Jim Mattis was commissioned in the Marine Corps through the Naval Reserve Officers' Training Corps after graduating from Central Washington University.
59 Facts About Jim Mattis
2.
Jim Mattis was commander of United States Central Command from 2010 to 2013, with Admiral Bob Harward serving as his deputy commander.
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Jim Mattis was nominated as secretary of defense by president-elect Donald Trump, and confirmed by the Senate on January 20,2017.
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An opponent of proposed collaboration with China and Russia, Jim Mattis stressed what he saw as their "threat to the American-led world order".
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Jim Mattis occasionally voiced his disagreement with certain Trump administration policies such as the withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, withdrawals of troops from Syria and Afghanistan, and budget cuts hampering the ability to monitor the impacts of climate change.
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Jim Mattis was born on September 8,1950, in Pullman, Washington.
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Jim Mattis is the son of Lucille Mattis and John West Mattis, a merchant mariner.
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Jim Mattis's mother immigrated to the United States from Canada as an infant and had worked in Army Intelligence in South Africa during the Second World War.
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Jim Mattis's father moved to Richland, Washington, to work at a plant supplying fissile material to the Manhattan Project.
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Jim Mattis was raised in a bookish household that did not own a television.
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Jim Mattis earned a Bachelor of Arts in history from Central Washington University in 1971 and a Master of Arts in international security affairs from the National War College of National Defense University in 1994.
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Jim Mattis was commissioned a second lieutenant through the Naval Reserve Officers' Training Corps on January 1,1972.
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Jim Mattis is a graduate of the US Marine Corps Amphibious Warfare School, US Marine Corps Command and Staff College, and the National War College.
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Jim Mattis is noted for his interest in the study of military history and world history, with a personal library that once included over 7,000 volumes, and a penchant for publishing required reading lists for Marines under his command.
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Jim Mattis required his Marines to be well-read in the culture and history of regions where they were deployed, and had his Marines deploying to Iraq undergo "cultural sensitivity training".
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Jim Mattis led the 1st Marine Expeditionary Brigade as its commanding officer upon promotion to brigadier general.
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Jim Mattis describes being presented with the location of Osama bin Laden in December 2001 and creating a plan to kill him that was never executed.
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Jim Mattis played key roles in combat operations in Fallujah, including negotiation with the insurgent command inside the city during Operation Vigilant Resolve in April 2004, as well as participation in planning of the subsequent Operation Phantom Fury in November.
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Jim Mattis said it had taken him 30 seconds to decide whether to bomb the location.
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Jim Mattis popularized the 1st Marine Division's motto "no better friend, no worse enemy", a paraphrase of the epitaph the Roman dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla wrote for himself, in his open letter to all men within the division for their return to Iraq.
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Jim Mattis was noted for a willingness to remove senior leaders under his command when the US military seemed unable or unwilling to relieve underperforming or incompetent officers.
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The Pentagon announced on May 31,2006, that Jim Mattis had been chosen to take command of the I Marine Expeditionary Force, based out of Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton.
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Jim Mattis remained commander of JFCOM from November 2007 until September 2010.
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In early 2010, Mattis was reported to be on the list of generals being considered to replace James T Conway as the commandant of the US Marine Corps.
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Jim Mattis lobbied the Obama administration for a more aggressive response to Iran, including more covert operations and disruption of Iranian arms shipments to Syria and Yemen.
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Jim Mattis retired in March 2013, and the Defense Department nominated General Lloyd Austin to succeed him.
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Between 2013 and 2017, while on the board of General Dynamics, Jim Mattis made more than $900,000 in compensation, including company stock.
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In December 2015, Jim Mattis joined the advisory board of Spirit of America, a 501 nonprofit organization that provides assistance to support the safety and success of American service personnel and the local people they seek to help.
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From 2013 to January 2017, Jim Mattis was a board member of Theranos, a health technology company that claimed to have devised revolutionary blood tests using very small amounts of blood, which was later determined to be a fraudulent claim by the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
30.
