Cspans q a. Next, the association of the u. S. Army hosts a book for with three authors titled controversial and unconventional leaders in the u. S. Army. Good afternoon, everybody. Thank you very much for being here. Book programnnual we put on every here. Talented authors for this year. We appreciate them being here. , have read all their books discovered some things in the books that we did not know. It is interesting to go back and look at the other perspectives. Selecting an author is an author will submit a manuscript. We have a bunch of Senior Officers. Senior means age, not rank. They review the manuscripts and make a recommendation to the director of the book program, and then the wheels start rolling. The negotiation with the publisher goes on between the book Program Director and the author himself. Ofve got a nice stable printing houses, universities and other organizations that produce our books. As a bit of history, in the , thence in the back genesis, start of this years book program. A number of years ago when it came under attack, we brought roger in and he resolved it and kept it running. Roger is a colonel in the regiment. If you are a tanker, you know what regiment im talking about. Im not a tanker. Im an engineer. In the last row, and some of you , is heard this story before a retired general, but in the ii,ing days of world war this individual was stationed in greenland as an army weatherman. Back then i think you were a tech sergeant, who had launched the balloons. He was in charge of launching the balloons. That was the day the balloon went over and eisenhowers weatherman gave him the balloon report. Outside of being a distinguished and a great mentor of many officers, we are pleased to have you and your wife here. We go back to when i was a cadet. We have other former authors here. Thank you for being here. The rules of engagement are you were all first on the way in, so we know there are no tomatoes, there are no eggs. We will take questions from the floor or pass the microphone around, and we will do that at the conclusion of each of the two sessions. That way the authors can be quizzed or asked to explain. Without any more of me banging withur first panel deals controversial and unconventional leaders in the army. Milanuite a mirage theelange of leaders in first books. David, over to you. David ok. Thanks for having me. Before i start, i would like to thank joe craig for setting all this up as well as the University Press of kentucky for publishing my book. This book goes back a few years. The process of writing it was very quick. It was from contract to publication about two years. The origin of the book goes back to when i was in grad school, just graduated undergrad, and i met with martin bloomington, who some of you may know. He was a third u. S. Army historian in world war ii and the leading patent biographer. It was his discussions, usually at his house, to talk about two things close to his heart, general mark clark, which i wrote a book on a few years earlier, and then patent patton. He really enjoyed patton. His papers were on the bestsellers list. We would talk about in regards to a dissertation, what should i write about, he said right about clark, and when youre older, patton in world war i. The reason was he felt no one had focused on patent in world war i. Theres a lot of good books on patton. Theres a lot of bad books on patton as well. I thought it went along with his theme of unconventional. Patton is a very controversial figure, and that stems from world war ii. He had the slapping incidences that still hurt his career, his legacy, but when most americans talk about george patton, they think of George C Scott in front of a plaque, and that is not actually george patton. As hard as it is to see, george see scots impersonation, his acting is a little different than the real george patton. One of the reasons i wrote patton world war i as this is an honest assessment of george patton. In 19171918, he is a Second Lieutenant, then a captain, and he was a very avid writer. He wrote to his wife very often sometimes three times a day. And he kept a diary journal. If you read it, he is very aware he is going to be famous and years from now historians will read this, and his diary journals, when you read them, you have to take them with a big scoop of salt because its not really it is for historians 50 years down the line. In world war i, he is just a Second Lieutenant that becomes a Brigade Commander colonel at age 33. He is a cog in the machine, just one guy, and he does not really know exactly where he will be in the historical sense, so his diaries are much more honest, much more useful for historian. When i started researching , what in world war i became very clear is he is a very professional, very competent officer, and i teach at the command general staff college. We have a lot of majors come through. Patton was around the same age as most of my students. Theres a lot of specialty was givenand patton basically the job of establishing the u. S. Army tank corps as a captain by himself. He was told to pick a tank for the u. S. Then, when you pick it out, i want you to write a paper on it and say what we need to improve and send it to the american manufacturers. Then, your next job is to figure out where you are going to build the training grounds for the tank school, and patton had to actually pick the ground, draw designs for it, then negotiate with the local community to purchase it. When the land was purchased, he had to develop the