title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: As director, Rumsfeld sought to reorganize the Office to serve what he later described in his 2011 memoir as "a laboratory for experimental programs". Several beneficial anti-poverty programs were saved by allocating funds to them from other less-successful government programs. During this time, he hired Frank Carlucci and Dick Cheney to serve under him.


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: He was the subject of one of writer Jack Anderson's columns, alleging that "anti-poverty czar" Rumsfeld had cut programs to aid the poor while spending thousands to redecorate his office. Rumsfeld dictated a four-page response to Anderson, labeling the accusations as falsehoods, and invited Anderson to tour his office. Despite the tour, Anderson did not retract his claims, and only much later admitted that his column was a mistake.


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: When he left OEO in December 1970, Nixon named Rumsfeld Counselor to the President, a general advisory position; in this role, he retained Cabinet status. He was given an office in the West Wing in 1969 and regularly interacted with the Nixon administration hierarchy. He was named director of the Economic Stabilization Program in 1970 as well, and later headed up the Cost of Living Council. In March 1971 Nixon was recorded saying about Rumsfeld "at least Rummy is tough enough" and "He's a ruthless little bastard. You can be sure of that."


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: In February 1973, Rumsfeld left Washington to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Brussels, Belgium. He served as the United States' Permanent Representative to the North Atlantic Council and the Defense Planning Committee, and the Nuclear Planning Group. In this capacity, he represented the United States in wide-ranging military and diplomatic matters, and was asked to help mediate a conflict on behalf of the United States between Cyprus and Turkey.


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: In August 1974, after Nixon resigned as president in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal, Rumsfeld was called back to Washington to serve as the transition chairman for the new president, Gerald Ford. He had been Ford's confidante since their days in the House, before Ford was House minority leader and was one of the members of the "Young Turks" which played a major role in bringing Ford to Republican leadership in the House of Representatives. As the new president became settled in, Ford appointed Rumsfeld White House Chief of Staff, following Ford's appointment of General Alexander Haig to be the new Supreme Allied Commander Europe. Rumsfeld served from 1974 to 1975.


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: In October 1975, Ford reshuffled his cabinet in the Halloween Massacre. He named Rumsfeld to succeed Schlesinger as the 13th U.S. Secretary of Defense and George H. W. Bush to become Director of Central Intelligence. According to Bob Woodward's 2002 book "Bush at War", a rivalry developed between the two men and "Bush senior was convinced that Rumsfeld was pushing him out to the CIA to end his political career."


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: Rumsfeld's confirmation hearing as Secretary of Defense began on November 12, 1975. During the hearing, Rumsfeld was mostly asked about the administration's defense policy on the Cold War. Rumsfeld stated that the Soviet Union was a "clear and present danger," especially following the end of the Vietnam War, which Rumsfeld described as the USSR's chance to build up its domination. On November 17, 1975 Rumsfeld was confirmed as Secretary of Defense by a vote of 97–2. At the age of 43, Rumsfeld become the youngest person to serve as United States Secretary of Defense as of 2022.


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: During his tenure as Secretary of Defense, Rumsfeld oversaw the transition to an all-volunteer military. He sought to reverse the gradual decline in the defense budget and to build up U.S. strategic and conventional forces, undermining Secretary of State Henry Kissinger at the SALT talks. He asserted, along with Team B (which he helped to set up), that trends in comparative U.S.-Soviet military strength had not favored the United States for 15 to 20 years and that, if continued, they "would have the effect of injecting a fundamental instability in the world". For this reason, he oversaw the development of cruise missiles, the B-1 bomber, and a major naval shipbuilding program.


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: Rumsfeld, who previously was assigned to the House Committee on Science and Astronautics, emphasized the importance of the next stage of the space program following the successful moon landing in 1969. While serving as Secretary of Defense, Rumsfeld organized a joint-cooperation between the Department of Defense and NASA to develop Skylab. Another result of the cooperation was the Space Shuttle program.


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: During Rumsfeld tenure as Secretary of Defense, Rumsfeld also urged President Ford for the need of support and supplies for the Indonesian government in their effort to counter the communist insurgency in East Timor, in the wake of Communist Insurgency following East Timor independence from Portuguese. As a result the Ford Administration agreed to help Indonesian Government under President Soeharto in their counterinsurgency effort to topple the communist back insurgency in East Timor which resulted in Indonesian Invasion of East Timor in December 1975.


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: During his tenure as Secretary of Defense, Rumsfeld worked to finish the SALT II Treaty. Rumsfeld, together with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General George S. Brown drafted the treaty. However, an agreement was not made before the 1976 election. SALT II was finished and signed during the Carter administration.


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: In 1977, Rumsfeld was awarded the nation's highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Kissinger, his bureaucratic adversary, later paid him a different sort of compliment, pronouncing him "a special Washington phenomenon: the skilled full-time politician-bureaucrat in whom ambition, ability, and substance fuse seamlessly".


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: Rumsfeld's first tenure as Secretary of Defense ended on January 20, 1977. He was succeeded by former Secretary of the Air Force Harold Brown.


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: In early 1977 Rumsfeld briefly lectured at Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School and Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management. His sights instead turned to business, and from 1977 to 1985 Rumsfeld served as chief executive officer, president, and then chairman of G. D. Searle & Company, a worldwide pharmaceutical company based in Skokie, Illinois. During his tenure at Searle, Rumsfeld led the company's financial turnaround, thereby earning awards as the Outstanding Chief Executive Officer in the Pharmaceutical Industry from the "Wall Street Transcript" (1980) and "Financial World" (1981). Journalist Andrew Cockburn of Harper's Magazine alleged that Rumsfeld suppressed news that Searle's key product, aspartame, was shown to have potentially dangerous effects by leveraging old government contacts at the Food and Drug Administration. In 1985, Searle was sold to the Monsanto Company.


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: Rumsfeld served as chairman and chief executive officer of General Instrument from 1990 to 1993. A leader in broadband transmission, distribution, and access control technologies for cable, satellite, and terrestrial broadcasting applications, the company pioneered the development of the first all-digital high-definition television (HDTV) technology. After taking the company public and returning it to profitability, Rumsfeld returned to private business in late 1993.


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: From January 1997 until being sworn in as the 21st Secretary of Defense in January 2001, Rumsfeld served as chairman of Gilead Sciences, Inc. Gilead is the developer of Tamiflu (Oseltamivir), which is used in the treatment of bird flu. As a result, Rumsfeld's holdings in the company grew significantly when avian flu became a subject of popular anxiety during his later term as Secretary of Defense. Following standard practice, Rumsfeld recused himself from any decisions involving Gilead, and he directed the Pentagon's general counsel to issue instructions outlining what he could and could not be involved in if there were an avian flu pandemic and the Pentagon had to respond.


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: During his business career, Rumsfeld continued part-time public service in various posts. In November 1983, Rumsfeld was appointed special envoy to the Middle East by President Ronald Reagan, at a turbulent time in modern Middle Eastern history when Iraq was fighting Iran in the Iran–Iraq War. The United States wished for Iraq to win the conflict, and Rumsfeld was sent to the Middle East to serve as a mediator on behalf of the president.


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: When Rumsfeld visited Baghdad on December 20, 1983, he met Saddam Hussein at Saddam's palace and engaged a 90-minute discussion with him. They largely agreed on opposing Syria's occupation of Lebanon; preventing Syrian and Iranian expansion; and preventing arms sales to Iran. Rumsfeld suggested that if U.S.-Iraq relations could improve the U.S. might support a new oil pipeline across Jordan, which Iraq had opposed but was now willing to reconsider. Rumsfeld also informed Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz that "Our efforts to assist were inhibited by certain things that made it difficult for us ... citing the use of chemical weapons."


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: Rumsfeld wrote in his memoir "Known and Unknown" that his meeting with Hussein "has been the subject of gossip, rumors, and crackpot conspiracy theories for more than a quarter of a century ... Supposedly I had been sent to see Saddam by President Reagan either to negotiate a secret oil deal, to help arm Iraq, or to make Iraq an American client state. The truth is that our encounter was more straightforward and less dramatic." "The Washington Post" reported that "Although former U.S. officials agree that Rumsfeld was not one of the architects of the Reagan administration's tilt toward Iraq—he was a private citizen when he was appointed Middle East envoy—the documents show that his visits to Baghdad led to closer U.S.–Iraqi cooperation on a wide variety of fronts."


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: In addition to taking the position of Middle East envoy, Rumsfeld served as a member of the President's General Advisory Committee on Arms Control (1982–1986); President Reagan's special envoy on the Law of the Sea Treaty (1982–1983); a senior adviser to President Reagan's Panel on Strategic Systems (1983–1984); a member of the Joint Advisory Commission on U.S./Japan Relations (1983–1984); a member of the National Commission on the Public Service (1987–1990); a member of the National Economic Commission (1988–1989); a member of the board of visitors of the National Defense University (1988–1992); a member of the FCC's High Definition Television Advisory Committee (1992–1993); a member of the U.S. Trade Deficit Review Commission (1999–2000); a member of the Council on Foreign Relations; and chairman of the U.S. Commission to Assess National Security Space Management and Organization (2000). Among his most noteworthy positions was chairman of the nine-member Commission to Assess the Ballistic Missile Threat to the United States from January to July 1998. In its findings, the commission concluded that Iraq, Iran, and North Korea could develop intercontinental ballistic missile capabilities in five to ten years and that U.S. intelligence would have little warning before such systems were deployed.


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: During the 1980s, Rumsfeld became a member of the National Academy of Public Administration, and was named a member of the boards of trustees of the Gerald R. Ford Foundation, the Eisenhower Exchange Fellowships, the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, and the National Park Foundation. He was also a member of the U.S./Russia Business Forum and chairman of the Congressional Leadership's National Security Advisory Group. Rumsfeld was a member of the Project for the New American Century, a think-tank dedicated to maintaining U.S. primacy. In addition, he was asked to serve the U.S. State Department as a foreign policy consultant from 1990 to 1993. Though considered one of the Bush administration's staunchest hard-liners against North Korea, Rumsfeld sat on European engineering giant Asea Brown Boveri's board from 1990 to 2001, a company that sold two light-water nuclear reactors to the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization for installation in North Korea, as part of the 1994 agreed framework reached under President Bill Clinton. Rumsfeld's office said that he did not "recall it being brought before the board at any time" though "Fortune" magazine reported that "board members were informed about this project". The Bush administration repeatedly criticized the 1994 agreement and the former Clinton presidency for its softness towards North Korea, regarding the country as a state sponsor of terrorism, and later designated North Korea as part of the Axis-of-Evil.


