Wesley Kanne Clark was born on December 23,1944 and is a retired United States Army officer.
139 Facts About Wesley Clark
2.
Wesley Clark graduated as valedictorian of the class of 1966 at West Point and was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to the University of Oxford, where he obtained a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics.
3.
Wesley Clark later graduated from the Command and General Staff College with a master's degree in military science.
4.
Wesley Clark spent 34 years in the US Army, receiving many military decorations, several honorary knighthoods, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
5.
In 2003, Wesley Clark launched his candidacy for the 2004 Democratic Party presidential primaries.
6.
Wesley Clark leads a political action committee, "WesPAC", which he formed after the 2004 primaries and used to support Democratic Party candidates in the 2006 midterm elections.
7.
Wesley Clark was considered a potential candidate for the Democratic nomination in 2008, but, on September 15,2007, endorsed Senator Hillary Clinton.
8.
Wesley Clark has worked with over 100 private and public companies on energy, security, and financial services.
9.
Wesley Clark is engaged in business in North America, Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and Asia.
10.
Wesley Clark served as a delegate to the 1932 Democratic National Convention that nominated Franklin D Roosevelt as the party's presidential candidate.
11.
Wesley Clark's mother was of English ancestry and was a Methodist.
12.
Kanne came from the Kohen family line, and Wesley Clark's son has characterized Wesley Clark's parents' marriage, between his Methodist mother, Veneta, and his Jewish father, Benjamin Jacob Kanne, as "about as multicultural as you could've gotten in 1944".
13.
Veneta raised Wesley without telling him of his Jewish ancestry to protect him from the anti-Jewish activities of the Ku Klux Klan in the southern US Although his mother was Methodist, Clark chose a Baptist church after moving to Little Rock and continued attending it throughout his childhood.
14.
Wesley Clark graduated from Hall High School with a National Merit Scholarship.
15.
Wesley Clark helped take their swim team to the state championship, filling in for a sick teammate by swimming two legs of a relay.
16.
Wesley Clark applied, and he was accepted on April 24,1962.
17.
Wesley Clark later said that Douglas MacArthur's famous "Duty, honor, country" speech was an important influence on his view of the military.
18.
The speech was given to the class of 1962 several months before Wesley Clark entered West Point, but a recording was played for his class when they first arrived.
19.
Wesley Clark sat in the front in many of his classes, a position held by the highest performer in class.
20.
Wesley Clark met Gertrude Kingston, whom he later married, at a USO dance for midshipmen and West Point cadets.
21.
Wesley Clark applied for a Rhodes Scholarship during his senior year at West Point, and learned in December 1965 that he had been accepted.
22.
Wesley Clark spent his summer at the United States Army Airborne School at Fort Benning, Georgia.
23.
Wesley Clark completed his master's degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Magdalen College at the University of Oxford in August 1968.
24.
Wesley Clark spent three months after graduation at Fort Knox, Kentucky, going through Armor Officer Basic Course, then went on to Ranger School at Fort Benning.
25.
Wesley Clark was promoted to captain and was assigned as commander of the A Company of the 1st Battalion, 63rd Armor, 24th Infantry Division at Fort Riley, Kansas.
26.
Wesley Clark was assigned to the 1st Infantry Division and flew to Vietnam in July 1969, during the US involvement in the Vietnam War.
27.
Wesley Clark worked as a staff officer, collecting data and helping in operations planning, and was awarded the Bronze Star for his work with the staff.
28.
Wesley Clark was then given command of A Company, 1st Battalion, 16th Infantry of the 1st Infantry Division in January 1970.
29.
The wounded Wesley Clark shouted orders to his men, who counterattacked and defeated the Viet Cong force.
30.
Wesley Clark had injuries to his right shoulder, right hand, right hip, and right leg, and was sent to Valley Forge Army Hospital in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, to recuperate.
31.
Wesley Clark was awarded the Silver Star and the Combat Infantryman Badge for his actions during the encounter.
32.
Wesley Clark converted to Catholicism, his wife Gertrude's religion, while in Vietnam.
33.
Wesley Clark commanded C Company, 6th Battalion, 32nd Armor, 194th Armored Brigade, a company composed of wounded soldiers, at Fort Knox.
34.
Wesley Clark has said this command is what made him decide to continue his military career past the eight-year commitment required by West Point, which would have concluded in 1974.
35.
Wesley Clark completed his Armor Officer Advanced Course while at Fort Knox, taking additional elective courses and writing an article that won the Armor Association Writing Award.
36.
Wesley Clark's next posting was to the office of the Army Chief of Staff in Washington, DC, where he worked in the "Modern Volunteer Army" program from May to July 1971.
37.
Wesley Clark then served as an instructor in the Department of Social Sciences at West Point for three years from July 1971 to 1974.
38.
Wesley Clark's theory was one of applying force swiftly to achieve escalation dominance, a concept that would eventually become established as US national security policy in the form of the Weinberger Doctrine and its successor, the Powell Doctrine.
39.
Wesley Clark was promoted to major upon his graduation from the CGSC.
40.
In 1975, Wesley Clark was appointed a White House Fellow in the Office of Management and Budget as a special assistant to its director, James Thomas Lynn.
41.
Wesley Clark was one of 14 appointed out of 2,307 applicants.
42.
Wesley Clark was approached during his fellowship to help push for a memorial to Vietnam veterans.
43.
Wesley Clark worked with the movement that helped lead to the creation of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC Clark served in two commands with the 1st Armored Division based in Germany from August 1976 to February 1978, first as S-3 of the 3rd Battalion, 35th Armor and then as S-3 for 3rd Brigade.
44.
Wesley Clark was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal for his work with the division.
45.
Haig personally selected Wesley Clark to serve as a special assistant on his staff, a post he held from February 1978 to June 1979.
46.
Still, Wesley Clark was selected first in his year group for full colonel and attended the National War College immediately after his battalion command.
47.
Wesley Clark graduated in June 1983, and was promoted to full colonel in October 1983.
48.
Wesley Clark then served as the Operations Group commander at the Fort Irwin Military Reservation from August 1984 to June 1986.
49.
Wesley Clark was awarded another Legion of Merit and a Meritorious Service Medal for his work at Fort Irwin and was given a brigade command at Fort Carson in 1986.
50.
Wesley Clark commanded the 3rd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division there from April 1986 to March 1988.
51.
On November 1,1989, Wesley Clark was promoted to brigadier general.
52.
Wesley Clark returned to Fort Irwin and commanded the National Training Center from October 1989 to 1991.
53.
Multiple generals commanding American forces in Iraq and Kuwait said Wesley Clark's training helped bring about results in the field and that he had successfully begun training a new generation of the military that had moved past Vietnam-era strategy.
54.
Wesley Clark was awarded another Legion of Merit for his "personal efforts" that were "instrumental in maintaining" the NTC, according to the citation.
55.
Wesley Clark served in a planning post after this, as the deputy chief of staff for concepts, doctrine, and developments at Training and Doctrine Command at Fort Monroe, Virginia.
56.
Wesley Clark pushed for technological advancement in the army to establish a digital network for military command, which he called the "digitization of the battlefield".
57.
Wesley Clark was promoted to major general in October 1992 at the end of this command.
58.
Wesley Clark was in command during three separate deployments of forces from Fort Hood for peacekeeping in Kuwait.
59.
Wesley Clark was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for his work at Fort Hood and was promoted to lieutenant general at the end of his command in 1994.
60.
Wesley Clark's next assignment was an appointment as the Director, Strategic Plans and Policy, on the staff of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, from April 1994 to June 1996.
61.
Wesley Clark participated with Richard Holbrooke in the Dayton Peace Process, which ended the Bosnian war in former Yugoslavia.
62.
Army regulations set a so-called "ticking clock" upon promotion to a three-star general, essentially requiring that Wesley Clark be promoted to another post within two years from his initial promotion or retire.
63.
Wesley Clark was named to the United States Southern Command post despite these rumors.
64.
Wesley Clark said he was not the original nominee, but the first officer chosen "hadn't been accepted for some reason".
65.
Wesley Clark began planning work for responses to the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina upon his appointment in 1994 as the Director, Strategic Plans and Policy on the JCS staff.
66.
Wesley Clark was photographed exchanging hats with Mladic, and the photo drew controversy in the United States.
67.
Wesley Clark listed the visit in the itinerary he submitted to the ambassador, but he learned only afterwards that it was not approved.
68.
Wesley Clark said there had been no warning and no one had told him to cancel the visit, although two Congressmen called for his dismissal regardless.
69.
Wesley Clark later said he regretted the exchange, and the issue was ultimately resolved as President Clinton sent a letter defending Wesley Clark to the Congress and the controversy subsided.
70.
Wesley Clark was sent to Bosnia by Secretary of Defense William Perry to serve as the military member to a diplomatic negotiating team headed by assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke.
71.
Wesley Clark returned to the European theater and the Balkans following his USSOUTHCOM position when he was appointed to US European Command in the summer of 1997 by President Clinton.
72.
Wesley Clark was, as with SOUTHCOM, not the original nominee for the position.
73.
