Known and Unknown: A Memoir "learned nothing and forgotten nothing". Known and Unknown: A Memoir Known and Unknown: A Memoir is an autobiographical book by Donald Rumsfeld, an American politician and businessman who served as Secretary of Defense from 1975 to 1977 and again from 2001 to 2006 (among many other positions). He published it through Penguin Group USA in February 2011. It covers a variety of his experiences such as working as a Republican in the U.S. House in the late-1960s, serving in the Ford Administration during the Watergate and Vietnam crises, and serving during the George W. Bush Administration through the Abu Ghraib
Known and Unknown: A Memoir are highlighted. He describes being in the Pentagon when the hijacked American Airlines Flight 77 slammed into it on September 11, 2001. He recounts staying at his post amid the rubble and groping to determine the significance of the attack. He also remarks that the targeted sectors of the Pentagon were undergoing refurbishment (with many offices unoccupied) and thus many lives were spared. Rumsfeld discusses the longtime problems of his son, Nick, with drug addiction. He recalls when his son checked into a rehab clinic shortly after 9/11, and Rumsfeld, overcome with emotion, breaks down in a meeting with Bush