training program, and when the tanks finally started to show up later than they were supposed to, patton is the only one that knows how to drive a tank. What it shows you is this young officer was highly competent. In world war ii, he is viewed as kind of this gunslinger. Maybe he does not plan logistics, his staff is not as good, but patton showed at a very early age he was very competent and knew exactly what he wanted. Captain, he goes to france and figures out what tank to use. He likes the french rental renault tank. He likes anything french. He picked it because it was a little more reliable. A 50page tankte paper. In it, it is good engineering work. It goes into everything from how to drive the tank to how to look outside the tank. Patton is the one that realized that she was about six foot, six foot one that the europeanmade tanks were too short for americans. He basically increases the height and inch and a half, two inches on every renault tank. He has his hands in all of this. Also, what i got into is patton is very famous for his world war ii speeches. A lot of profanity. One of the underlying themes of my book is to kind of discuss how patton became george see scott in front of a flag. What happen here is he creates that image in 1917, 19 18, because he is really playing a part. A lot of it was inspired by john pershing, who he was an aid for and fought very hard to get on his staff and will fight very hard to get out of his staff. One thing consistent about patton in both world wars is he wants metals and he wants command, and he is in a pretty good position as pershings aid to camp. Everyone knows purging is going to be the man for americans, but he goes out on his own and establishes the tank corps. He will do a remarkable job and participate in two operations. One major operation is where he will be wounded. The reason he gets wounded is. Ecause he was very impressive as he has a reputation for in world war ii, he believes leaders, commanders, officers lead from the front. With patton, he will get in a , atle trouble with his boss Brigadier General they never got along great. Dropping back was a little older, a little quieter, but he was in many ways the perfect man for the job because he kept patton a little bit out of trouble. He kept him on administrative , which he did not want to do. Patton will never say too many nice things about his old boss. Its an example of how he became a great leader in world war i and how it affects world war ii. Review a letter written to beatrice patton, George Pattons wife. By this point, patton is a hero, norma d has happened. The war in europe is beginning ckenbach wrotero this letter to his wife asked laney how he had changed from world war i to world war ii and i will read this slowly because general rockenbach is not a good. Ypist here goes he was, in my humble opinion, a son, and i did not spare a rod and training him for the great things i believe he was capable of. I remember warning him on the eve of the first attack that he was in command of a brigade and that it was his duty to see that his supply of gas, grease, and ammunition was kept up with, that there was no question of his personal courage, that his that i had not impressed upon him, and i remarked i am serious. If tomorrow i find you in a tank doing the work of a private, i will believe you on the spot. Patton remarked to me if i find you on a tank the next day, patton led from on top of a tank. His chief lieutenant heard the remark and let his battalion on foot. He continues with the letter and closes with this. He goes on july 1944 on the eve of the invasion of normandy, i read a speech by patton to his third army. In it, patton said an army is a team. It lives, sleeps, eats, fights the team. This individual heroic stuff is a lot of crab. It ends with this. In 1917 and 1918, patton was an individual anxious to show his courage and oppress his men with his personal daring. In an attempt to make him use his brigade as a team, he was arned against fighting as private enter fight as a brigade not as an individual. Ch gets is patton. Eeded world war i at the end of the war, patton writes that he believes he could now command a division in combat, and he will wait anxiously for the next war, and you all will know the rest of that story because that has been well done, but without world war i, the patton we know, the george see scott image in front of the flag, probably does not happen. It is that experience in world war i that got him to be who he is. That concludes my remarks. Thank you. [applause] mr. Stroup for our next author, im going to start his presentation off with a quick. Was general holland . Theres no answer required from the floor, but think about that. A not very well known american of postworld war ii, participated in korea japan and then korea. Light. K sheds a lot of michael . Michael thank you, sir. First, i would like to thank ausa, joe craig, and roger cirillo, the university of kentucky, and katie downstairs manning the booth. And my fellow presenters for the opportunity to be here today, and also especially for those of you who took time out of lunch to come here. To get directly to general was net question, who omen and what we know about him . To line he belong to the generation of Senior Officers who came of age in what war one. In world war i. Noted for his cando attitude, his natural aggressiveness, demanding personality, sometimes selfserving nature, qualities that later earned him the nickname. His early military life differed little from