Colin Powell
Colin Luther Powell (1937-) is a retired general in the United States Army, who served in military posts including Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS), and then in civilian posts including Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs in the Ronald Reagan Administration, and U.S. Secretary of State in the first term of the George W. Bush Administration. [1]
Like Dwight D. Eisenhower, he was courted by both political parties as a potential Presidential nominee after his retirement from the military. Like Eisenhower, he identified as a moderate Republican. He was the first African-American to be Chairman and Secretary.
Early life
The son of Jamaican immigrants, he grew up in the South Bronx section New York City, he attended the City College of New York, and joined the school's "Pershing Rifles", its Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) unit. He was an average student, but the military caught his attention. He graduated in 1958 and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the United States Army.
New York had a distinct cultural effect on him. In his autobiography, he writes of how he applied himself to menial jobs as a high school student, even in the face of racial discrimination, rising by merit. He learned to speak Yiddish.[2]
Army career
He spent 35 years in the U.S. Army, including a number of key politicomilitary posts including aide/executive assistant to senior civilian policymakers, and White House Service.
Powell had combat experience in the Vietnam War, which gave him a perspective different than civilian leaders that had not been there. [3] At State, he was close to Richard Armitage, who also had combat experience, and served in diplomatic assignments including Deputy Secretary of State and Ambassador.
Vietnam
He served two tours in Vietnam, first as an adviser in 1962-1963, when he was wounded.
In 1968-1969, he began as a U.S. battalion executive officer, then a division deputy chief of staff for operation (a lieutenant colonel's job), and then an investigator for the My Lai massacre.
His Vietnam experience, and frustration with American indecision, was later to become part of the Weinberger-Powell Doctrine.
References
- ↑ Home > Department History > People > Colin Luther Powell, U.S. Department of State
- ↑ Colin L. Powell with Joseph E. Persico (1996), My American Journey, Ballantine Books, ISBN 0345407288
- ↑ James Mann (2004), Rise of the Vulcans: the History of Bush's War Cabinet, Viking, ISBN 0670032990, p. 39