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: During the 1976 Republican National Convention, Rumsfeld received one vote for Vice President of the United States, although he did not seek the office, and the nomination was easily won by Ford's choice, Senator Bob Dole. During the 1980 Republican National Convention he again received one vote for vice president.


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: Rumsfeld briefly sought the presidential nomination in 1988, but withdrew from the race before primaries began. During the 1996 election season, he initially formed a presidential exploratory committee, but declined to formally enter the race. He was instead named national chairman for Republican nominee Bob Dole's campaign.


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: Rumsfeld was named Secretary of Defense soon after President George W. Bush took office in 2001 despite Rumsfeld's past rivalry with the previous President Bush. Bush's first choice, FedEx founder Fred Smith, was unavailable and Vice President-elect Cheney recommended Rumsfeld for the job. Rumsfeld's second tenure as Secretary of Defense cemented him as the most powerful Pentagon chief since Robert McNamara and one of the most influential Cabinet members in the Bush administration. His tenure proved to be a pivotal and rocky one that led the United States military into the 21st century. Following the September 11 attacks, Rumsfeld led the military planning and execution of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan and the subsequent 2003 invasion of Iraq. He pushed hard to send as small a force as soon as possible to both conflicts, a concept codified as the Rumsfeld Doctrine.<ref name="https://ndupress.ndu.edu"></ref>


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: Throughout his time as defense secretary, Rumsfeld was noted for his candor and quick wit when giving weekly press conferences or speaking with the press. "U.S. News & World Report" called him "a straight-talking Midwesterner" who "routinely has the press corps doubled over in fits of laughter". By the same token, his leadership was exposed to much criticism through provocative books covering the Iraq conflict, like Bob Woodward's "State of Denial", Thomas E. Ricks' "", and Seymour Hersh's "Chain of Command".


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: On September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked commercial airliners and crashed them in coordinated strikes into both towers of the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan, New York City, and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. The fourth plane crashed into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and its target was likely a prominent building in Washington, D.C., most probably either the U.S. Capitol Building or the White House. Within three hours of the start of the first hijacking and two hours after American Airlines Flight 11 struck the World Trade Center, Rumsfeld raised the defense condition signaling of the United States offensive readiness to DEFCON 3, the highest it had been since the Arab–Israeli war in 1973.


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: Rumsfeld addressed the nation in a press conference at the Pentagon, just eight hours after the attacks and stated, "It's an indication that the United States government is functioning in the face of this terrible act against our country. I should add that the briefing here is taking place in the Pentagon. The Pentagon's functioning. It will be in business tomorrow."


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: On the afternoon of September 11, Rumsfeld issued rapid orders to his aides to look for evidence of possible Iraqi involvement in regard to what had just occurred, according to notes taken by senior policy official Stephen Cambone. "Best info fast. Judge whether good enough hit S.H."meaning Saddam Hussein"at same time. Not only UBL" (Osama bin Laden), Cambone's notes quoted Rumsfeld as saying. "Need to move swiftlyNear term target needsgo massivesweep it all up. Things related and not."


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: In the first emergency meeting of the National Security Council on the day of the attacks, Rumsfeld asked, "Why shouldn't we go against Iraq, not just al-Qaeda?" with his deputy Paul Wolfowitz adding that Iraq was a "brittle, oppressive regime that might break easily—it was doable," and, according to John Kampfner, "from that moment on, he and Wolfowitz used every available opportunity to press the case." The idea was initially rejected at the behest of Secretary of State Colin Powell, but, according to Kampfner, "Undeterred Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz held secret meetings about opening up a second front—against Saddam. Powell was excluded." In such meetings they created a policy that would later be dubbed the Bush Doctrine, centering on "pre-emption" and the war on Iraq, which the PNAC had advocated in their earlier letters.


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: Richard A. Clarke, the White House counter-terrorism coordinator at the time, has revealed details of another National Security Council meeting the day after the attacks, during which officials considered the U.S. response. Already, he said, they were certain al-Qa'ida was to blame and there was no hint of Iraqi involvement. "Rumsfeld was saying we needed to bomb Iraq," according to Clarke. Clarke then stated, "We all said, 'No, no, al-Qa'ida is in Afghanistan. Clarke also revealed that Rumsfeld complained in the meeting, "there aren't any good targets in Afghanistan and there are lots of good targets in Iraq."


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: Rumsfeld wrote in "Known and Unknown", "Much has been written about the Bush administration's focus on Iraq after 9/11. Commentators have suggested that it was strange or obsessive for the President and his advisers to have raised questions about whether Saddam Hussein was somehow behind the attack. I have never understood the controversy. I had no idea if Iraq was or was not involved, but it would have been irresponsible for any administration not to have asked the question."


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: A memo written by Rumsfeld dated November 27, 2001, considers an Iraq war. One section of the memo questions "How start?", listing multiple possible justifications for a U.S.-Iraq War.


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: Rumsfeld directed the planning for the War in Afghanistan after the September 11 attacks. On September 21, 2001, USCENTCOM Commander General Tommy Franks, briefed the President on a plan to destroy al Qaeda in Afghanistan and remove the Taliban government. General Franks, also initially proposed to Rumsfeld that the U.S. invade Afghanistan using a conventional force of 60,000 troops, preceded by six months of preparation. Rumsfeld, however feared that a conventional invasion of Afghanistan could bog down as had happened to the Soviets and the British. Rumsfeld rejected Franks's plan, saying "I want men on the ground now!" Franks returned the next day with a plan utilizing U.S. Special Forces. Despite air and missile attacks against al Qaeda in Afghanistan, USCENTCOM had no pre-existing plans for conducting ground operations there.


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: The September 21, 2001 plan emerged after extensive dialogue, but Secretary Rumsfeld also asked for broader plans that looked beyond Afghanistan. On October 7, 2001, just hours after the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan was launched, Rumsfeld addressed the nation in a press conference at the Pentagon stating "While our raids today focus on the Taliban and the foreign terrorists in Afghanistan, our aim remains much broader. Our objective is to defeat those who use terrorism and those who house or support them. The world stands united in this effort".<ref name="https://archive.defense.gov"></ref> Rumsfeld also stated "the only way to deal with these terrorist threats is to go at them where they exist. You cannot defend at every place at every time against every conceivable, imaginable, even unimaginable terrorist attack. And the only way to deal with it is to take the battle to where they are and to root them out and to starve them out by seeing that those countries and those organizations and those non-governmental organizations and those individuals that are supporting and harboring and facilitating these networks stop doing it and find that there's a penalty for doing it". Rumsfeld in another press conference at the Pentagon on October 29, 2001, stated "As the first weeks of this effort proceed, it bears repeating that our goal is not to reduce or simply contain terrorist acts, but our goal is to deal with it comprehensively. And we do not intend to stop until we've rooted out terrorist networks and put them out of business, not just in the case of the Taliban and the Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, but other networks as well. And as I've mentioned, the Al Qaeda network crosses some 40, 50-plus countries." Rumsfeld announced in November 2001, that he received "authoritative reports" that Al-Qaeda's number three Mohammed Atef, bin Laden's primary military chief and a planner of the September 11 attacks on America, was killed by a U.S. airstrike. "He was very, very senior," Rumsfeld said. "We obviously have been seeking [him] out." In a press conference at the Pentagon on November 19, 2001, Rumsfeld described the role of U.S. ground forces in Afghanistan as firstly in the north, American troops are "embedded in Northern Alliance" elements, helping arrange food and medical supplies and pinpointing airstrikes and in the south, commandos and other troops are operating more independently, raiding compounds, monitoring roadblocks and searching vehicles in the hope of developing more information about al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders. On December 16, 2001, Rumsfeld visited U.S. troops in Afghanistan at Bagram Air Base.


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: On March 15, 2002, in another press conference at the Pentagon, Rumsfeld commented on the mission of Operation Anaconda by stating "Operation Anaconda continues in the area south of Gardez in eastern Afghanistan. The fighting is winding down as you know. Coalition forces are for the most part in an exploitation phase, doing the difficult work of searching caves and clearing areas where the battles and fighting has taken place. Our forces are finding weapons, ammunition, some intelligence information. In the top 25 al Qaeda, we know some are dead and we know some may be dead; we know some are captured and there are a larger number that we don't know. And roughly the same proportions with respect to Taliban".


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: On May 1, 2003, Rumsfeld during a visit to Afghanistan meeting with U.S. troops stationed in Kabul told the press "General Franks and I have been looking at the progress that's being made in this country and have concluded that we are at a point where we clearly have moved from major combat activity to a period of stability and stabilization and reconstruction and activities." "I should underline however, that there are still dangers, there are still pockets of resistance in certain parts of the country and General McNeal and General Franks and their, the cooperation they have with the President Karzai's government and leadership and Marshall Fayheems assistance. We will be continuing as a country to work with the Afghan government and the new Afghan National Army to see that the any areas where there is resistance to this government and to the coalition forces will be dealt with promptly and efficiently."


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: There was also controversy between the Pentagon and the CIA over who had the authority to fire Hellfire missiles from Predator drones. Even though the drones were not ready for deployment until 2002, Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon have argued that "these quarrels kept the Predator from being used against al Qaeda ... One anonymous individual who was at the center of the action called this episode 'typical' and complained that 'Rumsfeld never missed an opportunity to fail to cooperate. The fact is, the Secretary of Defense is an obstacle. He has helped the terrorists.'


