Get Me Carlucci: A Daughter Recounts Her Father's Legacy of Service

by Kristin Carlucci Weed, Frank Carlucci III

Overview

“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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781633310834
Publisher:	Disruption Books
Publication date:	01/23/2024
Pages:	280
Sales rank:	342,892
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Kristin Carlucci Weed grew up in McLean, Virginia, as the daughter of former Secretary of Defense Frank C. Carlucci. Carlucci Weed attended Duke University and Johns Hopkins University, focusing on international affairs and public policy. After working in policy research in the U.S. and in Europe, she returned to the leafy suburbs of Washington, DC, where she settled with her US Air Force husband in 2020. When she is not driving one of her three children to their activities, she can be found on the tennis court or planning her next globetrotting adventure.

Get Me Carlucci is her first book.

Frank C. Carlucci III was an American politician and diplomat. A graduate of the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, Carlucci served as Ambassador to Portugal in the tumultuous 1970s and held roles in a number of public offices, including at the Office of Economic Opportunity and the Central Intelligence Agency. As President Ronald Reagan's Secretary of Defense from 1987 to 1989, Carlucci helped define America's Cold War policy. In private enterprise, he was Chairman of The Carlyle Group from 1992 to 2003.

Before his death in 2018, Carlucci completed a draft of his memoir, which serves as the basis for Get Me Carlucci.

Table of Contents

Preface
Chapter 1: Find a Way or Make One
Chapter 2: African Adventures
Chapter 3: Around the World
Chapter 4: Alphabet Soup—from OEO to OMB to HEW and Beyond
Chapter 5: Bringing Portugal Back from the Brink
Chapter 6: Working Washington
Chapter 7: Serving as Secretary
Chapter 8: Becoming a Businessman
Chapter 9: Twilight

Editorial Reviews

"In this book, Kristin Carlucci Weed, Frank Carlucci's daughter, describes his actions in these and other momentous roles with clarity and honesty, illuminating the extraordinary leadership skills relied upon by multiple presidents of both political parties. A diminutive man with a deceptively easy-going manner and friendly smile, Carlucci possessed an iron will and extraordinary physical and political courage. Get Me Carlucci wonderfully portrays one of the most extraordinary men ever to serve the American people."
—Robert M. Gates, former Secretary of Defense (2006-2011), former Director of Central Intelligence (1991-1993)

"The author, Carlucci’s daughter, weaves together her own account of her father’s remarkable life with a brief memoir he wrote; the result is an intellectual lively and emotionally poignant work ... an engrossing remembrance that captures a brilliant career and the turbulent times within which it flourished."
—Kirkus Reviews

"Anyone interested or involved in government service should read and absorb the great lessons from the great man in this book."
—Admiral Bill Owens

"Drawing upon extensive research into his personal files and writings, Get Me Carlucci delivers a portrait of a man who devoted himself to doing what was right for America."
—Stephen J. Hadley, former National Security Advisor

“Get Me Carlucci details the career of America’s most influential Cold Warrior . . . a diplomat who served six U.S. presidents and became the first Italian-American Secretary of Defense.”
—US Weekly

"This book is an overdue account of his extraordinary career, his contributions to sound public policy, and the many people he touched…A memorable book about a remarkable man."
—Michael Rich, President Emeritus, RAND Corporation

“Kristin Carlucci Weed has strongly and charmingly preserved the legacy of her accomplished and remarkable father. Through her interviews, Frank’s own brief written memoir notes on various events, and Kristin’s own recollections, this readable and credible memoir will be read by generations of readers longing to learn of a civil servant in American government known for getting things done across the aisle with perseverance and ethical integrity!”
—Brigadier General Chad T. Maske 

From the Publisher

"This book is an overdue account of his extraordinary career, his contributions to sound public policy, and the many people he touched…A memorable book about a remarkable man."
—Michael Rich, President Emeritus, RAND Corporation

Michael Rich

"In this book, Kristin Carlucci Weed, Frank Carlucci's daughter, describes his actions in these and other momentous roles with clarity and honesty, illuminating the extraordinary leadership skills relied upon by multiple presidents of both political parties. A diminutive man with a deceptively easy-going manner and friendly smile, Carlucci possessed an iron will and extraordinary physical and political courage. Get Me Carlucci wonderfully portrays one of the most extraordinary men ever to serve the American people."
—Robert M. Gates, former Secretary of Defense (2006-2011), former Director of Central Intelligence (1991-1993)

Robert M. Gates

"Drawing upon extensive research into his personal files and writings, Get Me Carlucci delivers a portrait of a man who devoted himself to doing what was right for America."
—Stephen J. Hadley, former National Security Advisor

Stephen J. Hadley

"Anyone interested or involved in government service should read and absorb the great lessons from the great man in this book."
—Admiral Bill Owens

Admiral Bill Owens

2023-10-19
Weed offers a biography of her father, Frank Carlucci III, a prominent American diplomat during the Cold War.

In 1930, Frank Carlucci III was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania. His family was widely known in the area due to his grandfather’s sterling reputation as a stonemason. He would not follow in his footsteps, however; after studying at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, Frank embarked on an eventful career in the foreign service—he was a witness to and participant in events in the Congo during historically tumultuous periods in the late 1950s and early 1960s. In 1974, he became the Ambassador to Portugal as the nation “teetered between communism and democracy.” Carlucci helped steward Portugal toward democratic reform, an achievement so significant that, in the author’s words, it “changed the course of Cold War history.” His career was extraordinary—Carlucci would serve under six different presidents, assuming roles of great power and influence, including a tenure as secretary of defense under President Ronald Reagan. The author, Carlucci’s daughter, weaves together her own account of her father’s remarkable life with a brief memoir he wrote; the result is an intellectual lively and emotionally poignant work. Carlucci was a rare type, both a “daredevil diplomat” capable of employing strikingly unorthodox methods and a “consummate government bureaucrat” respected by all. Weed movingly highlights the achievements of a man who never sought elected office or self-aggrandizement. “I feel his legacy should be better recognized—not because I am his daughter, but because in our modern era of bitter partisanship, the way he lived and the manner in which he moved through Washington, under leaders from both sides of the aisle, offer lessons we all can learn from.” This is an engrossing remembrance that captures a brilliant career and the turbulent times within which it flourished.

A historically vivid and emotionally affecting recollection.

Kirkus Reviews