that of his contemporaries. Ambition and the drive to xl made he and his peers stand out as young officers. Spanningspending 35 years in three wars, he despite strong leadership as a Battalion Division and corps commander. He also had a reputation for aggressive ambition, impatience, racial prejudice, and insecurity. In every position allman held, he earned the respect of his superiors, including generals george see marshall, douglas macarthur, and matthew the ridgeway, hard graders all matthew b ridgeway. Ok. There we go. Not quite as well known today as some of his contemporaries, but he has a poor reputation among military historians. What we think we know about allman now is largely the result of one or two data points that have been repeated over and over over the past couple of decades. This book examines almond in the context of his time and finds there is much more to him than we think we know. His racist reputation overlooks his devotion to training his troops. His relationship with macarthur gained him advancement and notoriety, but macarthurs trust was well placed. Allmans aggressive qualities and him the respect of his peers. Many incorrectly inferred a hatred of the marine corps from his conflict with one marine commander, and that obscured his actual antipathy for the air force. [laughter] reputationallmans may be seen different lien historical context, but he was and is undeniably a controversial character. His boyhood set the life and path for his military career. The Virginia Institute with its strong confederate and military influences shape his outlook. Allman graduated third in his class in 1915, but via my cadets were not automatically commissioned then as they were today. After the United States enters a war, the rapidly expanding army also quickly grew its officer corps. Allman competed for a commission in november 1916 and reported to the very first cf class at Fort Leavenworth shortly after. He commanded the 12 machine gun battalion during and after world war i. Combat taught him some enduring lessons about the value of training he would use for the rest of his life. Allman also began to exhibit some of those professional traits that became the hallmarks of his career aggressiveness, personal courage, commitment to his mission. Almond finished the war as a temporary major, having been awarded a citation and a loom badge, which in the reviews of army declarations during the 1920s came a silver star and purple heart. I werers after world war good for almond. After an rotc pms assignment, he had he completed the advanced course and remained as an instructor. He taught in the Tactics Department where his experiences as a machine gun Battalion Commander caught the eye of the assistant commandant of the infantry school, Lieutenant Commander george see marshall. His performance their mark him as a martial man and destine him for the future success he would see. After the command general staff school, he moved to manila where a technique for crossing a river using only the battalions organic equipment. He began his transition to the armys Senior Leadership of attendance at the u. S. Army war college where his classmates included major omar bradley, with whom he had also taught at fort benning, william helsley, and 46 other future flag officers. After graduation, he was assigned to the War Department general staff. His love for training was rooted in his own thirst for knowledge, and he lobbied hard for the chance to attend both the air force tactical school, a predecessor of the air force war college, and the naval war college. He turned down the assignment in order to go back to general staff, and the six core where he spent the last year of the war preparing for the largescale operations that he would have to mount in the next war. Allman initially made his mark initially almond made his mark on history and we started to catch up with him. One of the only two africanamerican commissions raised during world war ii and the only one that deployed and employed as a full division. The division originally had all to receive but began African American officers shortly after and initiated. No white officer sought this assignment, but having received mission, almond threw himself into it. General marshall had recognized that commanders of black troops should be selected with even greater care than others, and allman believe he possessed the knack that marshall required. Almond harbored bigoted attitudes against africanamericans, but he was in either the u. S. Military or civilian society at the time. Most contemporary Senior Leaders shared similar low opinions of black mens abilities to fight effectively. The nation itself was undeniably racist, and segregation was the. Aw of the land the years since that were have seen the glorification of the greatest generation when with all racist notions and ideas whitewashed. Much has been made, but little was known about the challenges he faced in commanding large africanamerican units in a racially segregated army and society. No civilian community wanted large numbers of black soldiers in their midst, so the regiments trained individually at camp robinson, arkansas, cap atteberry in indiana, and camp wreck and in kentucky. Almond dealt with all the challenges his brothers did an additional challenges of the separation of his units and segregation on those posts. Many of those problems, once the unit was able to consolidate after many months of training, was chosen specifically because it was so remote from other white