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: In 2009, three years after Rumsfeld's tenure as Defense secretary ended, the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations led an investigation into the Battle of Tora Bora in December 2001, during the early phase of the U.S-led coalition war in Afghanistan. They concluded that Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld and General Franks had not committed enough troops during the battle to secure the area around Tora Bora. They believed that Al-Qaeda's number one leader Osama bin Laden had likely been at Tora Bora and his escape prolonged the war in Afghanistan. Rumsfeld and Franks were apparently motivated by fear that a substantial American presence near Tora Bora could incite a rebellion by local Pashtuns, despite the latter's lack of organizational capability at the time and the fierce dissent voiced by many CIA analysts including Charles E. Allen (who warned Franks that "the back door [to Pakistan<nowiki>]</nowiki> was open") and Gary Berntsen (who called for army rangers to "kill this baby in the crib"). Instead of rangers or marines, the U.S. assault on Tora Bora relied on the CIA-backed Afghan militias of Hazrat Ali and Zahir Qadeer, supplemented with B-52 bombardment. The resulting influx of hundreds of al-Qaeda fighters into Pakistan destabilized the country and damaged Pakistan–United States relations. The follow-up Operation Anaconda "witnessed failures of planning and execution, the product of the fractured lines of command," as recounted by Steve Coll. In mid-2002, Rumsfeld announced that "The war is over in Afghanistan," to the disbelief of State Department, CIA, and military officials in the country. As a result, Rumsfeld downplayed the need for an Afghan army of even 70,000 troops, far fewer than the 250,000 envisaged by Karzai.


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: Before and during the Iraq War, Rumsfeld claimed that Iraq had an active weapons of mass destruction program; in particular during his famous phrase "there are known knowns" in a press conference at the Pentagon on February 12, 2002,


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: no stockpiles were ever found. Bush administration officials also claimed that there was an operational relationship between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein. A Pentagon Inspector General report found that Rumsfeld's top policy aide, Douglas J. Feith, "developed, produced, and then disseminated alternative intelligence assessments on the Iraq and al-Qaeda relationship, which included some conclusions that were inconsistent with the consensus of the Intelligence Community, to senior decision-makers".


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: The job of finding WMD and providing justification for the attack fell to the intelligence services, but, according to Kampfner, "Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz believed that, while the established security services had a role, they were too bureaucratic and too traditional in their thinking." As a result, "they set up what came to be known as the 'cabal', a cell of eight or nine analysts in a new Office of Special Plans (OSP) based in the U.S. Defense Department." According to an unnamed Pentagon source quoted by Hersh, the OSP "was created in order to find evidence of what Wolfowitz and his boss, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, believed to be true—that Saddam Hussein had close ties to Al Qaeda, and that Iraq had an enormous arsenal of chemical, biological, and possibly even nuclear weapons that threatened the region and, potentially, the United States".


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: On January 22, 2003, after the German and French governments voiced opposition to invading Iraq, Rumsfeld labeled these countries as part of "Old Europe", implying that countries that supported the war were part of a newer, modern Europe.


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: After the war in Afghanistan was launched, Rumsfeld participated in a meeting in regard to the review of the Department of Defense's Contingency Plan in the event of a war with Iraq. The plan, as it was then conceived, contemplated troop levels of up to 500,000, which Rumsfeld felt was far too many. Gordon and Trainor wrote:


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: In a press conference at the Pentagon on February 27, 2003, Rumsfeld told reporters after being asked a question that Army Chief of Staff General Eric Shinseki suggested it would take several hundred thousand troops on the ground to secure Iraq and provide stability. Is he wrong?. Rumsfeld replied "the idea that it would take several hundred thousand U.S. forces I think is far from the mark. The reality is that we already have a number of countries that have offered to participate with their forces in stabilization activities, in the event force has to be used."


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: Rumsfeld addressed the nation in a press conference at the Pentagon on March 20, 2003, just hours after the launch of the 2003 Invasion of Iraq, where he announced the first strike of the war to liberate Iraq and that "The days of the Saddam Hussein regime are numbered," and "We continue to feel there is no need for a broader conflict if the Iraqi leaders act to save themselves and act to prevent such a conflict."


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: Rumsfeld's role in directing the Iraq War included a plan that was the Shock and Awe campaign, which resulted in a lightning invasion with 145,000 soldiers on the ground that took Baghdad in well under a month with very few American casualties. Many government buildings, plus major museums, electrical generation infrastructure, and even oil equipment were looted and vandalized during the transition from the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime to the establishment of the Coalition Provisional Authority. A violent insurrection began shortly after the military operation started.


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: On March 30, 2003, in an interview with George Stephanopoulos on ABC's "This Week" program, Rumsfeld answered a question by Stephanopoulos about finding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, Rumsfeld stated "We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat."


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: On April 9, 2003, at a press conference at the Pentagon, Rumsfeld addressed reporters during the Fall of Baghdad, and stated "The scenes of free Iraqis celebrating in the streets, riding American tanks, tearing down the statues of Saddam Hussein in the center of Baghdad are breathtaking."


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: After the Iraq invasion, U.S. troops were criticized for not protecting the historical artifacts and treasures located at the National Museum of Iraq. On April 11, 2003, at a press conference at the Pentagon, when asked at the time why U.S. troops did not actively seek to stop the lawlessness, Rumsfeld replied, "Stuff happens ... and it's untidy and freedom's untidy, and free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things. They're also free to live their lives and do wonderful things. And that's what's going to happen here." He further commented that, "The images you are seeing on television you are seeing over, and over, and over, and it's the same picture of some person walking out of some building with a vase, and you see it 20 times, and you think, "My goodness, were there that many vases?"


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: On July 24, 2003, at a press conference at the Pentagon, Rumsfeld commented on the release of photographs of the deceased sons of Saddam Hussein, Uday Hussein and Qusay Hussein. "It is not a practice that the United States engages in on a normal basis," Rumsfeld said. "I honestly believe that these two are particularly bad characters and that it's important for the Iraqi people to see them, to know they're gone, to know they're dead, and to know they're not coming back." Rumsfeld also said, "I feel it was the right decision, and I'm glad I made it."


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: In October 2003, Rumsfeld approved a secret Pentagon "roadmap" on public relations, calling for "boundaries" between information operations abroad and the news media at home. The Roadmap advances a policy according to which as long as the U.S. government does not intentionally target the American public, it does not matter that psychological operations reach the American public.


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: On December 14, 2003, Rumsfeld in an interview with journalist Lesley Stahl on "60 Minutes" after U.S. forces captured Saddam Hussein in Operation Red Dawn, stated, "Here was a man who was photographed hundreds of times shooting off rifles and showing how tough he was, and in fact, he wasn't very tough, he was cowering in a hole in the ground, and had a pistol and didn't use it, and certainly did not put up any fight at all. I think that ... he resulted in the death of an awful lot of Iraqi people, in the last analysis, he seemed not terribly brave."


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: As Secretary of Defense, Rumsfeld was deliberate in crafting the public message from the Department of Defense. People will "rally" to the word "sacrifice", Rumsfeld noted after a meeting. "They are looking for leadership. Sacrifice = Victory." In May 2004, Rumsfeld considered whether to redefine the war on terrorism as a fight against "worldwide insurgency". He advised aides "to test what the results could be" if the war on terrorism were renamed. Rumsfeld also ordered specific public Pentagon attacks on and responses to U.S. newspaper columns that reported the negative aspects of the war.


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: The Australia Broadcasting Corporation reported that though Rumsfeld didn't specify a withdrawal date for troops in Iraq, "He says it would be unrealistic to wait for Iraq to be peaceful before removing U.S. led forces from the country, adding that Iraq had never been peaceful and perfect."


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: On August 2, 2006, at a press conference at the Pentagon, Rumsfeld commented on the Sectarian violence in Iraq where he stated "there's sectarian violence; people are being killed. Sunnis are killing Shi'a and Shi'a are killing Sunnis. Kurds seem not to be involved. It's unfortunate, and they need a reconciliation process."


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: On October 26, 2006, at a press conference at the Pentagon after the failure of Operation Together Forward in Iraq, Rumsfeld stated "Would defeat in Iraq be so bad?" Well, the answer is: Yes, it would be. Those who are fighting against the Iraqi government want to seize power so that they can establish a new sanctuary and a base of operations for terrorists and any idea that U.S. military leaders are rigidly refusing to make adjustments in their approaches is just flat wrong. The military is continuing to adapt and to adjust as required. Yes, there are difficulties and problems to be sure."


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: As a result, Rumsfeld stirred controversy as to whether the forces that did invade Iraq were enough in size. In 2006, Rumsfeld responded to a question by Brit Hume of Fox News as to whether he pressed General Tommy Franks to lower his request for 400,000 troops for the war:


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: Throughout his tenure, Rumsfeld sought to remind the American people of the 9/11 attacks and threats against Americans, noting at one time in a 2006 memo to "[m]ake the American people realize they are surrounded in the world by violent extremists". According to a report by "The Guardian", Rumsfeld was allegedly including biblical quotes in top secret briefing papers to appeal George W Bush, known for his devout religious beliefs, to invade Iraq as more like "holy war" or "a religious crusade" against Muslims.


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: In a September 2007 interview with "The Daily Telegraph", General Mike Jackson, the head of the British army during the invasion, criticized Rumsfeld's plans for the invasion of Iraq as "intellectually bankrupt", adding that Rumsfeld is "one of those most responsible for the current situation in Iraq", and that he felt that "the US approach to combating global terrorism is 'inadequate' and too focused on military might rather than nation building and diplomacy."


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: In December 2004, Rumsfeld was heavily criticized for using a signing machine instead of personally signing over 1000 letters of condolence to the families of soldiers killed in action in Iraq and Afghanistan. He promised to personally sign all letters in the future.


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: The Department of Defense's preliminary concerns for holding, housing, and interrogating captured prisoners on the battlefield were raised during the military build-up prior to the Iraq War. Because Saddam Hussein's military forces surrendered when faced with military action, many within the DOD, including Rumsfeld and United States Central Command General Tommy Franks, decided it was in the best interest of all to hand these prisoners over to their respective countries. Additionally, it was determined that maintaining a large holding facility was, at the time, unrealistic. Instead, the use of many facilities such as Abu Ghraib to house prisoners of interest prior to handing them over, and Rumsfeld defended the Bush administration's decision to detain enemy combatants. Because of this, critics, including members of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, held Rumsfeld responsible for the ensuing Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse scandal. Rumsfeld himself said: "These events occurred on my watch as Secretary of Defense. I am accountable for them." He offered his resignation to President Bush in the wake of the scandal, but it was not accepted.


