T Lady]

Mr. Weinberger was the first Secretary of Defense I served under during my twenty years in the Navy (1982-2002). My deepest sympathies go out to his family.

[jazusamo]

Secretary Weinberger was a good man and a true patriot.

[lightman]

"For All the Saints Who from Their Labors Rest"
by William W. How, 1823-1897

1. For all the saints who from their labors rest,
Who Thee by faith before the world confess,
Thy name, O Jesus, be forever blest,
Alleluia! Alleluia!

2. Thou wast their Rock, their Fortress, and their Might;
Thou, Lord, their Captain in the well-fought fight;
Thou, in the darkness drear, their one true Light.
Alleluia! Alleluia!

3. Oh, may Thy soldiers, faithful, true and bold,
Fight as the saints who nobly fought of old
And win with them the victor's crown of gold.
Alleluia! Alleluia!

4. O blest communion, fellowship divine,
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
Yet all are one in Thee, for all are Thine.
Alleluia! Alleluia!

5. And when the fight is fierce, the warfare long,
Steals on the ear the distant triumph song,
And hearts are brave again, and arms are strong.
Alleluia! Alleluia!

6. The golden evening brightens in the west;
Soon, soon, to faithful warriors cometh rest.
Sweet is the calm of Paradise the blest.
Alleluia! Alleluia!

7. But, lo, there breaks a yet more glorious day;
The saints triumphant rise in bright array;
The King of Glory passes on His way.
Alleluia! Alleluia!

8. From earth's wide bounds, from ocean's farthest coast,
Through gates of pearl streams in the countless host,
Singing to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
Alleluia! Alleluia!



Hymn #463
The Lutheran Hymnal
Text: Heb. 12:1
Author: William W. How, 1864, cento
Composer: R. Vaughan Williams, 1906, arr.
Tune: "Sine nomine"

[Reagan Man]

Nice tribute to a great American, a tough as nails Cold Warrior and a fine Defense Secretary.

In their glory years.

[Ann Archy]

In 1983 or 1984 there was a FABULOUS story about Cap Weinberger in Reader's Digest called "The Day that Kate Read Palms"....it was about Katherine Hepburn reading Cap's palm when they were high school or college age. It also had info about Howard Hughes that was very interesting.

Could anyone POST this??

[jazusamo]

I'm looking for it but not having much luck. If I find it, I'll post it.

[SevenofNine]

MAN Maggie look frail I think next funeral may be for that Brit lady Maggie Thatcher

You know what I must be getting old all Reagan confidenate are dying off NOW first it was Lyn Notezer now Cap MAN

[Aussie Dasher]

All good people. It will be very sad when the last leaves us. Truly, the end of an era.

[Ann Archy]

You won't regret finding it!! Thanks!