Arthur W. Radford

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Arthur W. Radford

Arthur William Radford (born February 27, 1896 in Chicago , Illinois , † August 17, 1973 in Bethesda , Maryland ) was an admiral in the United States Navy . In over 40 years of military service, he held the positions of Commander-in-Chief of the United States Pacific Command as well as the United States Pacific Fleet and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff .

Life

After graduating from school, he graduated from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, where he graduated in 1916. Radford then served on the USS South Carolina .

After participating in World War I , he completed flight training as a naval officer in 1921 and was appointed commander of flight training in the Navy in 1941, just before the outbreak of World War II . During that war, Admiral Radford commanded Aircraft Carrier Division 11 in the Pacific Ocean in 1943 and the 6th Carrier Division in 1944. After the war, Radford was promoted to Vice Chief of Naval Operations in 1948 and appointed High Commissioner of the Trusteeship Area of the Pacific Islands the following year .

Radford with President Truman 1950

At the height of the Cold War , Admiral Radford was promoted to the post of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and recommended that President Eisenhower wage preventive wars against China and Russia. He remained in this position until his retirement from active service in 1957. In retirement, the Admiral continued to serve as an advisor to Presidents Eisenhower , Kennedy and Johnson . He was later appointed a member of the Draper Committee .

As Chairman of the JCS, Admiral Radford devoted himself, among other things, to monitoring France's involvement in the Indochina War . In August 1953, he turned down US support for the Navarre Strategic Plan of French Commander-in-Chief Henri Navarre , who had been supported by his predecessor Omar Bradley , and pulled the Department of Defense on his side. During the Battle of Điện Biên Phủ , however, at his insistence, two squadrons of bombers with B-26 planes were dispatched to support the besieged French garrison.

Admiral Radford died at Bethesda Naval Medical Center in 1973. He was buried with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery .

Admiral Radford is widely recognized as one of the most influential and capable admirals in United States history.

Radford, in his capacity as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was a strong advocate of the controversial Militant Liberty program developed by the anti-communist evangelical network The Family .

The destroyers of the Spruance-class destroyer USS Arthur W. Radford is named after him.

Awards

Selection of decorations, sorted based on the Order of Precedence of the Military Awards:

The island Radford Iceland in the Marshall archipelago off the coast of Marie Byrd land in Antarctica bears his name.

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Arthur W. Radford  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ John Prados: Operation Vulture: America's Dien Bien Phu. Diversion Books: New York 2014, chap. II.
  2. ^ Lori Lyn Bogle: Evangelicals in the Military and the Code of Conduct. US Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs
  3. ^ Jeff Sharlet: The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power. New York: HarperCollins 2008, pp. 201-204, ISBN 978-0-06-055979-3 .
personal data
SURNAME Radford, Arthur W.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Radford, Arthur William (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American admiral in the United States Navy
DATE OF BIRTH February 27, 1896
PLACE OF BIRTH Chicago , Illinois
DATE OF DEATH 17th August 1973
Place of death Bethesda , Maryland