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: In a memo read by Rumsfeld detailing how Guantanamo Bay detention camp interrogators induced stress in prisoners by forcing them to remain standing in one position for a maximum of four hours, Rumsfeld scrawled a handwritten note on the memo reading: "I stand for 8–10 hours a day. Why is standing [by prisoners] limited to 4 hours? D.R."


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: Various organizations, such as Human Rights Watch, called for investigations of Rumsfeld regarding his involvement in managing the Iraq War and his support of the Bush administration's policies of "enhanced interrogation techniques", which are widely regarded as torture. Scholars have argued that Rumsfeld "might be held criminally responsible if [he] would be prosecuted by the ICC". In 2005 the ACLU and Human Rights First filed a lawsuit against Rumsfeld and other top government officials, "on behalf of eight men who they say were subjected to torture and abuse by U.S. forces under the command of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld". In 2005, a suit was filed against Rumsfeld by several human rights organizations for allegedly violating U.S. and international law that prohibits "torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading punishment". Donald Vance and Nathan Ertel filed suit against the U.S. government and Rumsfeld on similar grounds, alleging that they were tortured and their rights of "habeas corpus" were violated. In 2007, U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan ruled that Rumsfeld could not "be held personally responsible for actions taken in connection with his government job". The ACLU tried to revive the case in 2011 with no success.


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: In 2004, German prosecutor Wolfgang Kaleck filed a criminal complaint charging Rumsfeld and 11 other U.S. officials as war criminals who either ordered the torture of prisoners or drafted laws that legitimated its use. The charges based on breaches of the UN Convention against Torture and the German Code of Crimes against International Law.


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: Eight U.S. and other NATO-member retired generals and admirals called for Rumsfeld to resign in early 2006 in what was called the "Generals Revolt", accusing him of "abysmal" military planning and lack of strategic competence. Commentator Pat Buchanan reported at the time that "Washington Post" columnist David Ignatius, who traveled often to Iraq and supported the war, said the generals "mirror the views of 75 percent of the officers in the field, and probably more". Rumsfeld rebuffed these criticisms, stating, "out of thousands and thousands of admirals and generals, if every time two or three people disagreed we changed the secretary of defense of the United States, it would be like a merry-go-round." Bush defended Rumsfeld throughout and responded by stating that Rumsfeld is "exactly what is needed".


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: On November 1, 2006, Bush stated he would stand by Rumsfeld as defense secretary for the length of his term as president. Rumsfeld wrote a resignation letter dated November 6, 2006, and, per the stamp on the letter, Bush saw it on Election Day, November 7, 2006. In the elections, the House and the Senate shifted to Democratic control. After the elections on November 8, 2006, Bush announced Rumsfeld would resign his position as Secretary of Defense. Many Republicans were unhappy with the delay, believing they would have won more votes if voters had known Rumsfeld was resigning.


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: Bush nominated Robert Gates to succeed Rumsfeld. On December 15, 2006, a farewell ceremony, with an armed forces full honor review and a 19-gun salute, was held at the Pentagon Mall Terrace in honor of the departing Rumsfeld.


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: In the months after his resignation, Rumsfeld toured the New York City publishing houses in preparation for a potential memoir. After receiving what one industry source labeled "big bids", he reached an agreement with the Penguin Group to publish the book under its Sentinel HC imprint. Rumsfeld declined to accept an advance for the publication of his memoir, and said he was donating all proceeds from the work to veterans groups. His book, entitled "", was released on February 8, 2011.


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: In conjunction with the publication of "Known and Unknown", Rumsfeld established "The Rumsfeld Papers", a website with documents "related to the endnotes" of the book and his service during the George W. Bush administration; during the months that followed the book's publication, the website was expanded to include over 4,000 documents from his archive. As of June 2011, the topics included his Congressional voting record, the Nixon administration, documents and memos of meetings while he was part of the Ford, Reagan, and George W. Bush administrations, private sector documents, and NATO documents, among other items.


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: In 2007, Rumsfeld established The Rumsfeld Foundation, which focuses on encouraging public service in the United States and supporting the growth of free political and free economic systems abroad. The educational foundation provides fellowships to talented individuals from the private sector who want to serve for some time in government. Rumsfeld personally financed the foundation. As of January 2014, the foundation had sponsored over 90 fellows from Central Asia, provided over  million in tuition and stipend support for graduate students, awarded over  million in microfinance grants, and donated over  million to charities for veterans' affairs.


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: Rumsfeld was awarded the "Defender of the Constitution Award" at the 2011 Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C., on February 10, 2011.


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: After his retirement from government, Rumsfeld criticized former fellow Cabinet member Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State, in his memoir, asserting that she was basically unfit for office. In 2011, she responded, saying that Rumsfeld "doesn't know what he's talking about. The reader may imagine what can be correct about the conflicted matter."


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: In February 2011, Rumsfeld endorsed the repeal of the military's "Don't ask, don't tell" policy, saying that allowing gays and lesbians to openly serve "is an idea whose time has come".


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: In March 2011, Rumsfeld spoke out on the 2011 military intervention in Libya, telling ABC News Senior White House Correspondent Jake Tapper that the Obama administration should "recognize the mission has to determine the coalition. The coalition ought not determine the mission." Rumsfeld also used the word "confusion" six times to describe the United Nations-backed military effort in Libya.


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: In October 2011, Rumsfeld conducted an interview with Al Jazeera's Washington, D.C., bureau chief Abderrahim Foukara. Foukara asked Rumsfeld whether, in hindsight, the Bush administration had sent enough troops into Iraq to secure the borders of the country, and whether that made the United States culpable in the death of innocent Iraqis. Foukara said people in the Pentagon told Rumsfeld the number of troops sent into Iraq was insufficient. Rumsfeld said, "You keep making assertions which are fundamentally false. No one in the Pentagon said they were not enough." Foukara pressed Rumsfeld repeatedly. Rumsfeld then asked, "Do you want to yell or do you want to have an interview?" Foukara then asked, "Do you think the numbers that you went to Iraq with did absolve you from the responsibility of tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis killed by the Coalition and those criminals that you talked about?" Rumsfeld called the question "pejorative" and said Foukara was "not being respectful" (Foukara disagreed) and was "just talking over, and over, and over again".


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: Rumsfeld was the subject of the 2013 Errol Morris documentary "The Unknown Known", the title a reference to his response to a question at a February 2002 press conference. In the film Rumsfeld "discusses his career in Washington D.C. from his days as a congressman in the early 1960s to planning the invasion of Iraq in 2003".


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: In January 2016, in partnership with the literary and creative agency Javelin, which handled design and development, Rumsfeld released a mobile app game of solitaire called "Churchill Solitaire", emulating a variant of the card game as played by Winston Churchill. Rumsfeld and the Churchill family said that profits from the game would be donated to charity.


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: In June 2016, Rumsfeld announced that he would vote for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election.


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: On January 5, 2021, Rumsfeld was one of the ten living former Secretary of Defense that sent a warning letter in order to warn President Trump not to involve the military in a 2020 Presidential Election dispute.


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: On June 29, 2021, Rumsfeld died from multiple myeloma at his home in Taos, New Mexico, was buried in Arlington National Cemetery on August 24, 2021.


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: During the four elections during which he ran to represent Illinois's 13th congressional district, Rumsfeld received shares of the popular vote that ranged from 58% (in 1964) to 76% (in 1966). In 1975 and 2001, Rumsfeld was overwhelmingly confirmed by the U.S. Senate after presidents Gerald Ford and George W. Bush, respectively, appointed him as U.S. Secretary of Defense.


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: Rumsfeld was awarded 11 honorary degrees. Following his years as CEO, president, and later chairman of G. D. Searle & Company, he was recognized as Outstanding CEO in the pharmaceutical industry by "The Wall Street Transcript" (1980) and "Financial World" (1981).


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: Secretary of State Henry Kissinger described Rumsfeld as "the most ruthless man" he knew. George Packer of "The Atlantic" named Rumsfeld "the worst secretary of defense in American history" who "lacked the wisdom to change his mind.” Bradley Graham, a "Washington Post" reporter and author of the book titled "By His Own Rules: The Ambitions, Successes, and Ultimate Failures of Donald Rumsfeld" released on June 23, 2009, stated "Rumsfeld left office as one of the most controversial Defense Secretaries since Robert McNamara and widely criticized for his management of the Iraq war and for his difficult relationships with Congress, administration colleagues, and military officers.”


title: Donald Rumsfeld

text: Neoconservative commentator Bill Kristol was also critical of Rumsfeld, stating he "breezily dodged responsibility" for planning mistakes made in the Iraq War, including insufficient troop levels.


title: Hocus Pocus (1993 film)

text: Hocus Pocus is a 1993 American fantasy comedy film that follows a villainous comedic trio of witches (Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy) who are inadvertently resurrected by a teenage boy (Omri Katz) in Salem, Massachusetts, on Halloween night. The film is directed by Kenny Ortega from a screenplay by Mick Garris and Neil Cuthbert, and a story by David Kirschner and Garris.


title: Hocus Pocus (1993 film)

text: The film was released in North America on July 16, 1993, by Walt Disney Pictures. Upon its release, it received mixed reviews from film critics and was not a box office success, possibly losing Disney around $16.5 million during its theatrical run. However, largely through many annual airings on Disney Channel and Freeform (formerly ABC Family) all throughout the month of October, "Hocus Pocus" has been rediscovered by audiences, resulting in a yearly spike in home media sales of the film every Halloween season. The annual celebration of Halloween has helped make the film a cult classic.


title: Hocus Pocus (1993 film)

text: A sequel, "Hocus Pocus 2", written by Jen D'Angelo and directed by Anne Fletcher, was released on September 30, 2022, on Disney+.


title: Hocus Pocus (1993 film)

text: On October 31, 1693, in Salem, Massachusetts, Thackery Binx witnesses his little sister Emily being whisked away to the woods by the Sanderson sisters, three witches who are named Winifred, Sarah, and Mary. Binx confronts the witches, but he fails to save Emily and her life force is drained, making the witches young again. After that, Binx is transformed into a black cat by the witches, cursed to live forever with his guilt for not saving Emily.


