Andrew Card, the former chief of staff to President George W. Bush, recalled Donald Rumsfeld on Newsmax on Wednesday as someone who inspired those around him to work smarter, better and harder.
“He inspired others to be good at their jobs,” said Card, who was chief of staff to Bush from 2001 to 2006. “So, he was a terrific leader, and he was a transformational leader. He helped transform the role of the chief of staff, the White House chief of staff.”
The family of the 88-year-old Rumsfeld, who served as chief of staff and later secretary of defense to Gerald Ford in the mid-1970s and then had a second term as secretary of defense under George W. Bush, announced his death earlier Wednesday via social media.
No cause of death or when he died was given.
Card, who spoke by phone to “American Agenda,” appeared to chuckle remembering Rumsfeld for his wit, especially when interacting with reporters.
“He was famous for having little snow drops, if you would, of snow flakes of memos that would go into people and kind of raised their level of conscience and call them to do a better job,” Card said. “And I loved his commentary about known unknowns and the unknown knowns,”
Card’s reference was to a Pentagon press briefing during the Iraq War, in which he appeared to baffle reporters with his explanation of intelligence gathering and its interpretation.
"There are known knowns,” Rumsfeld said. “There are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns. But there are also unknown unknowns, the ones we don't know we don't know."
Card hailed Rumsfeld for his dedication to the country and for not only advising presidents, but for serving in Congress as a member of the House of Representatives for six years from Illinois.
“He will be missed, and Joyce his wife, prayers with her and the entire family,” Card said. “But we should celebrate the remarkable contributions he made in our democracy. And he was a stalwart. He motivated people to do a much better job than they did.”
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