Ex-Defense Secretary Les Aspin Dies At 56 Once A Critic Of Pentagon, He Aided Reagan’s Military Buildup

Les Aspin, a congressman from Wisconsin for 22 years and secretary of defense for the first 11 months of the Clinton administration, died Sunday night at Georgetown University Medical Center.

He was 56 and had suffered a massive stroke Saturday.

Aspin was elected to Congress in 1970 in large part because of his opposition to the war in Vietnam, and in his early years in the House, he was an outspoken critic of the Pentagon.

But his views shifted perceptably after he became chairman of the House Armed Services Committee in 1985. He endorsed much of the military buildup under President Ronald Reagan and was a strong supporter of the war against Iraq under President George Bush.

As secretary of defense, Aspin was involved in some of the toughest international and domestic policy matters faced by the Clinton administration in its first year.

By the end of the year, he was viewed by the White House as indecisive and basically a disappointment. He probably would have been forced from office had he not resigned in December 1993.

Aspin had been working this year as chairman of a presidential commission charged with reviewing operations of the nation’s intelligence services, particularly the CIA.

He had a history of problems with his circulatory system. He was hospitalized in March 1993 after complaining of shortness of breath; a pacemaker was inserted then to regulate his heart’s rhythm.