title: Hocus Pocus (1993 film)

text: Having been alerted by Binx's friend Elijah, the townsfolk arrest the sisters for the murder of Emily. Before the Sanderson sisters are hanged in the town square while they are denying any knowledge of what happened to Thackery, Winifred casts a curse that will resurrect the sisters during a full moon on All Hallows' Eve if a virgin lights the Black Flame Candle in their cottage. Binx decides to guard the cottage so no one can bring the witches back to life.


title: Hocus Pocus (1993 film)

text: Three centuries later, on October 31, 1993, Max Dennison reluctantly takes his younger sister Dani out trick-or-treating where they meet Max's new classmate Allison Watts whom he is attracted to. The three visit the former Sanderson cottage, now an abandoned museum, where Max inadvertently resurrects the witches. The witches attempt to suck the soul of Dani, but Max comes to her rescue.


title: Hocus Pocus (1993 film)

text: Escaping, Max steals Winifred's spellbook on advice from the immortal cat Binx. He takes the group to an old cemetery where they are protected from the witches since it is hallowed ground. The witches eventually catch up to them at the cemetery where Winifred raises her former love interest Billy Butcherson from the grave and sends him after the children.


title: Hocus Pocus (1993 film)

text: The witches pursue the children across town using Mary's enhanced sense of smell. Winifred reveals that the spell that brought them back only works on Halloween and unless they can suck the life out of at least one child, they will turn to dust when the sun rises. After luring them to the high school, the children trap the witches in a pottery kiln and burn them alive. However, whilst the children are celebrating, the witches' curse revives them again.


title: Hocus Pocus (1993 film)

text: Not realizing the witches have survived, Max and Allison open the spellbook, hoping to reverse the spell on Binx. The open spell book reveals the location of the group, and the witches track them down, kidnap Dani and Binx, and recover the spellbook. Sarah uses her singing to lure Salem's children to the Sanderson cottage. Max and Allison free Dani and Binx by tricking the witches into believing that sunrise was an hour early. Thinking that they are done for, the witches panic and pass out, allowing Max, Dani, Allison, and Binx to escape.


title: Hocus Pocus (1993 film)

text: Back at the cemetery, Billy catches up to the children, takes Max's knife, cuts his stitched mouth open, and insults Winifred before joining the children against the witches. The witches attack from the air and snatch Dani. Winifred attempts to use the last vial of potion to suck the soul of Dani, but Binx knocks the potion out of her hand which Max catches and promptly drinks, forcing the witches to take him instead of Dani.


title: Hocus Pocus (1993 film)

text: The sun starts to rise just as Winifred is about to finish draining Max's life force. In the ensuing struggle, Allison, Dani, and Billy fend off Mary and Sarah. Max and Winifred, struggling in the air, fall onto the hallowed ground in the cemetery, causing Winifred to turn into stone. As the sun finishes rising above the horizon, Mary and Sarah are disintegrated into dust along with Winifred's stone body.


title: Hocus Pocus (1993 film)

text: The witches' deaths break Binx's curse, allowing him to finally die and freeing his soul, reuniting him with Emily as they both head off into the afterlife while Billy returns to his grave to sleep. Winifred's spellbook opens its eye once more, revealing that it is still alive, indicating that the witches could possibly return again someday.


title: Hocus Pocus (1993 film)

text: In the 1994 TV documentary "Hocus Pocus: Begin the Magic", and on the film's Blu-ray release, producer David Kirschner explains how he came up with the idea for the film one night. He and his young daughter were sitting outside and his neighbor's black cat strayed by. Kirschner invented a tale of how the cat was once a boy who was changed into a feline three hundred years ago by three witches.


title: Hocus Pocus (1993 film)

text: "Hocus Pocus" started life as a script by Mick Garris, that was bought by Walt Disney Pictures in 1984. The film's working title was "Disney's Halloween House", it was much darker and scarier, and its protagonists were all 12-year-olds. Garris and Kirschner pitched it to Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment; Spielberg saw Disney as a competitor to Amblin in the family film market at the time and refused to co-produce a film with his "rival."


title: Hocus Pocus (1993 film)

text: Various rewrites were made to the script to make the film more comedic and made two of its young protagonists into teenagers; however, production was stalled several times until 1992, when Bette Midler expressed interest in the script and the project immediately went forward. Midler, who plays the central antagonist of the film (originally written for Cloris Leachman), is quoted as saying that "Hocus Pocus" "was the most fun I'd had in my career up to that point".


title: Hocus Pocus (1993 film)

text: Leonardo DiCaprio was originally offered the lead role of Max but he declined it in order to pursue "What's Eating Gilbert Grape".


title: Hocus Pocus (1993 film)

text: Principal photography began on October 12, 1992. The film is set in Salem, Massachusetts, but most of it was shot on sound stages in Burbank, California. However, its daytime scenes were filmed in Salem and Marblehead, Massachusetts during two weeks of filming with principal cast. Production was completed on February 10, 1993.


title: Hocus Pocus (1993 film)

text: Pioneer Village, a recreation of early-colonial Salem, was used for the opening scenes set in 1693. Other locations included Old Burial Hill in Marblehead, where Max is accosted by Ice and Jay, the Old Town Hall in Salem, where the town Halloween party takes place, and Phillips Elementary School, where the witches are trapped in a kiln. The exterior for Max and Dani's house is a private residence on Ocean Avenue in Salem.


title: Hocus Pocus (1993 film)

text: The film was theatrically released by Walt Disney Pictures in the United States and Canada on July 16, 1993. The film received mixed reviews from film critics at the time of its release. It was not a critical or commercial success upon its release, possibly losing Disney around $16.5 million during its theatrical run. However, largely through many annual airings on Disney Channel and Freeform (formerly ABC Family) all throughout the month of October, "Hocus Pocus" has been rediscovered by audiences, resulting in a yearly spike in home video sales of the film every Halloween season. The annual celebration of Halloween has helped make this film a cult classic.


title: Hocus Pocus (1993 film)

text: Walt Disney Home Video released the film on VHS and LaserDisc in the United States and Canada on January 5, 1994. and later to DVD on June 4, 2002. Following the film's release on DVD, it has continued to show strong annual sales, raking in more than $1 million in DVD sales each October. In the mid-to-late 1990s, the film was rebroadcast annually on ABC and Disney Channel before switching over to ABC Family's "13 Nights of Halloween" lineup in the early 2000s. The film has continuously brought record viewing numbers to the lineup, including a 2009 broadcast watched by 2.5 million viewers. In 2011, an October 29 airing became the lineup's most watched program, with 2.8 million viewers. On September 4, 2012, the film was released on Blu-ray. Disney re-released the film on Blu-ray and Digital HD on September 2, 2018, as part of the film's 25th anniversary. The new release contains special features, including deleted scenes and a behind-the-scenes retrospective. On 15 September 2020, the film was released on Ultra HD Blu-ray in 4K resolution with HDR.


title: Hocus Pocus (1993 film)

text: The musical score for "Hocus Pocus" was composed and conducted by John Debney. James Horner was originally slated to score the film, but became unavailable at the last minute, so Debney had to score the entire film in two weeks. Even though he didn't score the film, Horner came back to write the theme for Sarah (sung by Sarah Jessica Parker, more commonly known as "Come Little Children") which is featured in Intrada's Complete Edition of the score.


title: Hocus Pocus (1993 film)

text: Debney released a promotional score through the internet containing 19 tracks from the film. Bootlegs were subsequently released across the internet, primarily because the promotional release missed the entire opening sequence music.


title: Hocus Pocus (1993 film)

text: According to Whip Media, "Hocus Pocus" was the 7th most watched movie across all platforms in the United States, during the week of October 31, 2021. According to Whip Media, "Hocus Pocus" was the 2nd most watched movie across all platforms in the United States, during the week of September 30, 2022 to October 2, 2022, the 7th during the week of October 9, 2022, and the 9th during the week of October 23, 2022.


title: Hocus Pocus (1993 film)

text: "Hocus Pocus" was released July 16, 1993, and came in fourth place on its opening weekend, grossing $8.1 million. It dropped from the top ten ranking after two weeks of release. The film was released the same day as "Free Willy". According to Kirschner, Disney chose to release "Hocus Pocus" in July to take advantage of children being off school for the summer.


title: Hocus Pocus (1993 film)

text: In October 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, "Hocus Pocus" was re-released in 2,570 theaters. It made $1.9 million over the weekend, finishing second behind "Tenet". The following two weekends it made $1.2 million and $756,000, respectively.


title: Hocus Pocus (1993 film)

text: On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 38% based on 60 reviews, with an average rating of 4.9/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Harmlessly hokey yet never much more than mediocre, "Hocus Pocus" is a muddled family-friendly effort that fails to live up to the talents of its impressive cast." Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 43 out of 100, based on 27 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.


title: Hocus Pocus (1993 film)

text: Gene Siskel, reviewing for "The Chicago Tribune", remarked that the film was a "dreadful witches' comedy with the only tolerable moment coming when Bette Midler presents a single song." Roger Ebert in "The Chicago Sun-Times" gave the film one star out of a possible four, writing that it was "a confusing cauldron in which there is great activity but little progress, and a lot of hysterical shrieking". "The Miami Herald" called it "a pretty lackluster affair", adding this comment: "Despite the triple-threat actress combo, "Hocus Pocus" won't be the "Sister Act" of 1993. There are a lot of gotta-sees this summer, and this isn't one of them."


title: Hocus Pocus (1993 film)

text: Janet Maslin of "The New York Times" wrote that the film "has flashes of visual stylishness but virtually no grip on its story". Ty Burr of "Entertainment Weekly" gave the film a C−, calling it "acceptable scary-silly kid fodder that adults will find only mildly insulting. Unless they're Bette Midler fans. In which case it's depressing as hell"; and stating that while Najimy and Parker "have their moments of ramshackle comic inspiration, and the passable special effects should keep younger campers transfixed [...] [T]he sight of the Divine Miss M. mugging her way through a cheesy supernatural kiddie comedy is, to say the least, dispiriting." Kim Newman of "Empire Magazine" gave the film two stars out of five, writing, "Trying to break expectations isn't always a wise idea and here Disney show how not to do it. With this supposed-family movie, they disappoint on nearly every level. The plot is weak, the action poor and it's got Bette Midler, simply dreadful."


