After his election in 1968, President-Elect Nixon asked Wisconsin Congressman Melvin Laird to find him a secretary of defense. However, with the country at the peak of its involvement in Vietnam, no one wanted the job. After a long and frustrating process, Laird took the job himself, and during his term, deftly navigated the politics and peril attached to the war, overseeing Vietnamization, ending the draft, initiating troop withdrawals, and crafting an exit strategy. This series of lectures, held at the Wisconsin Veterans Museum on April 22, 2008, brought together scholars, government officials, and authors to celebrate the publishing of the first authorized biography of Secretary Laird. 

At the event, WAGE Senior Fellow Jeremi Suri received a Certificate of Recognition for outstanding service to Wisconsin veterans and the community from John A. Scocos, Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs.