William S. Cohen, at full throttle.

• Author: McCARTHY, KELLY
• Position: President Clinton's Secretary of Defense

With the energy and prowess that have characterized his life in public service, President Clinton's Secretary of Defense launches his next campaign -- success as a corporate director and global business adviser.

WILLIAM S. COHEN readily admits that an obsession with time is what drives him. In January of this year, as he was winding down from four years of service as Secretary of Defense during the Clinton administration, he was already plotting the next chapter in an eventful career. As a man who has spent 31 years in the public sector, and had just traveled more than 800,000 miles for the Defense Department, one might imagine that rest was in order. Think again. Because Bill Cohen plans to continue operating as he always has -- at full throttle.

Cohen embraced his work ethic early. His father, a baker by trade, worked 18-hour days for more than 60 years. Cohen inherited his father's genetic makeup, requiring very little sleep. He was also imbued with his father's high standards for excellence. In high school, and later at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, a young Bill Cohen was a star scholar and athlete. Law school and a career as an attorney followed. After serving as mayor of his hometown of Bangor, another challenge would be met -- national politics. He credits Robert Monks, who was competing in a primary against Maine icon Margaret Chase Smith, with encouraging him to run for Congress. It was a suggestion that would change Cohen's life. Says Monks, a longtime shareholder activist and authority on corporate governance issues, "The first time I met Bill Cohen I was very conscious of a certain presence, a certain calm, a certain dignity, a certain sense of being within himself, and a certain integrity. I was particularly impressed by the high r egard in which he was held by the leaders of the community."

Cohen took Monk's advice. He went on to win a seat in Congress by sheer grit and determination. He campaigned by setting out on foot to meet all of his prospective constituents. He walked 22 miles a day, clocking 650 miles, in an effort to shake every hand along the way. It was a positive experience for Cohen, despite twice landing in the hospital to have calluses removed from his feet. He won the election, serving from 1973-1979.

Put to the test

But blistered feet were nothing compared to the way Cohen was put to the test as a freshman Congressman. The young Republican served on the House Judiciary Committee and would have to decide whether or not to cast his vote to impeach Richard Nixon in the wake of the Watergate scandal. It was a daunting decision to say the least. "My own reputation has been one of independence and that is what Maine expected of me. And that is what I have tried to be throughout my public career," says Cohen, whose role on the Committee cast him into the national spotlight.

Not only did the pundits take notice of the politician from Maine, so did a fledgling reporter by the name of Bob Woodward. It was Woodward and fellow Washington Post reporter Carl Bernstein's dogged investigative work that helped expose the events of Watergate. Today Woodward, who is still leading an investigative news operation at the Washington Post in addition to being a celebrated author and a pundit himself on political affairs, recalls meeting Cohen during that time and witnessing first hand how Cohen struggled with weighing the evidence in the case. As Woodward tells DIRECTORS & BOARDS about Cohen's vote to impeach, "It was a gutsy move."

Cohen, continues Woodward, made his mark as an independent Republican in his role in determining that Nixon abused his power. "There were two Republicans from the Congress that I remember most vividly during he says. "The first was Barry Goldwater who led the Senate in looking at Nixon and saying 'Too many lives, too many crimes,' and who was kind of the guiding light. And Cohen was the guiding light in the House."

Voting to impeach Nixon could have meant the beginning of the end of Cohen's career. Instead the move earned him respect for going with his conscience rather than playing party politics. He reached another milestone when he ran for U.S. Senate, winning a seat and serving in that capacity from 1979-1997. Toward the end of his Senate term, he prepared to retire from government service and go into the private sector. His plan was to start a consulting firm where he could draw upon his international experience to aid companies looking to expand business operations here and across the globe. Then he got a call from the White House. President Clinton wanted to talk. Several meetings, a social encounter, and a phone call later, Cohen was accepting the President's offer to become the next Secretary of Defense for the United States.

Reaching across the divide

On January 24, 1997, Cohen was sworn in at a ceremony at the White House. In his remarks on that occasion, President Clinton stated, "It says a great deal about this extraordinary man that his Senate colleagues paid him the tribute of a unanimous vote of approval. In so doing, the Senate sent a strong signal of its intention to work in a constructive and bipartisan spirit to preserve and enhance our national security. Bill Cohen is the embodiment of that spirit...He's reached across the divisions of party to strengthen our defenses, shaping the START I arms control treaty, helping reorganize the Department of Defense, guiding the most important deliberations about our armed forces."

The appointment did indeed say a lot about Cohen, who as a Republican was being tapped to serve under a Democratic president. "It is the first time that any President has ever picked an elected official from a different party to put in a Cabinet, particularly at that level of the Cabinet," says Cohen.

Under his watch, the steady decline in defense budgets that began in 1980 was reversed. Showing great concern for quality of life issues for U.S. military personnel, he helped drive through the biggest pay raise in a generation and other initiatives to address morale, modernize the military, and expand the country's security relationships and influence around the world. U.S. troops conducted the largest air warfare campaign since World War II. "Driving Milosevic out of Kosovo and keeping Saddam Hussein contained" were two of the important legacies of his term that he cited to talk-show host Charlie Rose in an interview on one of his final days as Defense Secretary.

This time Cohen did make the break from public office. It was time to pick up where he left off four years earlier in wanting to start his own company. He signed a lease on office space, formed a relationship with the law firm of McDermott, Will & Emery and founded The Cohen Group, an international strategic business consulting firm.

'Renaissance Man'

Bill Cohen has been called, by the Christian Science Monitor and others, "a Renaissance Man." He is a CEO of an international consulting firm. He is a scholar and an athlete. He is a poet and a novelist (see sidebar on page 23). He is a leader, not a follower. He is a proud son from an immigrant family, and a revered son of Maine. Cohen has traveled the globe, formed relationships with the highest officials the world over, and bucked tradition when he saw fit. He is as comfortable speaking with heads of state as he is appearing on TV's "Face The Nation" or "Larry King Live."

And as if he doesn't have enough on his plate these days, the 60-year-old Cohen is in big demand for corporate directorships. Since leaving the Pentagon he has had roughly 20 offers. Just days after leaving public office, Cohen joined the board of Cendant Corp., the travel and real estate company that owns such franchises as Howard Johnson, Century 21, and Avis Rent A Car. It was Cendant Chairman and CEO Henry Silverman who suggested Cohen join the board as a way to transition from the public sector to the business arena. Referring to Silverman's leadership in resolving a massive accounting fraud at an acquired unit, Cohen says, "I followed him in terms of what he went through this past year and how he's bringing that company back...I put tremendous confidence in his ability to make Cendant a very, very successful company."

Since joining the Cendant board Cohen has already begun to contribute. He has counseled the company on risks involved in contemplated expansions in South Africa and the U.K. And when called on impromptu to speak at a board dinner, Cohen captivated his peers with a litany of valuable information -- country by country, he expounded for an hour on political climates, the possibilities of industrial espionage, and terrorism. "William Cohen is on a first-name basis with most of the world's leaders. His knowledge of the international marketplace will be a definite benefit to Cendant, a company that is focused on global expansion," says Silverman. Indeed, as this...