communities. Many of the problems that had , incubated in the regimental size camps became magnified when the unit got together as a whole. In combat, the 92nd Infantry Division initially did well. Against the advice of the War Department, almond had to work very hard to get permission to deploy the division and was concerned about how well the soldiers would do. He argued strenuously they should be allowed to deploy. The division deployed to italy where it initially served well. However, it began to fall apart in the spring of 1940 five, and he had some Serious Problems there. By the end of the war, the 92nd Infantry Division had gained a white regiment and the 42nd infantry, the nisei division, mosthed the war as the diverse division in the army. After the war, almond was given command of the second Infantry Division, initially designated to go to japan for the invasion. The war ended, so almond stayed with the division for a few months. He then went to japan to serve on the staff of General Macarthur at far east command. Almond received his greatest exceptes for the men number 15, 1950. Almond received his greatest accolades during the landing on , 1950. Er 15th this surprise move temporarily momentum for the u. N. Forces during the early day of the korean war and led to the seoul. Ion of corps commanded both his and a south korean corps. Many historians judge almond tactically for his abilities, but few addressed the challenges he faced in korea, such as the mission, thef the inhospitable terrain and the inadequate forces available. War the chinese entered the and sent the u. S. Army into retreat, almond mounted one of in largest evacuations history, evacuating over 100,000 and and korean soldiers marines in addition to another refugees in one of the largest evacuations as i history. All of this happened, of course, after chosen had already claimed the lives of hundreds of and marines. Almonds 10th corps joined the army where he quickly gained the respect of suited his style perfectly, and he called almond his best corps commander. Almonds final military assignment was as war college indelibleeft an impression on that institution and many of the curriculum and Development Ideas that almond brought to the war college are place today. He was always a student of his craft. Death, his views have he is now often viewed racist, but almond reflected the attitudes of the society. The existing history also overlooks almonds personal side. Was alsobitten general a devoted family man. He was not immune to personal tragedy and lost both his son and soninlaw killed in combat six months apart. Spawned a very loving and doting grandfather. These contradictions with the makeof his personality almond a complex man and indicate the need for much more newanced perspective. This critical examination of almonds life and career treats bad,the good and the places him in a broader context complex s a more or more complete picture of this officer. N yet gifted to answer the generals initial question, one of the best quotes about almond to understand his personality was given by one of after korea. When it paid to be aggressive, almond was aggressive. Be cautious,to almond was aggressive. Thank you very much. [applause] our next author is going to discussing an american soldier, became an american after being an immigrant at the end of world war ii. Privilege of serving with shallley as an assignment and he was in his branch and thats when i got to know closely and later on a couple of other assignments with him so to read this was very authorting because the points out things that i never knew and the Great American you about. So please. It was the wee hours one april night in 1945. Boy out on a a bridge in the bavarian village germany. Rn despite a mop of blond hair and isntng blue eyes, he german. Hes stateless in fact, a citizen of no country because he in poland to parents who werent polish. Refugee eduring the warsaw uprising, his familys apartment was hit by a dive downr and came crumbling around them, forcing them to live in cellars and move through sewers for weeks on end. When the uprising finally finished, his family grabbed belongings they could carry and fled here to to live offn 1944 the charity of relatives. The refugee boy had yet to find save haven for the end of andwar was approaching reports had been filtering in that allied troops were bava ding southward into militiaso the local told them to report here to the bridge over the river. Bridge, they commanded. Slow down the advance of the enemy. As he labored along side the villagers, he could not have felt more alone. His father had gone off to fight in service of the German Military and the family had with him. All contact his mother was also absent. Likely out on yet another nail for news of her whereabouts. They continued working night,ally through the caught between the skies and the water, between the watchful eyes river. Officers on the bank behind and their fear that or ordnance would rain down from the skies in front. Theas morning drew near, bridge lay only partially disassembled. Dawns firstr glimmer the refugee boy paused his efforts. Andlanced across the river thats when he saw them, there on the opposing bank, rifles at the lead scouts of ry. U. S. 86th infant these he would recall one september day almost five his firstter were americans. The day this particular memory flooded back, he was once again eyes on u. S. Soldiers, only this time he was at summer all parade field in meyer virginia. He was inspecting the joint force