Wesley Clark noted during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services committee of the 105th Congress that he believed NATO had shifted since the end of the Cold War from protecting Europe from the Soviet Union to working towards more general stability in the region.
74.
Wesley Clark addressed issues related to his then-current command of USSOUTHCOM, such as support for the School of the Americas and his belief that the United States must continue aid to some South American nations to effectively fight the War on Drugs.
75.
Wesley Clark was quickly confirmed by a voice vote the same day as his confirmation hearing, giving him the command of 109,000 American troops, their 150,000 family members, 50,000 civilians aiding the military, and all American military activities in 89 countries and territories of Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.
76.
Secretary of Defense William Cohen felt that Wesley Clark had powerful allies at the White House, such as President Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who allowed him to circumvent The Pentagon in promoting his strategic ideas.
77.
Wesley Clark felt that he was not being included enough in discussions with the National Command Authority, leading him to describe himself as "just a NATO officer who reported to the United States".
78.
Wesley Clark eventually secured an invitation to the summit, but was told by Cohen to say nothing about ground troops, and Wesley Clark agreed.
79.
Wesley Clark returned to SHAPE following the summit and briefed the press on the continued bombing operations.
80.
Many American news organizations capitalized on the remark in a way Wesley Clark said "distorted the comment" with headlines such as "NATO Chief Admits Bombs Fail to Stem Serb Operations" in The New York Times.
81.
Wesley Clark later defended his remarks, saying this was a "complete misunderstanding of my statement and of the facts," and President Clinton agreed that Wesley Clark's remarks were misconstrued.
82.
Wesley Clark said that the various databases of off-limit targets did not have the up-to-date address for the relatively new embassy location.
83.
Wesley Clark was called to testify in a closed session of Milosevic's trial in December 2003.
84.
Wesley Clark testified on issues ranging from the Srebrenica massacre to conversations Clark had had with Milosevic during his career.
85.
Wesley Clark called then-Secretary General of NATO, Javier Solana, and was told "of course you have to get to the airport" and "you have transfer of authority" in the area.
86.
Wesley Clark received another call from General Shelton in July 1999 in which he was told that Secretary Cohen wanted Wesley Clark to leave his command in April 2000, less than three years after he assumed the post.
87.
Wesley Clark was surprised by this, because he believed SACEURs were expected to serve at least three years.
88.
Wesley Clark was told that this was necessary because General Joseph Ralston was leaving his post as the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and would need another 4-star command within 60 days or he would be forced to retire.
89.
Wesley Clark said this explanation "didn't wash"; he believed the legal issues did not necessarily bar him from a full term.
90.
Wesley Clark spent the remainder of his time as SACEUR overseeing peacekeeper forces and, without a new command to take, was forced into retirement from the military on May 2,2000.
91.
Rumors persisted that Wesley Clark was forced out due to his contentious relationship with some in Washington, DC; however, he has dismissed such rumors, calling it a "routine personnel action".
92.
However, a NATO ambassador told the International Herald Tribune that Wesley Clark's dismissal seemed to be a "political thing from the United States".
93.
Wesley Clark was chairman of the investment bank Rodman Renshaw, which filed for bankruptcy.
94.
Wesley Clark began a public speaking tour in the summer of 2000 and approached several former government officials for advice on work after life in government, including House Speaker Newt Gingrich, White House Chief of Staff Mack McLarty, and Richard Holbrooke.
95.
Wesley Clark took McLarty's advice to move back to Little Rock, Arkansas, and took a position with Stephens Inc, an investment firm headquartered there.
96.
Wesley Clark wrote two books, Waging Modern War and Winning Modern Wars.
97.
Wesley Clark authored forewords for a series of military biographies and a series of editorials.
98.
Wesley Clark is a member of the Atlantic Council's board of directors.
99.
Wesley Clark had a conversation with Condoleezza Rice in which she told him that the war in Kosovo would not have occurred under Bush.
100.
Wesley Clark found such an admission unsettling, as he had been selected for the SACEUR position because he believed more in the interventionist policies of the Clinton administration.
101.
Wesley Clark said he would see it as a sign that things were "starting to go wrong" with American foreign policy under Bush.
102.
Wesley Clark supported the administration's War in Afghanistan in response to the September 11,2001, attacks but did not support the Iraq War.
103.
Wesley Clark met with a group of wealthy New York Democrats including Alan Patricof to tell them he was considering running for the presidency in the 2004 election.
104.
In June 2003, Wesley Clark said that he was "seriously consider[ing]" running for president in an appearance on Meet the Press.
105.
Wesley Clark announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential primary elections from Little Rock on September 17,2003, months after the other candidates.
106.
Wesley Clark acknowledged the influence of the Draft Clark movement, saying they "took an inconceivable idea and made it conceivable".
