Trivia

U.S. secretary of defense (1973-1976).

Secretary of Defense under President Richard Nixon from June 28, 1973 to November 3, 1975. A conservative Republican, previously a teacher of economics at the University of Virginia, senior staff member of the conservative think-tank Rand Corporation, chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission (appointed by Nixon on July 21, 1971), and director of the Central Intelligence Agency for a few months in 1973. When President Jimmy Carter launched the Department of Energy, Schlesinger was appointed to be the first Secretary Of Energy (August 4, 1977; resigned July 19, 1979).

Director of the CIA for 17 weeks in 1973, in which time he fired or laid off ten percent of the agency's 40,000+ employees, over 4,000 people.

He had eleven grandchildren.

He and his wife Rachel had eight children, all of which survived him. Cora Schlesinger of Richmond, Virginia; Charles Schlesinger of Benbrook, Texas; James Schlesinger, Jr. of Front Royal, Virginia; and Ann Schlesinger, William Schlesinger, Emily Schlesinger, Thomas Schlesinger and Clara Schlesinger, all living in Arlington, Virginia.