Better Secretaries of Defense than Rummy Let's see here, just going from post-WWII when the DOD was created from the merger of the Departments of War and Navy. I think off the top of my head there are easily two better candidates (and I won't even include Melvin Laird even though I am a real Laird-o-phile). James Forrestal: Oversaw the merger of the War and Navy Departments relatively seamlessly. It should also be pointed out that when things started going badly for Forrestal he certainly did not lack a dramatic and very effective "exit strategy". George Marshall: Knew a thing or two about running a war. Julia at Sisyphus Shrugged sums it up pretty well.

I would have probably gone with George Marshall, who was - when he wasn't busy planning the Meuse-Argonne offensive which caused Germany to give up in World War One, becoming a Brigadier General, being named the Army Chief of Staff and serving in that capacity for the duration of World War Two (he was credited by Winston Churchill with planning the Allied victory) and serving as Secretary of State and subsequently the president of the International Red Cross - the architect of the Marshall Plan, which is considered by many (clearly delusional) people to be the single US initiative most responsible for keeping Europe out of the hands of the Russians after World War Two and preventing the mistakes that were made after World War One from being repeated and possibly setting off World War Three.

One would also think most GOPers would have a fondness for Cap "The Ladle" Weinberger who never met a weapons system or super deluxe $500 hammer he didn't love. Of course, there is Cheney himself (and who doesn't love "Dick"), but alas, not as much as they are determined to love Rummy. But back to my favorite...