12th Secretary of Defense of the United States, sworn in by Richard Nixon, July 2, 1973

Education

• 1950: B.A., economics, Harvard University
• 1952: M.A., economics, Harvard University
• 1956: Ph.D., economics, Harvard University

Career Track

• 1955-1963: associate professor of economics at the University of Virginia
• 1957: Academic Consultant in Economics to the U.S. Naval War College
• 1963-1969: director of strategic studies, Rand Corporation
• 1969: assistant director of the Bureau of the Budget
• 1971: chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission
• 1973: director of the CIA
• 1973: Secretary of Defense

  Schlesinger's constant demands for more funding for the department of defense resulted in his dismissal from office on November 19, 1975 by president Gerald Ford.

• 1977: special adviser on energy to Jimmy Carter and the first head of the new Department of Energy
• 1979: senior adviser to Lehman Brothers