William S. Cohen Papers | Collection
Biographical Note
Biographical Note
Background
William S. Cohen was born on August 28, 1940 in Bangor, Maine. His
father Reuben, a baker, was a Russian-Jewish immigrant and his
mother, Clara, is of Irish-Protestant extraction. Cohen graduated
from Bangor High School in 1958, and from Bowdoin College with an
A.B. cum laude in Latin in 1962. An accomplished athlete, he was
named to the Maine all-state high school and college basketball
teams, and, while at Bowdoin, he was inducted into the New England
All-Star Hall of Fame. In 1965, he received his LL.B cum laude from
Boston University Law School and, during that same year, he became
the assistant editor-in-chief of the American Trial Lawyers
Association and a partner in a Bangor law firm.
Cohen was the Assistant County Attorney for Penobscot County from
1968 to 1970. In 1968, he was an instructor at Husson College in
Bangor. He held an appointment as an instructor in business
administration at the University of Maine from 1968 to 1972. Cohen
was the vice president of the Maine Trial Lawyers Association from
1970 to 1972, and a member of the Bangor School Board from 1971 to
1972. He was a fellow at the John F. Kennedy Institute of Politics
at Harvard University in 1972, and was named one of the U.S.
Jaycee's ten outstanding young men in 1975.
Public Life
William Cohen was first elected to public office as a city councilor
in Bangor, a position he held from 1969-1972; he was also the mayor
of Bangor from 1971-1972. He was elected as a Republican to the
House of Representatives in November of 1972 from Maine's Second
Congressional District. This election followed an intense campaign
during which he walked 600 miles across the district "to find out
what is on people's minds." Walking was to become Cohen's trademark;
in most of his campaigns he walked through the towns and cities he
represented, talking informally with his constituents.
Cohen was elected to the Senate in 1978, when he defeated incumbent
William Hathaway. During his congressional career, Cohen was known
as a moderate Republican who voted his own way. He sees himself as
part of a tradition of independent-minded representatives from
Maine, a group including William Pitt Fessenden, who cast a deciding
vote against the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson in 1868,
and Margaret Chase Smith, who became one of the first members of her
party to condemn McCarthyism in her 1950 Declaration of Conscience.
Cohen continued this tradition of independence, but also became
known as a bridge-builder between Republicans and Democrats. On the
occasion of Cohen's appointment as Secretary of Defense, President
Clinton noted that Cohen is a man "with a creative, independent,
inquiring mind" who "is just what is needed for this team."
Cohen was appointed to a number of committees while in Congress, and
two of these appointments propelled him into the center of major
constitutional crises. In 1974, when Cohen was a freshman member of
Congress and a member of the House Judiciary Committee, he became
involved in the impeachment inquiry concerning President Nixon and
his involvement with Watergate. Cohen was one of a small group of
Republicans who were the first to break ranks with their party when
they voted in favor of Nixon's impeachment.
Cohen became involved in a second constitutional crisis in 1986,
when he was appointed to the select Senate committee formed to
investigate the sale of weapons to Iran and the funneling of these
proceeds to the Contra resistance movement in Nicaragua. At that
time he was a member of the Select Committee on Intelligence, which
had been conducting its own closed-door hearings into the scandal.
Cohen was one of only three Republicans to join Democrats in signing
the majority report that held President Reagan responsible for the
actions of those involved in the Iran-Contra affair.
Legislative Highlights
After Watergate, Cohen became a leading Congressional advocate for
more stringent ethics laws, and he has maintained an interest in
government ethics throughout his career. He supported the 1978
Ethics in Government Act, which included provisions for the creation
of a statutory office of independent counsel. During his years in
Congress, one of Senator Cohen's major focuses was overseeing the
operation of the government and fighting for policy changes. His
principal platforms for this have been the Senate Subcommittee on
Oversight of Government Management, of which he was Chairman or
ranking member from 1979-1997, and the Aging Committee, which he
chaired from 1995-1997.
Cohen served on the Committee on Aging from 1975 to1997, and his
numerous legislative actions on behalf of seniors included: the
Nursing Home Patients Bill of Rights in 1975; ending mandatory
retirement at age 65; and major legislation on long-term care
insurance.
Through his service on the Governmental Affairs Committee as a
member of the Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management
from 1979-1997, Cohen sought policy changes aimed at making the
government more effective. His efforts resulted in: simplification
of Federal purchasing practices; improvement of aviation safety; and
tighter control on Medicare charges.