title: Hocus Pocus (1993 film)

text: Over the years, the film has achieved cult status. In its 25th anniversary year in 2018, the first week of "Hocus Pocus" viewings on Freeform averaged 8.2 million viewers. A special called the "Hocus Pocus 25th Anniversary Halloween Bash" was filmed at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery and features interviews with members of the cast, including Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy, as well as a costume contest hosted by Sharon and Kelly Osbourne. It aired on Freeform October 20, 2018.


title: Hocus Pocus (1993 film)

text: In October 2011, the Houston Symphony celebrated various horror and Halloween classics, including "Hocus Pocus", with "The Hocus Pocus Pops". On October 19, 2013, D23 held a special screening of "Hocus Pocus" at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California, to honor the 20th anniversary of the film. Nine of the cast and crew gathered for the screening, and hundreds of D23 members attended. Returning members included Kathy Najimy, David Kirschner, Thora Birch, Doug Jones, Vinessa Shaw, and Omri Katz.


title: Hocus Pocus (1993 film)

text: During her Divine Intervention Tour in 2015, Bette Midler appeared on stage dressed as Winifred Sanderson. Her Harlettes appeared with her dressed as Mary and Sarah, and the three of them performed the film's version of "I Put a Spell on You."


title: Hocus Pocus (1993 film)

text: On September 15, 2015, the Hocus Pocus Villain Spelltacular was introduced at the Magic Kingdom as a part of Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. The show introduces new actresses as the Sanderson Sisters who try to make a villain party and summon or attract various Disney villains in the process. In September 2016, entertainment critic Aaron Wallace published "Hocus Pocus in Focus: The Thinking Fan's Guide to Disney's Halloween Classic," the first full-length book written about the film. The book includes a foreword by Thora Birch and afterword by Mick Garris. Billed as a "lighthearted but scholarly look at the film", the book analyzes the film's major themes, which it identifies as festivity, nostalgia, home, horror, virginity, feminism, Broadway-style musical moments, sibling rivalry, "Spielbergian" filmmaking style, Disney villain traditions, and more. Wallace also analyzes Walt Disney World's Hocus Pocus Villain Spelltacular as part of the film's legacy and includes "the largest collection of "Hocus Pocus" fun facts and trivia ever assembled", complete with extensive endnote citations.


title: Hocus Pocus (1993 film)

text: The City of Salem has celebrated its connection to "Hocus Pocus", while local filming sites have become an attraction for fans as the film's legacy has grown over the years. In 2018, the Haunted Happenings Grand Parade, an annual Salem festival held every October, was "Hocus Pocus"-themed in honor of the film's 25th anniversary. A representative for Destination Salem also reported a huge uptick in tourism for the 25th anniversary year, stating: "There's always been a ‘Hocus Pocus’ component to the visitors to Salem, especially in October. But it's like the film's following grows every year.”


title: Hocus Pocus (1993 film)

text: The cast reunited for "In Search of the Sanderson Sisters: A Hocus Pocus Hulaween Takeover" which aired on October 30, 2020. The one-hour broadcast was virtual due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the proceeds will go to the New York Restoration Project. Members of the cast who participated were Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kathy Najimy, Thora Birch, Omri Katz, Vinessa Shaw, and Doug Jones. Other notable participants of the benefit included Meryl Streep, Mariah Carey, Cassandra Peterson, Glenn Close, Billy Crystal, Jamie Lee Curtis, Todrick Hall, Jennifer Hudson, Anjelah Johnson-Reyes, Michael Kors, Adam Lambert, George Lopez, Alex Moffat, Martin Short, Sarah Silverman, John Stamos, Kenan Thompson, Sophie von Haselberg, and Bella Hadid.


title: Hocus Pocus (1993 film)

text: The Sanderson Sisters appear as playable characters in Disney video games such as "Disney Heroes: Battle Mode" and "Disney Magic Kingdoms".


title: Hocus Pocus (1993 film)

text: In a November 2014 interview, Bette Midler said that she was ready and willing to return for a sequel, and she also said that her co-stars Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy were also interested in returning for a sequel. Midler stressed the fact that Disney had yet to greenlight any sequel. In October 2016, Sarah Jessica was asked the prospects of a sequel and said "I would love that. I think we've been very vocal that we're very keen."


title: Hocus Pocus (1993 film)

text: In October 2019, a sequel which was going to be developed as a Disney+ exclusive film was announced, with a screenplay which was written by Jen D'Angelo. Midler, Parker, and Najimy all confirmed their interest in reprising their roles. In March 2020, Adam Shankman signed on to direct. In May 2021, it was confirmed that Midler, Parker, and Najimy would reprise their roles as the Sanderson Sisters and it was announced that the film would be released in 2022. The film was released on September 30, 2022.


title: Hocus Pocus (1993 film)

text: During an interview leading up to the release of "Hocus Pocus 2", David Kirschner revealed that a Broadway musical adaptation of the original film is in development. He also stated that "I just want to pinch myself, and I’m just afraid that I’m going to be 9 years old and on a Little League field again. But it’s just so wonderful just to stand back and watch all of this ... I think you’re going to be very pleased." Kenny Ortega revealed to "Forbes" in 2020 of his interest in possibly returning to direct the production, saying "I think a "Hocus Pocus" musical would be great fun, really great fun."


title: The Chronicles of Narnia (film series)

text: The Chronicles of Narnia is an American film series and media franchise based on "The Chronicles of Narnia", a series of novels by C. S. Lewis. The series revolves around the adventures of children in the world of Narnia, guided by Aslan, a wise and powerful lion that can speak and is the true king of Narnia. The children heavily featured in the films are the Pevensie siblings, and a prominent antagonist is the White Witch (also known as Queen Jadis). The franchise also includes short films, digital series, and video games.


title: The Chronicles of Narnia (film series)

text: From the seven books, three were adapted—"" (2005), "" (2008), and "" (2010)—which collectively grossed over $1.5 billion worldwide. The first two films were directed by Andrew Adamson and the third film was directed by Michael Apted. A fourth film was to be directed by Joe Johnston, but it was announced in 2018 that new adaptations would be made for Netflix. there have been no further updates on the status of the Netflix adaptations.


title: The Chronicles of Narnia (film series)

text: C. S. Lewis never sold the film rights to the "Narnia" series during his lifetime, as he was skeptical that any cinematic adaptation could render the more fantastical elements and characters of the story realistically. Only after seeing a demo reel of CGI animals did Douglas Gresham (Lewis's stepson and literary executor, and film co-producer) give approval for a film adaptation.


title: The Chronicles of Narnia (film series)

text: Although the plan was originally to produce the films in the same order as the book series' original publication, it was reported that "The Magician's Nephew", which recounts the creation of Narnia, would be the fourth feature film in the series, instead of "The Silver Chair". It was rumoured that "The Magician's Nephew" was chosen as an attempt to reboot the series, after the release of "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" grossed less when compared to the two previous films. In March 2011, Walden Media confirmed that they intended "The Magician's Nephew" to be next in the series, but stressed that it was not yet in development.


title: The Chronicles of Narnia (film series)

text: In October 2011, Douglas Gresham stated that Walden Media's contract with the C. S. Lewis estate had expired, hinting that Walden Media's lapse in renegotiating their contract with the C. S. Lewis estate was due to internal conflicts between both companies about the direction of future films.


title: The Chronicles of Narnia (film series)

text: On 1 October 2013, The C. S. Lewis Company announced a partnership with The Mark Gordon Company, and that "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair" was officially in pre-production.


title: The Chronicles of Narnia (film series)

text: "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe", based on the 1950 novel of the same title, is the first film in the series. Directed by Andrew Adamson, it was shot mainly in New Zealand, though locations were used in Poland, the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom.


title: The Chronicles of Narnia (film series)

text: The story follows the four British Pevensie siblings, who are evacuated during the Blitz to the countryside, where they find a wardrobe that leads to the fantasy world of Narnia. There, they must ally with the lion Aslan against the forces of the White Witch, who has placed Narnia in an eternal winter.


title: The Chronicles of Narnia (film series)

text: The film was released theatrically on 9 December 2005 and on DVD on 4 April 2006 and grossed over $745 million worldwide.


title: The Chronicles of Narnia (film series)

text: "Prince Caspian", based on the 1951 novel of the same title, is the second film in the series and the last distributed by Walt Disney Pictures.


title: The Chronicles of Narnia (film series)

text: The story follows the same Pevensie children who were transported to Narnia in the as they return to Narnia, where 1,300 years have passed and the land has been invaded by the Telmarines. The four Pevensie children aid Prince Caspian in his struggle for the throne against his corrupt uncle, King Miraz.


title: The Chronicles of Narnia (film series)

text: "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader", based on the 1952 novel of the same title, is the first film in the series not to be co-produced by Disney, who dropped out over a budget dispute with Walden Media. In January 2009, it was announced that Fox 2000 Pictures would replace Disney for future installments, although thanks to the acquisition of 21st Century Fox, Disney now owns the rights to all films, Directed by Michael Apted, the movie was filmed almost entirely in Australia.


title: The Chronicles of Narnia (film series)

text: The story follows the two younger Pevensie children as they return to Narnia with their cousin, Eustace Scrubb. They join Caspian, now king of Narnia, in his quest to rescue seven lost lords and save Narnia from a corrupting evil that resides on a dark island.


title: The Chronicles of Narnia (film series)

text: The film was released on 10 December 2010 (in RealD 3D in select theatres) and grossed over $415 million worldwide.


title: The Chronicles of Narnia (film series)

text: The series grossed over $1.5 billion worldwide, but critical and commercial reception diminished with each film.


title: The Chronicles of Narnia (film series)

text: After Walden Media's contract of the series' film rights expired in 2011, The C. S. Lewis Company announced on 1 October 2013 that it had entered into an agreement with The Mark Gordon Company to produce an adaptation of the 1953 novel "The Silver Chair". Mark Gordon and Douglas Gresham, along with Vincent Sieber, the Los Angeles based director of The C. S. Lewis Company, would serve as producers and work with The Mark Gordon Company on developing the script. On 5 December 2013, it was announced that David Magee would write the screenplay. In July 2014, the official Narnia website allowed the opportunity for fans to suggest names for the Lady of the Green Kirtle, the main antagonist. The winning name was to be selected by Mark Gordon and David Magee for use in the final script of "The Silver Chair".


