Former Defense Secretary Weinberger Dies
28 March 2006
Casper Weinberger, who served as defense secretary under President Ronald Reagan, has died at the age of 88.
His family said he died from pneumonia early Tuesday morning in the town of Bangor, Maine.
Weinberger had developed the reputation as a government cost-cutter when he served as budget director under President Richard Nixon.
But as Mr Reagan's defense secretary, he presided over the biggest peacetime increase in defense spending in U.S. history.
Weinberger was also a central figure in the Iran-Contra scandal that resulted from a Reagan administration program to sell arms to Iran to illegally finance the Contra forces fighting Nicaragua's government. He was indicted on felony charges, but was pardoned by the first President Bush before going to trial.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.
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