honor guard with president bill clinton and secretary of defense bill cohen by his side for today was his retirement ceremony. Stepping down. Ivendrew marble and written the firstever biography shalley. L one central question drives this book and thats in the heck did he do it . That stateless pennyness refugee boy who stood out on of 1945,ge in april how did he go on to be the highest ranking officer in the powerful military . Hes an unusual u. S. Army officer for sure and i am perhaps an unusual author to be writing a biography of a military general. Started this project, almost 10 years ago, i had very little knowledge or understanding of the u. S. Military. I have a ph. D. In political asiane, i have done policy and politics my life, most of my career. Abroad for almost eight or nine years, came back to the states, was working at a thinktank and the general was on the board of advisors. Aboutree unusual things his life immediately grabbed my attention. First, of course, first foreign born chairman, living in europe, world war ii. I have a picture here. This is his mom, missy, thats john when he was six years old so, father and his older retired as aho colonel and theres one other he had a sister, alexanderra this photo. Thatecond thing, you know, caught my eye about general shali is he had a very ancestry. Family not too many people know that he came from royalty. Born prince john david shalikashvili. Line offrom a long shalikashvili princes that inends back to the 1400s georgia. Familyshvili have a crest. And if you notice in the upper corner, thats the symbol for the chamberlain of the royal georgian court. Its a key Civil Military manyion in georgia that shalikashvili princes held. The last to hold it was this man, this is general shalis namesake,dfather and ivan shalikashvili. Heing the crimean war reportedly fought with such distinction that alexander ii reportedly awarded him with a saber with the inscription the brave. Which shalikashvili then name. Ed to his he went on to retire as a major general. Shalis father dmitri fought in the military for four different countries. During world war i he fought with the czar. Then a few years for the military of free georgia. And then once georgia was reannexed by the russians, he a polish cavalry officer and this photo is from 1931 when serving as a polish cavalry officer and then during world war ii, he fought with the germans. And this photo 1931 is when he met the woman who would be his count missy rudiger. And, believe it or not, her was even moreund flabbergasting than the shalikashvilis. She descended from, for instance, this man, this is adam von kruzen stern, a baltic german, the first russian to circumnavigate the world. His maternal so his mother was born here, believe it or not. He is the Winter Palace in st. Petersburg. She born there . Servedher and aunt, they as ladies in waiting at the last russian court, to the grand , both of them. A great picture here. This is general shalis maternal attired for an opulent costume ball that czar threw in 1903. But it was the third aspect of really most intrigued me. Was his curious reputation. General colin powell. Hes a quiet, decent man and a very hard worker. Mistake in notion you have to have pattonesque general. To be a great you dont need to rant or rave or be an arrogant jerk to be successful. Showed that. I pulled from some news reports 1993 when he was nominated. Key,s said to be low informal, a consensus builder who understands teamwork, is to adjust to political realities. Someone extraordinarily sensitive, someone whose humility was bone deep who balanced firmness and wasassion, a man who enormously loved and respected. In retirement, a journalist greatest what his weakness was. His answer, i dont like confrontation. Read that i was hooked. I needed to understand what made this man tick. Become such a person who people will say such glowing of . Gs so i wondered first of all, his world war ii background and ancestry somehow inform the reputation that he would have as an officer . And what role did all three of those things play in his rise to chairmanship . So in 2010, i did something that might be unthinkable to some. My fulltime job and began research and in 2011 i put in storage, packed up my car and set out on open ended Cross Country research tour. All told ive traveled to three in over three countries including the united germany. Ngland, and ive accessed two restricted archives, both the chairmans papers here in the library and the shalikashvili archives at bureau of asian research. Ive interviewed well over 300 people. Wife,l shali himself, his his son, his brother and sister, friends from europe, high school and College Class mates in the United States and served with him from when he was a private in the toe 50s all the way up when he was chairman, including president clinton, madeleine powell, billin perry and others. During this time ive house sat, i couch surfed and occasionally lived out of my car, all in order to try to find out how did the bridge become chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. And its finally happened, the ank is out and if he is unusual general and im an unusual military biography, this is also unusual. Its really about the journey to the top and not the destination, did as chairman and i try to write it in a very style, think of lauren hillenbrands unbroken because i of leadership lot lessons that Everybody Needs to hear, whether theyre in military or civilian sector. Jackieoo wanted to thank whos and katie gibson