title: The Chronicles of Narnia (film series)

text: The film's producers have called the film a reboot in reference to the fact that the film has a new creative team not associated with those who worked on the previous three films. On 9 August 2016, it was announced that Sony's TriStar Productions and Entertainment One Films will finance and distribute the fourth film with The Mark Gordon Company (which eOne owns) and The C. S. Lewis Company. In April 2017, it was announced that Joe Johnston had been hired to direct "The Silver Chair". During an interview with "Red Carpet News TV", producer Mark Gordon revealed scarce details about the new technologies and setting that would be used for the upcoming film.


title: The Chronicles of Narnia (film series)

text: On 3 October 2018, it was announced that Netflix and the C. S. Lewis Company had made a multi-year agreement to develop a new series of film and TV adaptations of "The Chronicles of Narnia". With this announcement, all previously announced plans for "The Silver Chair" were superseded.


title: The Chronicles of Narnia (film series)

text: Netflix has stated that its "Chronicles of Narnia" reboot is still moving forward. Mark Gordon is the primary producer on the project and has stated that there is potential to adapt the books into both a television series and potentially multiple feature films for the streaming service. On June 12, 2019, he hired "Coco" co-writer Matthew Aldrich to be the creative architect of the Netflix adaptation. Douglas Gresham, one of C.S. Lewis' two stepsons, commented in May 2020 that he was unsure about the future of the project as Netflix had not been in touch for a while, which may have been partly caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: The Carpenters

text: The Carpenters (officially known as Carpenters) were an American vocal and instrumental duo consisting of siblings Karen (1950–1983) and Richard Carpenter (born 1946). They produced a distinct, soft, musical style, combining Karen's contralto vocals with Richard's harmonizing, arranging, and composition skills. During their 14-year career, the Carpenters recorded 10 albums along with numerous singles and several television specials.


title: The Carpenters

text: The siblings were born in New Haven, Connecticut and moved to Downey, California in 1963. Richard took piano lessons as a child, progressing to California State University, Long Beach, while Karen learned the drums. They first performed together as a duo in 1965 and formed the jazz-oriented Richard Carpenter Trio followed by the middle-of-the-road group Spectrum. Signing as Carpenters to A&M Records in 1969, they achieved major success the following year with the hit singles "(They Long to Be) Close to You" and "We've Only Just Begun". The duo's brand of melodic pop produced a record-breaking run of hit recordings on the American Top 40 and Adult Contemporary charts, and they became leading sellers in the soft rock, easy listening, and adult contemporary music genres. They had three number-one singles and five number-two singles on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and 15 number-one hits on the Adult Contemporary chart, in addition to 12 top-10 singles.


title: The Carpenters

text: The duo toured continually during the 1970s, which put them under increased strain; Richard took a year off in 1979 after he had become addicted to Quaalude, while Karen suffered from anorexia nervosa. Their joint career ended in 1983 when Karen died from heart failure brought on by complications of anorexia. Extensive news coverage surrounding these circumstances increased public awareness of eating disorders. Their music continues to attract critical acclaim and commercial success. They have sold more than 100 million records worldwide, making them one of the best-selling music artists of all time.


title: The Carpenters

text: The Carpenter siblings were both born at Grace–New Haven Hospital (now called Yale–New Haven Hospital) in New Haven, Connecticut, to Harold Bertram Carpenter (1908–1988) and Agnes Reuwer (née Tatum, 1915–1996). Harold was born in Wuzhou, China, moving to Britain in 1917, and the US in 1921, while Agnes was born and grew up in Baltimore, Maryland. They married on April 9, 1935; their first child, Richard Lynn, was born on October 15, 1946, while Karen Anne followed on March 2, 1950. Richard was a quiet child who spent most of his time at home listening to Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, Red Nichols and Spike Jones, and playing the piano. Karen was friendly and outgoing; she liked to play sports, including softball with the neighborhood kids, but still spent a lot of time listening to music. She enjoyed dancing and began ballet and tap classes at the age of four. Karen and Richard were close, and shared a common interest in music. In particular, they became fans of Les Paul and Mary Ford, whose music featured multiple overdubbed voices and instruments. Richard began piano lessons aged eight, but quickly grew frustrated with the formal direction of the lessons and quit after a year. From the age of 11, he had begun to teach himself to play by ear, and resumed studying with a different teacher. He took a greater interest in playing this time, and would frequently practice at home. By 14, he was interested in performing professionally, and started lessons at Yale School of Music.


title: The Carpenters

text: In June 1963, the Carpenter family moved to the Los Angeles suburb of Downey hoping that it would mean better musical opportunities for Richard. He was asked to be the organist for weddings and services at the local Methodist church; instead of playing traditional hymns, he would sometimes rearrange contemporary Beatles songs in a "church" style. In late 1964, Richard enrolled at California State College at Long Beach where he met future songwriting partner John Bettis, Wesley Jacobs, a friend who played the bass and tuba for the Richard Carpenter Trio, and choral director Frank Pooler, who co-wrote the Christmas standard "Merry Christmas Darling" in 1966.


title: The Carpenters

text: That same year, Karen enrolled at Downey High School, where she found she had a knack for playing the drums. She had initially tried playing the glockenspiel, but had been inspired by her friend Frankie Chavez, who had been drumming since he was three. She became enthusiastic about the drums, and began to learn complex pieces, such as Dave Brubeck's "Take Five". Chavez persuaded her parents to buy a Ludwig drum kit in late 1964, and she began lessons with local jazz players, including how to read concert music. She quickly replaced the entry-level kit with a large Ludwig set that was a similar set-up to Brubeck's drummer, Joe Morello. Richard and Karen gave their first public performance together in 1965, as part of the pit band for a local production of "Guys and Dolls".


title: The Carpenters

text: By 1965, Karen had been practicing the drums for a year, and Richard was refining his piano techniques under Pooler's tuition. Late that year, Richard teamed up with Jacobs, who played tuba and stand-up bass. With Karen drumming, the three formed the jazz-oriented Richard Carpenter Trio. Richard led the band and wrote all the arrangements, and they began to rehearse daily. He bought a tape recorder, and began to make recordings of the group. Originally, neither Karen nor Richard sang; Richard's friend Dan Friberg occasionally filled in on trumpet, along with guest vocalist Margaret Shanor.


title: The Carpenters

text: Karen subsequently became more confident in singing, and began to take lessons with Frank Pooler. He taught her a mixture of classical and pop singing, but realized she most enjoyed performing Richard's new material. Pooler later said, "Karen was a born pop singer". In early 1966, Karen tagged along at a late-night session in the garage studio of Los Angeles bassist Joe Osborn, and joined future Carpenters collaborator and lyricist John Bettis at a demo session where Richard was to accompany Friberg. Asked to sing, she performed for Osborn, who was immediately impressed with her vocal abilities. He signed Karen to his label, Magic Lamp Records, and Richard to his publishing arm, Lightup Music. The label put out a single featuring two of Richard's compositions, "Looking for Love" and "I'll Be Yours". As well as Karen's vocals, the track was backed by the Richard Carpenter Trio. The single was not a commercial success due to a lack of promotion, and the label folded the next year.


title: The Carpenters

text: In mid-1966, the Richard Carpenter Trio entered the Hollywood Bowl annual Battle of the Bands competition. They played an instrumental version of "The Girl from Ipanema" and their own piece, "Iced Tea". They won the competition on June 24 and were signed by RCA Records. They recorded songs such as the Beatles' "Every Little Thing" and Frank Sinatra's "Strangers in the Night". A committee reviewed their recordings and chose not to produce them, so the trio were released from RCA.


title: The Carpenters

text: Karen graduated from high school in early 1967, and was awarded the John Philip Sousa Band award. She subsequently joined Richard at Long Beach State as a music major. Osborn let Karen and Richard continue to use his studio to record demo tapes. As they had unlimited studio time, Richard decided to experiment with overdubbing his and Karen's voices in order to create a large choral sound.


title: The Carpenters

text: In 1967, Jacobs left to study classical music and join the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and the Richard Carpenter Trio disbanded. Richard and Bettis then were hired as musicians at a refreshment shop at Disneyland's Main Street, U.S.A. They were expected to play turn of the 20th century songs in keeping with the shop's theme. The shop's patrons had other ideas; many requested the musicians to play current popular music. When the pair tried pleasing their customers and honoring the requests, they were fired by a Disneyland supervisor, Victor Guder, for being "too radical". Bettis and Richard were unhappy about their dismissal and wrote the song "Mr. Guder" about their former superior.


title: The Carpenters

text: Richard and Karen then teamed up with student musicians from Long Beach State to form the band Spectrum. The group included Bettis on guitar, who began writing lyrics to Richard's songs, guitarist Gary Sims, bassist Dan Woodhams, and vocalist Leslie "Toots" Johnston. The group sent demos to various record labels around Los Angeles, with little success. Part of the problem was the group's middle-of-the-road sound, which was different from the psychedelic rock popular in clubs. Richard's friend Ed Sulzer managed to book time at United Audio Recording Studio in Santa Ana, and the group recorded several original songs including "Candy" (which became "One Love" on the Carpenters' self-titled 1971 album). Richard bought a Wurlitzer electric piano as an additional instrument to complement his acoustic piano onstage. Spectrum performed regularly at the Whisky a Go Go nightclub in Los Angeles, including opening for Steppenwolf early in that group's career.


