1. Wilton Burton "Jerry" Persons was an American military officer who served as the White House Chief of Staff to President Dwight D Eisenhower from October 7,1958, until January 20,1961.
22 Facts About Wilton Persons
1. 2.
Wilton Persons was Chief of the legislative division in the Office of the Chief of Staff of the United States Army from 1942 to 1948, and the office of legislative liaison for the Department of Defense from 1948 to 1949.
3.
Wilton Persons became a deputy assistant to Eisenhower in 1953, assistant to the president in 1958, and chief of staff later that year.
4.
Wilton Burton Persons was born in Montgomery, Alabama, on January 10,1896, one of five brothers.
5.
Wilton Persons was educated at Starke University School in Montgomery, and Alabama Polytechnic Institute, where he studied electrical engineering, and from which he graduated in 1916.
6.
Wilton Persons then went to work for the Western Electric Company in Lynn, Massachusetts.
7.
Wilton Persons volunteered for service in World War I, but was initially rejected because he only weighed 129 pounds, four pounds below the minimum acceptable weight.
8.
Wilton Persons graduated from Harvard University with a Master of Business Administration in 1931.
9.
Wilton Persons met Major Dwight D Eisenhower Dwight D Eisenhower that year while on duty in the Office of the Secretary of War in Washington, DC.
10.
Wilton Persons was able to secure funding for the secret work on radar by showing Congressmen the work being done by the Signal Corps at Fort Monmouth.
11.
Wilton Persons was Chief of the legislative division in the Office of the Chief of Staff from 1942 to 1948.
12.
Wilton Persons was promoted to the rank of brigadier general in June 1942, by which time the country had entered World War II, and major general in November 1944.
13.
Eisenhower requested that Wilton Persons be assigned to his Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force, but the request was turned down on the grounds that Wilton Persons was essential in Washington.
14.
Wilton Persons was superintendent of Staunton Military Academy from 1949 to 1950.
15.
Wilton Persons was recalled to active duty as a special assistant to Eisenhower at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers in Europe from 1951 to 1952.
16.
Wilton Persons retired from the Army for a second time in 1952, to work on Eisenhower's presidential campaign.
17.
Wilton Persons became a deputy assistant to the president on January 20,1953, and then was made an assistant to the president in 1958.
18.
Wilton Persons handled congressional liaison until he replaced Sherman Adams as Eisenhower's chief of staff on October 7,1958.
19.
Wilton Persons met frequently with Clark Clifford, President-elect Kennedy's transition representative, to work out the details for a smooth transfer of government.
20.
Wilton Persons remained chief of staff until January 20,1961.
21.
Wilton Persons died in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on September 5,1977, and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
22.
Wilton Persons's papers are in the Dwight D Eisenhower Presidential Library in Abilene, Kansas.