Frank Carlucci Frank Carlucci Frank Charles Carlucci III (October 18, 1930 – June 3, 2018) was an American politician and diplomat who served as the United States Secretary of Defense from 1987 to 1989 in the administration of President Ronald Reagan. Carlucci served in a variety of senior-level governmental positions, including Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity in the Richard Nixon administration, Deputy Director of the CIA in the Jimmy Carter administration, and Deputy Secretary of Defense and National Security Advisor in the Reagan administration. Carlucci was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the son of Roxanne (née Bacon) and Frank Charles Carlucci,
William Howard Taft IV of Leva, Hawes, Symington, Martin and Oppenheimer. In February 1981, as one of his first appointments, President Ronald Reagan appointed Taft as General Counsel of the Department of Defense. Taft was then appointed Deputy Secretary of Defense and served from January 1984 to April 1989. He served as acting Secretary of Defense from January to March 1989 after George H. W. Bush became president. Bush's initial nominee, John Tower, was not confirmed by the United States Senate after much contentious debate and testimony. The eventual appointee confirmed in March was Richard B. Cheney (later Vice President of the United States,