Cohen was also a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and
the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, establishing a national
reputation for thoughtful expertise on defense and intelligence
issues. In 1983, he publicly introduced the idea of nuclear
"build-down," a plan which would require the U.S. and the Soviet
Union to eliminate one or more existing weapon for each new one
deployed. Although this plan was defeated in committee, it became
part of the overall U.S. arms control position. In Senate debate on
the Persian Gulf crisis in 1990, Cohen was a strong and early voice
insisting on executive compliance with the War Powers Act, urging
President Bush to seek a vote from Congress on entry into the war.
Constituent Service
During his twenty-four years in Congress, Cohen and his staff
responded to more than 50,000 requests for assistance. In addition,
he received and replied to nearly two million letters regarding
issues before the Congress, and traveled back to Maine more than
five hundred times to meet with constituents and appear at events.
In response to the needs of the people of Maine Cohen played leading
roles in: helping Maine businesses and industry compete in national
and world markets; settling the Indian Land Claims controversy in
the late 1970's; supporting Navy Projects for Maine Facilities such
as Bath Iron Works and the Brunswick Naval Air Station; and assuring
the survival of dairy farmers in New England.
Secretary of Defense
William S. Cohen was sworn in as the nation's 20th Secretary of
Defense on January 24, 1997. In an address before Congress on the
eve of his confirmation, Cohen stated that his priorities as
Secretary would be the maintenance of quality personnel, the
ensurance of combat readiness, and the modernization of the nation's
forces for the 21st century. He served as Secretary of Defense until
January 2001 when Donald Rumsfeld was sworn in to serve with the
George W. Bush administration.
President Clinton nominated Cohen for Secretary of Defense after
Secretary Perry's announcement that he would retire from the
position in 1996 because Clinton perceived the need for bipartisan
support for the men and women serving in the military. As a
Republican in a Democratic administration, Cohen brought with him to
the position the respect he had garnered during a congressional
career of supporting a nonpartisan national security policy. A
moderate Republican, he served on both the Senate Armed Services and
Governmental Affairs Committees from 1979 to 1997 and was a member
of the Senate Committee on Intelligence, 1983-91 and 1995-97. He
participated in the drafting of several important laws related to
defense matters, including the Competition in Contracting Act
(1984), the GI Bill (1984), the Goldwater-Nichols Defense
Reorganization Act (1986), the Intelligence Oversight Reform Act
(1991), and the Federal Acquisition Reform Act (1996).
Significant events in U.S. defense history during Cohen's tenure as
Secretary of Defense included the terrorist bombing of the destroyer
USS Cole in Aden, Yemen; the largest defense spending increase in 15
years; salary and housing improvements for military personnel;
institution of harassment training to protect homosexuals in the
military; a successful air campaign in Kosovo; NATO enlargement with
three new democracies; reduced nuclear weapons in Russia; and
military to military ties with China. During his tenure, Cohen
achieved a smooth transition for potential computer problems at the
turn of the millennium and led the move toward a high tech digital
and paperless Pentagon. Cohen also accomplished the creation of the
Joint Forces Command for foreign threats and the Joint Task Force
for Civil Support to create a state of readiness in homeland defense
for domestic threats such as terrorism. As he left office, Cohen
cautioned that Russia, China, asymmetric warfare, and weapons of
mass destruction were issues likely to confront incoming Bush
administration national security officials.
Author
Writing has been Cohen's principal avocation for many years, and his
published works include: Of Sons and Seasons (1978), a volume of
poems. Roll Call (1981), a journal of Cohen's first year in the
Senate. Getting the Most Out of Washington (1982), a manual on
cutting through government red tape. The Double Man (1985), written
with Senator Gary Hart, a novel on international espionage and
terrorism. A Baker's Nickel(1986), a second volume of poetry. Men of
Zeal(1988), written with Senator George Mitchell, an account of
their experience investigating the Iran-Contra affair. One-Eyed
Kings (1991), a spy thriller involving Soviet and American covert
actions that converge in the Middle East. Murder in the Senate
(1993), a mystery written with Thomas B. Allen. Easy Prey: The
Fleecing of America's Senior Citizens and How to Stop It (1995), a
work of non-fiction concerning fraud and the elderly.
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Revised:
03/19/2019