William Cohen

William Cohen
Official portrait, 1997
20th United States Secretary of Defense
In office January 24, 1997 – January 20, 2001
President	Bill Clinton
Deputy	John Hamre Rudy de Leon
Preceded by	William J. Perry
Succeeded by	Donald Rumsfeld
United States Senator from Maine
In office January 3, 1979 – January 3, 1997
Preceded by	William Hathaway
Succeeded by	Susan Collins
Chair of the Senate Aging Committee
In office January 4, 1995 – January 3, 1997
Preceded by	David Pryor
Succeeded by	Chuck Grassley
Chair of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee
In office January 5, 1981 – January 3, 1983
Preceded by	John Melcher
Succeeded by	Mark Andrews
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Maine's 2nd district
In office January 3, 1973 – January 3, 1979
Preceded by	William Hathaway
Succeeded by	Olympia Snowe
Mayor of Bangor, Maine
In office 1971–1972
Member of the Bangor City Council
In office 1969–1972
Personal details
Born	William Sebastian Cohen (1940-08-28) August 28, 1940 (age 83) Bangor, Maine, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Diana Dunn (divorced 1987) Janet Langhart ​ (m. 1996)​
Education	Bowdoin College (BA) Boston University (LLB)
William Cohen's voice Cohen speaking during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the Kosovo War and the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia Recorded October 14, 1999

William Sebastian Cohen (born August 28, 1940) is an American lawyer, author, and politician from the U.S. state of Maine. A Republican, Cohen served as both a member of the United States House of Representatives (1973–1979) and Senate (1979–1997), and as Secretary of Defense (1997–2001) under Democratic President Bill Clinton.^[1]

Described as "a Republican moderate from Maine" and "something of a maverick centrist" by David Halberstam, Cohen had very good working relations with President Clinton and National Security Adviser Sandy Berger and an "almost ideal" collaboration with the Joint Chiefs of Staff;^[2] however he often clashed with Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, whom he saw as "a grandstander, too outspoken on policy matters, and too eager to use military force."^[2]