Rumsfeld was capable and intelligent, and showed this in both his public service and private business. (Who brought you digital TV and a small-molecule antiviral?)

Compare him to Robert McNamara who "failed up" repeatedly. (e.g. who made the cars that Ralph Nader warned you about? who convinced everyone that the World Bank's development strategy was disasterous? TBF, MacNamara's bean-counter attitude served us well w/ the Minuteman missile and the transition to missile ships at sea -- it's funny how Chinese action movies show so much pride for modern warships that we try to hide because we think they don't look aggressive enough.)

He wrecked his legacy by going along with the second gulf war which: (1) was based on a lie, and (2) we lost. The full cost of the 2nd gulf war won't even be known until we know how badly prepared we are for the next war.