title: The Carpenters

text: By 1968, Spectrum had disbanded, finding it difficult to get gigs as their music was not considered "danceable" by rock and roll standards. Having enjoyed their multi-layer sound experiments at Osborn's studio, Richard and Karen decided to formally become a duo, calling themselves Carpenters. Later in the year, the duo received an offer to be on the television program "Your All American College Show". Their performance on the program, playing a cover of "Dancing in the Street", was their first television appearance, with new bassist Bill Sissoyev. The program had a weekly winner with all weekly winners competing in semi-finals and finals at the end of 12 weeks. The finals featuring "The Dick Carpenter Trio" aired on August 31, 1968. Karen also auditioned as a vocalist in Kenny Rogers and The First Edition, but was unsuccessful. By this time, Sulzer had become the group's manager, while the duo continued to record demos with Osborn, one of which was sent to A&M Records via a friend of Sulzer's. At the same time, the duo were asked to audition for a Ford Motor Company advertising campaign, which included $50,000 each and a brand new Ford automobile. The group accepted the offer, but quickly withdrew it after receiving a formal offer from A&M. Label owner Herb Alpert was intrigued by Karen's voice, later saying "It touched me ... I felt like it was time". On meeting the duo, Alpert said "Let's hope we can have some hits!"


title: The Carpenters

text: Richard and Karen Carpenter signed to A&M Records on April 22, 1969. Since Karen was 19 and underage, her parents had to co-sign. The duo had decided to sign as "Carpenters", without the definite article, which was influenced by names such as Buffalo Springfield or Jefferson Airplane, which they considered "hip".


title: The Carpenters

text: When the Carpenters signed to A&M Records, they were given free rein in the studio to create an album in their own style. The label recommended that Jack Daugherty should produce it, though those present have since suggested that Richard was the "de facto" producer. Most of the album's material had already been written for and performed with Spectrum; "Your Wonderful Parade" and "All I Can Do" both came from demos recorded with Osborn. Richard rearranged the Beatles' "Ticket to Ride" in a melancholic ballad style. Osborn played bass on the album (and remained their regular studio bassist throughout their career). Karen also played bass on "All of My Life" and "Eve", after being taught the relevant parts by Osborn. The album, entitled "Offering", was released on October 9, 1969, to a positive critical reception; one review in "Billboard" said "With radio programming support, Carpenters should have a big hit on their hands."


title: The Carpenters

text: "Ticket to Ride" was released as a single on November 5, and became a minor hit for the Carpenters, peaking at No. 54 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and the Top 20 of the Adult Contemporary chart. The album sold only 18,000 copies on its initial run, at a loss for A&M, but after the Carpenters' subsequent breakthrough the album was repackaged and reissued internationally under the name "Ticket to Ride" and sold 250,000 copies.


title: The Carpenters

text: Despite the poor showing of "Offering", A&M retained the Carpenters and decided they should record a hit single instead. In December 1969, they met Burt Bacharach, who was impressed by their work and invited the duo to open for him at a charity concert, which should include them performing a medley of Bacharach / Hal David songs. Herb Alpert asked Richard to re-work a Bacharach/David song "(They Long to Be) Close to You", which had first been recorded in 1963 by Richard Chamberlain, and Dionne Warwick the following year. Richard Carpenter decided the song would work as a standalone piece, and wrote an arrangement from scratch without being influenced by any earlier recordings. The duo struggled on an early recording attempt, and for the second session, Alpert suggested that seasoned session player Hal Blaine play drums instead of Karen, although Blaine stated that Karen approved of his involvement. Larry Knechtel was tried out as a session pianist, but was replaced by Richard for the final take. The Carpenters' version was released as a single in March 1970. It entered the charts at No. 56, the highest debut of the week ending June 20. It reached No. 1 on July 25 and stayed there for the next four weeks.


title: The Carpenters

text: Their next hit was a song Richard had seen in a television commercial for Crocker National Bank, "We've Only Just Begun", written by Paul Williams and Roger Nichols. Three months after "Close to You" reached No. 1, the Carpenters' version of "We've Only Just Begun" reached No. 2 on the "Billboard" Hot 100, becoming the first of their eventual five No. 2 hits (it was unable to get past "I'll Be There" by The Jackson 5 and "I Think I Love You" by The Partridge Family during its four-week stay). The song became the first hit single for Williams and Nichols, who think the Carpenters' version is definitive.


title: The Carpenters

text: "Close to You" and "We've Only Just Begun" became RIAA certified gold singles and were featured on the best-selling album "Close to You", which placed No. 175 on "Rolling Stone"s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list in 2003. The album also included "Mr. Guder", the song inspired by Disneyland supervisor Victor Guder, who had dismissed the young songwriters for playing popular music when they worked at the park.


title: The Carpenters

text: The Carpenters began touring, attempting to recruit Jacobs and former Spectrum members. Jacobs decided to continue with the Detroit Symphony, but Woodhams and Sims agreed to be part of the live band, which was completed with Doug Strawn and Bob Messenger. They rehearsed daily on the A&M soundstage in order to present a concert show that could compare with their records. As a result of their chart success, the group made several television appearances in 1970, including "The Ed Sullivan Show". The Carpenters also chose Sherwin Bash as their new manager around this time. On Thanksgiving Day, 1970, the Carpenter family moved into a new $300,000 ($ as of ) home near the San Gabriel River.


title: The Carpenters

text: The duo rounded out the year with the holiday release of "Merry Christmas, Darling", which they had been playing for several years. The single scored high on the holiday charts and would repeatedly return to the holiday charts in subsequent years. In 1978, Karen re-cut the vocal for their Christmas TV special, feeling she could give a more mature treatment to it; this remake also became a hit.


title: The Carpenters

text: The Carpenters had a string of hit singles and albums through the early 1970s. Their 1971 song "For All We Know" was recorded the previous year by members of the pop group Bread for a wedding scene in the movie "Lovers and Other Strangers". Richard saw the song's potential for the Carpenters and recorded it in the autumn of 1970. The track became the duo's third gold single, and later won an Oscar for "Best Original Song". On March 16, 1971, the duo received 2 Grammy Awards, winning for Best New Artist and Best Contemporary Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus.


title: The Carpenters

text: The duo's fourth gold single, "Rainy Days and Mondays", became Williams' and Nichols' second major single with the Carpenters. The demo was written by Williams about his mother, which led to the line, "Talking to myself and feeling old". Richard rearranged the song to include a saxophone solo, played by Bob Messenger. The single peaked at No. 2 on the "Billboard" Hot 100.


title: The Carpenters

text: "Superstar", written by Bonnie Bramlett and Leon Russell, became the duo's next hit. The song had originally appeared on Joe Cocker's 1970 album "Mad Dogs & Englishmen", sung by Rita Coolidge. Karen was familiar with the album, but Richard first heard the song when it was covered by Bette Midler on "The Tonight Show", and realised its potential as a Carpenters hit. The duo changed the line "I can hardly wait to sleep with you again" to "... to "be" with you again", as they knew the former would not be played on Top 40 radio. The single sold a million copies, attaining gold status, and became the Carpenters' third No. 2 single on the "Billboard" Hot 100 (this time held off the top spot by Rod Stewart's "Maggie May" / "Reason to Believe"). On May 14, 1971, the Carpenters performed a sell-out show at Carnegie Hall, and they released their third album, "Carpenters" the same day. It became one of their best sellers, earning RIAA certification for platinum four times, and rising to No. 2 on "Billboard"s pop album chart for two weeks (behind Carole King's "Tapestry") with over a million pre-sales orders. The album won a Grammy Award, as well as receiving three nominations. The A&M graphics department hired Craig Braun and Associates to design the cover. "I recognized it to be a great logo as soon as I saw it", says Richard. The logo was used on every Carpenters album thereafter; Richard said it was done "to keep things consistent". The logo did not appear on the front cover of "Passage" but a small version appeared on the back cover.


title: The Carpenters

text: Shortly after the third album, the duo hosted a television series during the summer of 1971, called "Make Your Own Kind of Music", which drew mixed reviews. By mid-1971, the Carpenters were being criticized that their live shows had no focal point, as Karen was seated behind the drums. Richard and Bash tried to persuade her to sing out-front. Karen resisted at first, but was eventually persuaded to front the popular numbers and ballads, and drum for more up-tempo numbers. Consequently, Jim Anthony was hired as a touring drummer. Over time, Karen became more relaxed as a frontwoman and centerpiece of the band.


title: The Carpenters

text: Later that year, Richard was watching a Bing Crosby movie, "Rhythm on the River", in which Crosby played a country singer whose career was in decline and whose most famous song was "Goodbye to Love". The song was never performed in the film, so Richard imagined what it might sound like and wrote down some initial lyrics. These were finished off by Bettis, and became "Goodbye to Love". For the arrangement, Richard suggested adding a fuzz guitar solo. He resisted suggestions to get an experienced session player in, and instead asked Tony Peluso, whose band Instant Joy had supported the Carpenters on an earlier tour. Peluso was a typical rock guitarist and did not read music, so Richard wrote out a chord chart for him to follow. Having been instructed to play the first five bars of the melody and then improvise, he recorded the solo in two takes. Bettis later described "Goodbye to Love" as his favorite single he has worked on in his career. The single reached No. 7 in the "Billboard" Hot 100, and Peluso accepted an offer to tour with the Carpenters full-time. Some did not appreciate the combination of a soft ballad and loud electric guitar, and sent hate mail to the Carpenters, but conversely they picked up new fans who appreciated the bridge between rock and pop.


title: The Carpenters

text: On April 25, 1972, the Carpenters visited the White House to meet presidential assistants James Cavanagh, Ken Cole and Ronald Zeigler. They returned on August 1 to meet President Richard Nixon and posed for photographs with him at the Oval Office.


title: The Carpenters

text: "Goodbye to Love" was featured on the Carpenters' fourth album, "A Song for You" released on June 13, 1972. The title track, a cover of a song on Leon Russell's debut album, was considered as a single, but rejected owing to its length. The album also included a Carole King song, "It's Going To Take Some Time" and another Nichols / Williams original, "I Won't Last A Day Without You". Another Carpenter / Bettis composition, "Top of the World", was originally intended as just an album cut, but after Lynn Anderson scored a hit with the song in early 1973, the Carpenters opted to record their own single version. It was released in September and became the Carpenters' second "Billboard" No. 1 hit, in December.


title: The Carpenters

text: The Carpenters met the President again on April 30, 1973, when they performed a special concert at the White House, though the event was overshadowed by the resignation of the White House Chief of Staff, Bob Haldeman, and assistant John Ehrlichman over the Watergate scandal, which would ultimately also lead to Nixon's resignation.