Lemnitzer, Lyman
Lemnitzer, Lyman (1899–1988), World War II planner and negotiator; Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS); NATO Supreme Allied Commander, Europe.Lemnitzer was educated at West Point and served in the U.S. Army. In 1942, he was chosen as air‐land planner for the North Africa campaign, and later, as a planner for Gen. George S. Patton, he helped plan the Allied invasion of Sicily. Along with Allen Welsh Dulles he was selected in April 1945 as an Allied negotiator for the German surrender.
From 1945 to 1950, Lemnitzer was a military representative in diplomatic negotiations leading to the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty creating NATO and headed the U.S. program providing military assistance to Europe (MDAP).
During the 1950s, Lemnitzer served as CINCFE (Commander in Chief—Far East), became army representative to the JCS, and was promoted to chairman of the JCS in 1960 under the Eisenhower administration. As chairman, he was cognizant of the decision to launch the ill‐fated Bay of Pigs invasion (April 1961), although he later maintained that the joint chiefs were asked only to evaluate the feasibility of the plan and did not approve it as finally executed. Despite harsh criticism of his tenure, the JCS's involvement in this debacle, and at one juncture his threatened removal, in July 1962 he was appointed as NATO's Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, the highest military position in the organization. In his six‐and‐a‐half‐year tenure, he dealt with the French withdrawal from NATO (1966), the relocation of NATO headquarters from Paris to Brussels, and the crisis in Cyprus. He retired at the rank of four‐star general in July 1969 after fifty‐one years of service.
[See also Cuba, U.S. Military Involvement in.]
From 1945 to 1950, Lemnitzer was a military representative in diplomatic negotiations leading to the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty creating NATO and headed the U.S. program providing military assistance to Europe (MDAP).
During the 1950s, Lemnitzer served as CINCFE (Commander in Chief—Far East), became army representative to the JCS, and was promoted to chairman of the JCS in 1960 under the Eisenhower administration. As chairman, he was cognizant of the decision to launch the ill‐fated Bay of Pigs invasion (April 1961), although he later maintained that the joint chiefs were asked only to evaluate the feasibility of the plan and did not approve it as finally executed. Despite harsh criticism of his tenure, the JCS's involvement in this debacle, and at one juncture his threatened removal, in July 1962 he was appointed as NATO's Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, the highest military position in the organization. In his six‐and‐a‐half‐year tenure, he dealt with the French withdrawal from NATO (1966), the relocation of NATO headquarters from Paris to Brussels, and the crisis in Cyprus. He retired at the rank of four‐star general in July 1969 after fifty‐one years of service.
[See also Cuba, U.S. Military Involvement in.]
Bibliography
Lawrence S. Kaplan , A Community of Interests: NATO and the Military Assistance Program, 1948–1951, 1980.
Lawrence S. Kaplan and and Kathleen Kellner , Lemnitzer: Surviving the French Military Withdrawal, in Robert S. Jordan., ed., General in International Politics: NATO's Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, 1987.
Kathleen F. Kellner
More From encyclopedia.com
NEARBY TERMS
Lemnitzer, Lyman