In 1962 at the age of 30, he was elected to the United States House of Representatives from the Thirteenth District of Illinois to serve in the Eighty-Eighth Congress. Serving the western suburbs, he was re-elected by large majorities in 1964, 1966, and 1968, even while the Democrats were winning nationwide.
In the Congress, he served on the Joint Economic Committee, the Committee on Science and Aeronautics, and the Government Operations Committee, and the Subcommittees on Military and Foreign Operations. He was also a co-founder of the Japanese-American Inter-Parliamentary Council.
1968 Washington D.C. Invitational Hockey Tournament
Front Row: Mr. Joe Witry, Coach Dan Corns, Congressman Don Rumsfeld, Mr. Jim Leary.
White House Chief of Staff member of the President's Cabinet (1974-1975)
The 13th U.S. Secretary of Defense (1975-1977), the youngest in the country's history
Mr. Rumsfeld chaired the bipartisan U.S. Ballistic Missile Threat Commission, in 1998, and the U.S. Commission to Assess National Security Space Management and Organization, in 2000. He served as a member of the U.S. Trade Deficit Review Commission (1999 - 2000). Mr. Rumsfeld's civic activities included service as a member of the National Academy of Public Administration and a member of the boards of trustees of the Gerald R. Ford Foundation, the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, and the National Park Foundation, and as Chairman of the Eisenhower Exchange Fellowships, Inc.
TITLE: Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense, Washington D.C., May 7, 1976
ARTIST: Richard Avedon
GALLERY: Fraenkel Gallery
MATERIAL: Gelatin-silver print
In 1977, Rumsfeld was awarded the nation's highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.