Melvin R. Laird (born 1922) was a U.S. Congressman and later secretary of defense during the first Nixon administration. As secretary of defense he forged a good working relationship with Congress. Laird also played an important role in orchestrating the U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam.

Melvin R. Laird was born in Omaha, Nebraska, September 1, 1922. After graduation from Carleton College in 1942 he served in the U.S. Navy in the Pacific campaigns of World War II and was twice wounded, once in a Japanese Kamikaze attack.

In 1946, at the age of 24, Laird won the Wisconsin state senate seat vacated by his deceased father, making him the youngest state senator in Wisconsin history. He served in the senate until 1952, concentrating on taxation and veterans affairs, and he was a delegate to the 1948 and 1952 Republican conventions.

Laird was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1952, and he served there...