In 2019, Jim Mattis's book Call Sign Chaos: Learning to Lead was published.
31.
The National Security Act of 1947 requires a seven-year waiting period before retired military personnel can assume the role of secretary of defense; Jim Mattis's nomination meant that it was the first time since 1950 that a waiver of the law was needed.
32.
Jim Mattis warned North Korea that "any attack on the United States, or our allies, will be defeated", and any use of nuclear weapons would be met with an "effective and overwhelming" response from the United States.
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On March 22,2017, during questioning from the US Senate, Jim Mattis affirmed his support for US troops remaining in Iraq after the Battle of Mosul was concluded.
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Jim Mattis voiced support for a Saudi Arabian-led military campaign against Yemen's Shiite rebels.
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Jim Mattis asked Trump to remove restrictions on US military support for Saudi Arabia.
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Jim Mattis traveled to Afghanistan days later and met with government officials, explaining that the purpose of the trip was to allow him to state his recommendations for US strategy in the country.
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Wherever Jim Mattis traveled overseas, he brought the Defense Security Cooperation Agency director, according to Lt.
38.
Jim Mattis had recently said that the US would remain in Syria after ISIL's defeat to ensure it did not regroup.
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Jim Mattis affirmed the need for "treating allies with respect and being clear-eyed about both malign actors and strategic competitors" and remaining "resolute and unambiguous" against authoritarian states such as China and Russia.
40.
Jim Mattis's letter said his resignation would be effective February 28,2019.
41.
John F Kelly, Trump's chief of staff when Mattis left his position, denied that Trump fired Mattis or asked for his resignation.
42.
Jim Mattis changed his position after becoming "angry and appalled" about the events leading up to the violent treatment of noncombative protesters near the White House on June 1,2020, for the purpose of a photo op for Trump at the church across Lafayette Square.
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In 2019, Jim Mattis joined The Cohen Group as senior counsel.
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Jim Mattis has said the situation in Israel is "unsustainable" and that Israeli settlements harm prospects for peace and could lead to an apartheid-like situation in the West Bank.
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Jim Mattis strongly supported Secretary of State John Kerry on the Middle East peace process, praising Kerry for being "wisely focused like a laser beam" on a two-state solution.
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Jim Mattis believes Iran is the principal threat to the stability of the Middle East, ahead of Al-Qaeda and ISIL.
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Jim Mattis praises the friendship of regional US allies such as Jordan, Israel, and the United Arab Emirates.
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Jim Mattis criticized Obama's defense strategy as giving "the perception we're pulling back" from US allies.
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Jim Mattis stresses the need for the US to bolster its ties with allied intelligence agencies, particularly those of Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
50.
In 2012, Jim Mattis argued for providing weapons to Syrian rebels as a way to fight back against Iranian proxies in Syria.
51.
Jim Mattis visited Japan one week after being sworn in as secretary of defense.
52.
On February 16,2017, Jim Mattis said the United States was not currently prepared to collaborate with Russia on military matters, including future anti-ISIL US operations.
53.
On June 3,2020, Jim Mattis issued a statement to The Atlantic in which he criticized President Donald Trump and his policies during the George Floyd protests.
54.
Jim Mattis berated Trump for deliberately trying to cause division among the American people and advocating military action to "dominate" the country's protests.
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Jim Mattis called for reunification among the people, regardless of the president, to preserve the welfare of society, and its future.
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Jim Mattis added that America is "witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership".
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Jim Mattis previously proposed to a woman, but she called off the wedding three days before it was to occur, after colleagues talked him out of leaving the Marine Corps for her.
58.
Jim Mattis was nicknamed "The Warrior Monk" because of his bachelorhood and lifelong devotion to the study of war.
59.
Jim Mattis was inducted into the Sons of the American Revolution on July 13,2021.