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Revision as of 16:31, 5 February 2019

John O. Marsh Jr.
14th United States Secretary of the Army
In office
January 30, 1981 – August 14, 1989
PresidentRonald Reagan
George H. W. Bush
Preceded byPercy Pierre (Acting)
Succeeded byMichael P. W. Stone
Counselor to the President
In office
August 9, 1974 – January 20, 1977
PresidentGerald Ford
Preceded byAnne Armstrong
Dean Burch
Kenneth Rush
Succeeded byEdwin Meese (1981)
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Legislative Affairs
In office
April 17, 1973 – February 15, 1974
PresidentRichard Nixon
Preceded byRady A. Johnson
Succeeded byJohn M. Maury
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Virginia's 7th district
In office
January 3, 1963 – January 3, 1971
Preceded byBurr Harrison
Succeeded byKenneth Robinson
Personal details
Born(1926-08-07)August 7, 1926
Winchester, Virginia, U.S.
DiedFebruary 4, 2019(2019-02-04) (aged 92)
Raphine, Virginia, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic (Before 1980s)
Republican (1980s–2019)
EducationWashington and Lee University (LLB)
Military service
Allegiance United States
Branch/service United States Army
Years of service1944–1947 (Active)
1947–1951 (Reserve)
1951–1976 (Guard)
Rank Lieutenant Colonel
UnitUnited States Army Reserve
Army National Guard
Battles/warsAllied-occupied Germany
Vietnam War

John Otho Marsh Jr. (August 7, 1926 – February 4, 2019) was an American politician and an Adjunct Professor at George Mason University School of Law.[1][2][3] He served as the United States Secretary of the Army from 1981 to 1989, and as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Virginia from 1963 to 1971.[1][4]

Early life

Marsh was born in Winchester, Virginia, on August 7, 1926 and graduated from Harrisonburg High School in Harrisonburg, Virginia.[5][6] He enlisted in the United States Army in 1944, during World War II, and was selected at age eighteen for Infantry Officer Candidate School (OCS) graduating as a second lieutenant of infantry in November 1945, then assigned to the Army of Occupation of Germany where he served from 1946 to 1947.[4][5][7] He was a member of the United States Army Reserve from 1947 to 1951.[5]

Marsh graduated from Washington and Lee University in 1951, where he was a member of Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity.[1][5][8] He entered the Army National Guard in Virginia in 1951 and graduated from the Army's Airborne School in 1964.[9] He retired from the army in 1976 with the rank of lieutenant colonel.[5]

Career

Meanwhile, in 1952, Marsh was admitted to the Virginia Bar, and started practicing law in Strasburg, Virginia, where he served as town judge.[5] From 1954 to 1962, he was the town attorney in New Market, Virginia.[5]

United States Representative

He served in the United States House of Representatives as a Democrat from Virginia from 1963 to 1971.[1][2][3][4][5][6][10] He fought in the Vietnam War for a month without telling his fellow soldiers he was a Congressman.[4]

Ford cabinet

In 1973, he was appointed as United States Assistant Secretary of Defense, and in January 1974, as National Security Advisor for then-Vice President Gerald Ford.[1][2][10] Under President Ford, he became Counselor to the President and held Cabinet rank.[1][2][4][6][10] He was seen as one of Ford's top advisers alongside Henry Kissinger, Donald Rumsfeld and Philip W. Buchen.[11]

United States Secretary of the Army

From 1981 to 1989, he served as the United States Secretary of the Army under President Ronald Reagan.[1][2][3][4][6] Marsh presided over the rebuilding of the United States Army through increases for the Army Department's budget by 30%.[12] He supported the enhancement of special operations forces in the wake of the Operation Eagle Claw in 1979.[12]

Marsh was involved in persuading Congress to support the deployment of the Pershing II missile system to Germany.[12] The Pershing II deployment is usually cited as the primary reason the Soviet Union agreed to the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.[12]

Marsh's tenure as Army Secretary would become the longest serving secretary serving eight years and six months.[12]

Later career

Marsh was then selected to serve as Chairman of the Reserve Forces Policy Board, a position he held from 1989 until 1994.[13] He later served as Chairman and interim CEO of Novavax, Inc., a pharmaceutical company.[1][2] He subsequently sat on its board of directors.[14]

Marsh was a confidant of Dick Cheney when the latter was Vice President.[10][15]

From 1998 to 1999, Marsh was Visiting Professor of Ethics at the Virginia Military Institute, and Adjunct Professor of Law at The College of William & Mary from 1999 to 2000.[1] At the time of his death in 2019 he was teaching a course on Technology, Terrorism and National Security Law at George Mason University.[1][16]

Marsh was a Co-Chair of the Independent Review Group for Walter Reed Hospital and Bethesda Navy Medical Center.[2][17] He was a member of the Markle Foundation.[3] The John O. Marsh Institute for Government and Public Policy at Shenandoah University is named for him.[18]

Personal life

Marsh lived in Winchester, Virginia with his wife; they had three children and seven grandchildren.[1] He died on February 4, 2019, of complications from congestive heart failure in Raphine, Virginia, aged 92.[19]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k George Mason Law biography Archived October 2, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Forbes profile
  3. ^ a b c d MARKLE
  4. ^ a b c d e f Richard Halloran, 'Washington Talk - Working Profile: Army Secretary John O. Marsh Jr.; Military Leader Wins High Ground, Quietly', in The New York Times, January 3, 1989 [1]
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Bell, William Gardner (1992). "John Otho Marsh, Jr.". Secretaries of War and Secretaries of the Army. United States Army Center of Military History. CMH Pub 70-12. {{cite book}}: External link in |chapterurl= (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ a b c d Congress biography
  7. ^ Homeland Security Policy Institute. "Who We Are". Archived from the original on July 17, 2013. Retrieved June 19, 2012. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  8. ^ Phi Kappa Psi (1991). Grand Catalogue of the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity (13th ed.). Publishing Concepts, Inc. 1991. pp. 252, 585.
  9. ^ "John O. Marsh Jr., presidential 'conscience' and Army secretary, dies at 92". The Washington Post. February 4, 2019. Retrieved February 4, 2019. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  10. ^ a b c d Dick Cheney, In My Time: A Personal and Political Memoir, New York, NY: Threshold Editions, 2011, pp. 71–72
  11. ^ Prados, John (2006). Lost Crusader: The Secret Wars of CIA Director William Colby. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-512847-5. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help) p. 313
  12. ^ a b c d e "Remembering Reagan's Army Secretary, John O. Marsh Jr". Daily Signal. February 4, 2019. Retrieved February 4, 2019.
  13. ^ Annual Report of the Reserve Forces Policy Board for 2005 (PDF). Washington, DC: Department of Defense. 2006. p. 9.
  14. ^ Novavax Board of Directors Archived December 14, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  15. ^ Washington Post Archived December 23, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  16. ^ George Mason course Archived May 26, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  17. ^ 'Wounds, real and political', in The Washington Times, July 2, 2007 [2]
  18. ^ John O. Marsh Institute
  19. ^ "John O. Marsh Jr., Ex-Army Chief and Presidents' Adviser, Dies at 92". The New York Times. February 4, 2019. Retrieved February 4, 2019. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Virginia's 7th congressional district
1963–1971 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Assistant Secretary of Defense for Legislative Affairs
1973–1974 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Counselor to the President
1974–1977
Served alongside: Robert T. Hartmann, Rogers Morton 		Succeeded by
Ed Meese (1981)
Preceded by
Preceded by
Preceded by
Percy Pierre
(Acting)
 United States Secretary of the Army
1981–1989 		Succeeded by
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