Talk:John J. Pershing

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Moved from article

According to an urban legend, Pershing ordered rifle rounds to be dipped in pig fat. These rounds would be used on Islamic insurgents in the Philippines, and the corpses would be buried alongside a pig. Whether or not these rumors are true is up for debate, but after Pershing's service, the United States did not experience a guerrilla problem for the next half century.

An "urban legend" indeed, told about numerous other military men other than Pershing as well. Without some source, IMO this doesn't belong in the article. -- Infrogmation 23:16, 28 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Agreed.

On a different subject, wouldn't "Black Jack" still have been a slightly disparaging sobriquet in itself? "Black" didn't come into general usage as a the preferred generic racial term until the 60s - the polite phrase at the time would be "colored", subsequently replaced by "Negro"? Or am I off base here. Ellsworth 12:26, 13 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Yes, this is a stub

I think this qualifies as a stub. It's pretty short and only talks about his military career- nothing before then is even mentioned. A lot more could be added, I think. So I think it's a stub. What do you all think. Cookiecaper 01:37, 20 Dec 2004 (UTC)

A lot more has been added!

To the comment above, I just finished a MAJOR expansion of the article. I hope everyone likes it. -Husnock 04:07, 13 July 2005 (UTC)[reply]

In 1919

Rewrote this sentence:

"In 1919, Pershing was commissioned as a full General and led the United States forces to final victory over the Germans"

Hostilities ended in 1918. Ellsworth 20:33, 13 July 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I must a mental problem. For some reason, EVERY time I write about WWI, I think it ended in 1919. And I call myself a historian... -Husnock 22:35, 13 July 2005 (UTC)[reply]

So? We liked beating up the Germans, so we did it some more. :p--Kross 10:26, July 17, 2005 (UTC)

10 years with no promotion?

It took him 10 years to get promoted and later down the road he skips several ranks? That is very odd and should be discussed in some form in this article. --Ebralph 13:32, 22 July 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Its discussed rather well, I think. And back in those days slow promotions were the norm. Most officers held Regular Army rank in the O-2 and O-3 grades for 10-15 years and advanced through brevet commissions. See Regular Army for further details. -Husnock 14:29, 22 July 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know, but I didn't feel that it was explained well enough in the article - of course that's my personal impression. Maybe adding a reference to the Regular Army link with a sentence that that was the norm might be a good idea. --Ebralph 15:25, 24 July 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Regular Army liks are pretty well scattered throughout the article, including in the Dates of Rank section. Of course, we can add more. -Husnock 15:32, 24 July 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Maybe just a sentence saying that it wasn't uncommon might be a good thing. For someone who isn't aware of Regular Army practices of the time might stumble over it like I did without seeing the connection. I just took the Regular Army thing as opposed to the "World War 2" related buildup Army. Of course the issue with the two different ranks are also a stumbling block which I chose to ignore but there again pointing a reader more in that direction might not be amiss. As always unless really, really pointed to one tends to ignore it and it is important for understanding the career of Pershing. --Ebralph 15:40, 25 July 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Clarity of Orders

Somewhere, I've read that one of Pershing's major innovations, during World War I, was a reform of military writing--to make orders shorter, clearer and less ambiguous. Any truth to that? --bamjd3d

Just a coincidence?

I commute to downtown L.A on the Metro, and the stop I originally was supposed to get off at was Pershing Square. I later found out that Civic Center was much closer to my workplace, but still - was Pershing Squre named after this John J. Pershing, or is it merely coincidental? Hbdragon88 03:54, 12 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Almost certainly. Before Eisenhower came along, Pershing was held in largely the same regard. Joseph/N328KF (Talk) 14:03, 12 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Image:Johnpershing.jpg

Anyone know where one could find a print or high-res version of this item? —Joseph/N328KF (Talk) 03:39, 27 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]