Get Me Carlucci

“Frank Carlucci is living proof to all of us and to the world that ‘only in America’ is more than just an easy cliché: it’s a great ringing truth.” —President Ronald Reagan

Once called “Washington’s ultimate survivor” by The Washington Post, Frank C. Carlucci III served six presidents, traveled the world on behalf of his country, and ultimately rose to prominence as Secretary of Defense. Through every chapter of his extraordinary and varied career, American leaders had a common refrain: “Get me Carlucci!”

Get Me Carlucci combines Carlucci’s own words with interviews from his contemporaries and context from his daughter, Kristin Carlucci Weed, who completes her late father’s story while keeping his “characteristic deadpan humor and tell-it-like-it-is sensibility, no frills and no fuss.”

While Carlucci did not seek the spotlight, his work shaped the world. As a young Foreign Service Officer, he weathered the turmoil and excitement of the Congo Crisis of the 1960s, and as Ambassador to Portugal in the 1970s, he played a crucial role in the country’s transition to democracy. With a dynamic mind and a knack for building relationships, Carlucci then returned to the U.S. to serve in Washington. As Deputy Director of the CIA, National Security Advisor, and eventually Secretary of Defense under President Ronald Reagan, he defined American Cold War policy.

Starting with Carlucci’s childhood and early military days, Get Me Carlucci is a unique look at the wide-ranging career of one of the twentieth century’s most important behind-the-scenes actors. “The President thought the world of him,” said Carlucci’s friend and mentee Colin Powell. “I thought the world of him.”

Carlucci’s story is one of service, hard work, and true statesmanship as the grandson of an Italian stonecutter becomes an indispensable voice at the highest levels of American government.