downstairs as well as joe craig and one of the first people i many years many, back when i first started this journey. Thank you. [applause] well instead of moving on to the next trilogy of authors were going to take time. On i would ask if you have a question, if youre mobile, go to the microphone. The judges the panel, authors of your comments or your questions. Precedetimes questions comments. Yeah, journal tom smith. Question about patton. In 1917 ike was on his way to getpe, hopefully, to involved in the great war and to camp colt to train the tank corps. What was the relationship with patton in terms of the training was given, the equipment and that sort of thing with ike . Was very similar. A was eisenhower was Lieutenant Colonel ultimately. A full colonel zero six, but pretty much the same jobs, just one was state side was overseas. And the two were not were of each other, were not quite buddy buddy as they will later, but they did the same thing. In camp colt theres not much of iything left there, but looked i got into a little book, but itn the really was pretty similar to overseas were doing and it the difference was patton, once he had enough soldiers trained up led the brigade while eisenhower never had the chance and after the war eisenhower was concerned it would impact his career and was also people thought patton was going to be the day,me ally commander one but its funny how it works out. Ithe jobs were pretty similar. Im bob sorley, and my is for doctor marvel. First of all, sir i would like guy. Y youre my kind of thank you for telling us about your adventures and also, i have to say thats a brilliant title, just perfect. Whats the most surprising thing you learned about general shali . It was surprising it wasnt surprising by the time i heard the story, but when once that he me was asked what his greatest accomplishment was, and he said well, you know, it was when we were redoing the parking lot in heidelberg at the p. X. And we sections. He different we used animals so the kids could help their parents thetify where they parked car. And i thought wow, what a guy. Are you satisfied, dr. Sorley . A good answer. Are there any further comments or questions . Everybody know and understand and can you take a quiz on who almond was . The book was an eye opener for me. Really good. Well, joe i guess you have a moveion or you wish to along . I think the group would love to hear more about general wondering if you could speak a little to his work with george marshall. Well, as i said, he first met colonel marshall at fort benning when he was an instructor. From world wark i and at that time in the army were a lot of theres a lot of intellectual discussion about the new weapons that the was using, especially the machine gun and he having a machine gun thickion, he was in the of all of that. Theyre writing articles in the various journals and those sorts of things. He was also very, very detail oriented for his entire life. When i say he learned the value learneding, he quickly what had happened in this mass army, with soldiers who were not as well trained as they perhaps needed to be and he learned a lot about checking training, thing. Rt of i think thats what caught marshalls eye initially is he very detail oriented and he was very thorough in his training methods. What made him what i think made marshall think that had the knack is that ability get them todiers to where they needed to be. Marshall understood that we needed very, very good trainers soldiers. Namerican its a very different problem whitean dealing with soldiers and thats why he selected almond for that position. Your research on general patton, this question is not to world war i, but i i. Nk precedes world war what do you remember about his being on the olympic team . Oh, the famous olympic team. Pattonis dying day, thought he won. Pistolt competition was shooting and they never found round. And what he later told and it was the way i interpreted it in jest e bit the event, what event . Pistol shooting. Okay. Yeah, it was the decathlon, that his bullet went through the target where bullet had went first and that it was the perfect shot, and he finished fourth or fifth so he did good. His hardestwas event. He trained on the boat, the ship over and almost killed himself, but to his dying day he thought medaled. St he ended out just short of bronze. That was an interesting 1912 olympics. Joe. Are no further questions well do a switch of panel members. Thank you all very much for a great presentation. [applause] 30 years ago today, the berlin wall came down. A barrier symbolizing the divisionsl cold war between east and west. Tonight will mark the with three hours of interviews recorded this morning at the museum in waddle. Guests include steve vogel who covered the fall of the wall for the Washington Post and hope of after thehor berlin wall. Thats tonight at 7 00 p. M. Eastern here on American History tv. The cspan cities tour is exploring the american story. Join us the first and third wekends of each month as take book tv and American History tv on the road. Watch videos from all of the cities we visited, go to cspan. Org citiestour and follow cspan cities. T we continue our feature on laramie as we take you to the Laramie Plains museum which features a special exhibit on wyoming womens suffrage. We are in the womens hallway Plains Museum in the mansion. In this hallway we begin to tell story of why wyoming was so unique. Right towomen this vote, hold property, and elected office. December 10th of 1869,