107.
Katharine Q Seelye wrote that many believed Clark had chosen to be a Democrat in 2004 only because it was "the only party that did not have a nominee".
108.
Wesley Clark, coming from a non-political background, had no position papers to define his agenda for the public.
109.
Once in the campaign several volunteers established a network of connections with the media, and Wesley Clark began to explain his stances on a variety of issues.
110.
Wesley Clark called for a repeal of recent Bush tax cuts for people earning more than $200,000 and suggested providing healthcare for the uninsured by altering the current system rather than transferring to a completely new universal health care system.
111.
Wesley Clark backed environmental causes such as promising to reverse "scaled down rules" the Bush administration had applied to the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts and dealing with the potential effects of global warming by reducing greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles, livestock flatulence and other sources.
112.
Wesley Clark was repeatedly portrayed as unsure on this critical issue by his opponents throughout the primary season.
113.
Wesley Clark responded he was a great believer in the exploration of space but wanted a vision well beyond that of a new shuttle or space plane.
114.
Since Dean consistently polled in the lead in the Iowa caucuses, Wesley Clark opted out of participating in the caucuses entirely to focus on later primaries instead.
115.
Wesley Clark performed reasonably well in later primaries, including a tie for third place with Edwards in the New Hampshire primary and a narrow victory in the Oklahoma primary over Edwards.
116.
Wesley Clark withdrew from the race on February 11,2004, and announced his endorsement of John Kerry at a rally in Madison, Wisconsin, on February 13.
117.
Wesley Clark continued to speak in support of Kerry throughout the remainder of the 2004 presidential campaign, including speaking at the 2004 Democratic National Convention on the final evening.
118.
Wesley Clark founded a political action committee, WesPAC, in April 2004.
119.
Wesley Clark joined the Burkle Center for International Relations at UCLA as a senior fellow.
120.
Wesley Clark campaigned heavily throughout the 2006 midterm election campaign, supporting numerous Democrats in a variety of federal, statewide, and state legislature campaigns.
121.
Wesley Clark was the most-requested surrogate of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee throughout the 2006 campaign, and sometimes appeared with the leadership of the Democratic Party when they commented on security issues.
122.
Wesley Clark has opposed taking military action against Iran and in January 2007 he criticized what he called "New York money people" pushing for a war.
123.
Wesley Clark had made the allegation a number of times in public and media appearances in 2006 and 2007.
124.
Wesley Clark serves on the Advisory Boards of the Global Panel Foundation and the National Security Network.
125.
In July 2007, Wesley Clark testified before the United States House Committee on Oversight and Accountability about the discovery of classified information on file-sharing networks by the cybersecurity firm Tiversa, where he served on the board of advisers.
126.
Wesley Clark was mentioned as a potential 2008 presidential candidate on the Democratic ticket before endorsing Hillary Clinton for president.
127.
Wesley Clark was considered to be one of Obama's possible vice-presidential running mates.
128.
Wesley Clark publicly endorsed Kansas governor Kathleen Sebelius for the position, introducing her as "the next Vice President of the United States" at a June 2008 fundraiser in Texas.
129.
On June 29,2008, Wesley Clark made comments on Face the Nation that were critical of Republican John McCain, calling into question the notion that McCain's military service alone had given him experience relevant to being president.
130.
Wesley Clark hasn't been in there and ordered the bombs to fall.
131.
However, Wesley Clark has received the backing of several prominent liberal groups such as MoveOn.
132.
In each program, Wesley Clark reminded the commentator and the viewing public that while he honored McCain's service, he had serious concerns about McCain's judgment in matters of national security policy, calling McCain "untested and untried".
133.
On November 5,2017, the Paradise Papers, a set of confidential electronic documents relating to offshore investment, revealed that online gambling company The Stars Group, then Amaya, along with its former member of board of directors Wesley Clark, did business with offshore law firm Appleby.
134.
Wesley Clark was the host of Stars Earn Stripes, a reality television program that aired on NBC for four episodes in 2012.
135.
Wesley Clark has been awarded numerous honors, awards, and knighthoods over the course of his military and civilian career.
136.
Internationally Wesley Clark has received numerous civilian honors such as the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and military honors such as the Grand Cross of the Medal of Military Merit from Portugal and knighthoods.
137.
Wesley Clark has been appointed a Fellow at the Burkle Center for International Relations at UCLA.
138.
Wesley Clark is a member of the guiding coalition of the Project on National Security Reform.
139.
In 2013, General Clark was awarded the Hanno R Ellenbogen Citizenship Award jointly presented by the Prague Society for International Cooperation and Global Panel Foundation.