Rumsfeld accepts award at Nixon library

YORBA LINDA - For the first time in more than 15 years, Donald Rumsfeld paid a visit to the Nixon Presidential Library &Museum. He did so before a cheering crowd of more than 200 who paid hundreds of dollars for the privilege.

During Monday night's dinner, the Richard Nixon Foundation presented Rumsfeld with its Victory of Freedom award.

Donald Rumsfeld, former Secretary of Defense speaks after receiving the Nixon Foundation's "Victory of Freedom" award. Ambassador George L. Argyros and former Nixon White House official Larry Higby were at the event. on Monday.

CHRISTINE COTTER, FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Rumsfeld has spent decades off and on in politics, most notably, serving as secretary of defense under presidents Ford and George W. Bush.

To what does he attribute his political longevity?

"Good genes," he quipped before the dinner. He noted he's 78, a length of time roughly equal to one-third the age of the United States.

"We either have a very young country, or I'm very old," he said, smiling broadly. "When I went to Washington, Eisenhower was president."

Rumsfeld now lives in New Mexico and chairs a nonprofit foundation with his wife.

He said his new memoir, due to be published in January, features 1,300 annotations, including documents never before made public.

As he emerged from Richard M. Nixon's childhood home, Rumsfeld remembered attending Nixon's funeral at the library in 1994.

"It's very nice," he said of the library grounds.

In front of the library's eastern entrance, a protester had placed a cardboard sign reading: "Torture is illegal and immoral," a reference to actions that took place in a military prison in Iraq.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney had been slated to attend Monday's event but had to cancel recently,

According to the foundation, the award was given to Rumsfeld, 78, for being a "champion for the cause of freedom and for personifying the 37th pesident's principle of enlightened national interest in foreign policy."

During a tour of the mseum, Rumsfeld touched on a few current topics, such as the recent surfacing on Wikileaks of sensitive State Department documents, many of which criticized other countries.

"The only way you can deal with the problem of terrorism is to cooperate with other countries," he said. Because of the leaked documents, "people (will) pull back and they're less willing to work with you."

Contact the writer: 714-704-3796 or mmello@ocreister.com