Carlucci was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the son of Roxann (née Bacon) and Frank Charles Carlucci, Jr., an insurance broker. His father was of Italian and Swiss-Italian descent.[4] His grandfather was from Santomenna, Italy.[5]
According to subsequently-released US government documents, US President Dwight Eisenhower ordered the CIA to eliminate Lumumba.[11][12] Minutes of an August 1960 National Security Council meeting confirm that Eisenhower told CIA chief Allen Dulles to "eliminate" the Congolese leader.[13] The official notetaker, Robert H. Johnson, testified to that before the Senate Intelligence Committee in 1975. However, subsequent investigations indicate that Lumumba was ultimately executed by an order of a political rival, Moïse Tshombe, who led the State of Katanga, with Belgian assistance.[11][14]
According to Robert B. Oakley, Carlucci befriended the future Congo Prime Minister Cyrille Adoula in 1959-1960, who was then a Congolese Member of Parliament.[15] According to James Schlesinger, Adoula began a White House meeting with President John F. Kennedy with the question "Où est Carlucci?" ("Where is Carlucci?"). Kennedy first responded, "Who the hell is Carlucci?" He then sent Dean Rusk to find him.[16] Oakley added that that instance was "the beginning of Carlucci's meteoric rise!"[17]
A fictionalized 2000 biopic, Lumumba, directed by Raoul Peck, portrayed Carlucci as being involved during his service in Congo in the murder of Lumumba.[16][18] Carlucci furiously denied the claims and successfully went to court to prevent his being named in the film when it was released in the United States.[16][18]
In the aftermath of the catastrophic flooding caused by Hurricane Agnes in June 1972, Nixon designated Carlucci to lead the federal response in northeastern Pennsylvania because of his personal ties to the region. At the time, Agnes was the costliest tropical cyclone in U.S. history, and the Wyoming Valley of Pennsylvania was one of the worst hit areas. Carlucci's time in this role was viewed positively by commonwealth and local officials, as well as the general public, given his local ties and effectiveness.[20]
Carlucci became US Secretary of Defense in 1987 after Caspar Weinberger resigned due his wife's disabling back pain. [26] Carlucci served in that position until the end of the Reagan administration, on January 20, 1989.[9][19] Carlucci was notable during the administration for advocating an arms build-up to hasten the end of the Cold War, a policy that Reagan followed.[19]
Later life
Business
After leaving the Reagan administration in 1983, Carlucci was named president and later chairman of Sears World Trade, a subsidiary of Sears.[27] Sears announced it would wind down the subsidiary in October 1986.[28] By December, 1986, Carlucci returned to government service.
Carlucci served as chairman of the Carlyle Group from 1992 to 2003 and chairman emeritus until 2005.[9][19] He had business interests in the following companies: Ashland Global Holdings, General Dynamics, Westinghouse, Neurogen, CB Commercial Real Estate, Nortel, BDM International, Quaker Oats, and Kaman.[29] Carlucci was at one time a director of the private security firm Wackenhut[30] and was a co-founder and senior member of the Frontier Group, a private-equity investment firm.[31] Carlucci was an advisory board member of G2 Satellite Solutions and the Chairman Emeritus of Nortel Networks.[32]
Carlucci was married to Billie Jean Anthony from 1954 until the couple divorced in 1974.[39] They had two children.[39] Carlucci was later married to Marcia McMillan Myers from 1976 until his death. They had one daughter.[39]
^"Frank C. Carlucci". history.defense.gov. Archived from the original on February 7, 2017. Retrieved June 5, 2018. Frank C. Carlucci, who had served as Caspar Weinberger's deputy secretary between 1981 and 1983, succeeded him as secretary of defense.
