General
Lucius Dubignon Clay,
USAThe United States Army is the branch of the United States Military responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military and is one of seven uniformed services...
(April 23, 1897 – April 16, 1978) was an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
officer and military governor best known for his administration of
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
immediately after
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Clay was deputy to General
Dwight D. EisenhowerDwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was a five-star general in the United States Army and the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. During the Second World War, he served as Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe, with responsibility for planning and supervising the...
, 1945; deputy military governor, Germany (U.S.) 1946; commander in chief, U.S. Forces in Europe and military governor of the U.S. Zone, Germany, 1947–49. He retired in 1949. Clay is considered the "father" of the Berlin Airlift (1948–49)
Early life
Clay was born in
Marietta, GeorgiaMarietta is a city located in central Cobb County, Georgia, and is its county seat.As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 58,748, making it one of metro Atlanta's largest suburbs. Census estimates of 2007 indicate a population of 67,021...
, the sixth and last child of Alexander Stephens Clay, who served in the
U.S. SenateThe United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral United States Congress, the lower house being the House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate and the House are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution . Each U.S state is represented by two senators,...
from 1897 to 1910, but contrary to popular belief, this branch of the Clay family is not at all closely related to the famous statesman
Henry ClayHenry Clay, Sr. was a nineteenth-century American statesman and orator who represented Kentucky in both the House of Representatives and Senate. He served as Secretary of State from 1825 to 1829....
. Lucius Clay graduated from
West PointThe United States Military Academy at West Point is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located at West Point, New York. Established in 1802, USMA is the oldest of the United States's five service academies. The military garrison at West Point was occupied in 1778 and played a key...
in 1918 and held various civil and military engineering posts during the 1920s and 1930s, including teaching at West Point, directing the construction of dams and civilian airports, and by 1942 rising to the position of the youngest
brigadier generalA brigadier general in the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, is a one-star general officer, with the pay grade of O-7. Brigadier general ranks above a colonel and below major general. Brigadier general is equivalent to the rank of rear admiral in the other uniformed services.-...
in the Army. All the while he acquired a reputation for bringing order and operational efficiency out of chaos, and for being an exceptionally hard and disciplined worker, going long hours and refusing to even stop to eat during his workdays.
World War II
Clay did not see actual combat but was awarded the
Legion of MeritThe Legion of Merit is a military decoration of the United States armed forces that is awarded for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements. The decoration is issued both to United States military personnel and to military and political figures...
in 1942, the
Distinguished Service MedalThe Distinguished Service Medal is the highest non-valorous military and civilian decoration of the United States of America military which is issued for exceptionally meritorious service to the government of the United States in either a senior government service position or as a senior officer of...
in 1944, and received the
Bronze StarThe Bronze Star Medal is a United States Armed Forces individual military decoration that may be awarded for bravery, acts of merit, or meritorious service. When awarded for bravery, it is the fourth-highest combat award of the U.S. Armed Forces and the ninth highest military award in the order...
for his action in stabilizing the French harbor of Cherbourg, abandoned by German forces immediately after
D-DayD-Day is a term often used in military parlance to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. "D-Day" often represents a variable, designating the day upon which some significant event will occur or has occurred; see Military designation of days and hours for similar...
and critical to the flow of war material. In 1945 he served as deputy to General
Dwight D. EisenhowerDwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was a five-star general in the United States Army and the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. During the Second World War, he served as Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe, with responsibility for planning and supervising the...
. The following year, he was made Deputy Governor of Germany during the Allied Military Government.
He would later remark regarding the occupation directive guiding his and General Eisenhower's actions: "there was no doubt that JCS 1067 contemplated the
Carthaginian peaceCarthaginian Peace can refer to two things: either the peace imposed on Carthage by Rome in 146 BC, whereby the Romans systematically burned Carthage to the ground, or the imposition of a very brutal 'peace' in general.-Origin:...
which dominated our operations in Germany during the early months of occupation."
He heavily influenced
United States Secretary of StateThe United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the President's Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence. The current Secretary of...
James F. ByrnesJames Francis Byrnes was an American statesman from the state of South Carolina. During his career, Byrnes served as a member of the House of Representatives , as a Senator , as Justice of the Supreme Court , as Secretary of State , and as Governor of South Carolina...
' September 1946 speech in
StuttgartStuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
, Germany. The speech;
"Restatement of Policy on Germany"Restatement of Policy on Germany" is a famous speech by James F. Byrnes, the United States Secretary of State, held in Stuttgart on September 6, 1946.Also known as the "Speech of hope" it set the tone of future U.S...
" marked the formal transition in American occupation policy away from the
Morgenthau PlanThe Morgenthau Plan was a plan for the occupation of Germany after World War II that advocated measures intended to remove Germany's ability to wage war...
of economic dismantlement to one of economic reconstruction.
From 1947 to 1949, he was the Military Governor for the U.S. Zone in Germany, and in that capacity commissioned
Lewis H. BrownBorn in Creston, Iowa on February 13 1894, Lewis Herold Brown was an industrialist. He attended the University of Iowa in 1915.Lewis H. Brown served in France as an infantry captain during World War I. After the war, Brown worked for Montgomery Ward and was promoted to Assistant General Operating...
to research and write "
A Report on GermanyAfter World War II, at the request of General Lucius D. Clay, Lewis H. Brown wrote A Report on Germany, which served as a detailed recommendation for the reconstruction of post-war Germany, and served as a basis for the Marshall Plan. General Clay selected Brown to write the report because of...
," which served as a detailed recommendation for the
reconstruction of post-war Germany, and served as a basis for the
Marshall PlanThe Marshall Plan was the primary plan of the United States for rebuilding and creating a stronger foundation for the countries of Western Europe, and repelling communism after World War II...
. Clay was promoted to lieutenant general on 17 April 1945 and to general on 17 March 1947. During this time he hired noted American intellectual and former U.S. Army Captain,
Melvin J. LaskyMelvin Jonah Lasky was an American journalist, intellectual, and member of the Anti-Communist Left. He was the older brother of the influential entertainment lawyer Floria Lasky and Joyce Lasky Reed, the President and founder of the Faberge Arts Foundation and former Director of European Affairs...
. Clay would be instrumental in the creation of the influential publication Der Monat.
On June 25, 1948, one day after the Soviets imposed the
Berlin Blockade||-|}The Berlin Blockade was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War and the first such crisis that resulted in casualties. During the multinational occupation of post-World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway and road access to the sectors of...
, Clay gave the order for the Berlin Airlift. This was an act of defiance against the Soviets, an incredible feat of logistics (at one point cargo planes landed at
TempelhofThe recently-closed Berlin Tempelhof Airport
was one of three airports in Berlin, Germany, situated in the south-central borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg....
every four minutes, twenty four hours a day), a defining moment of the
Cold WarThe Cold War was the continuing state of political conflict, military tension, and economic competition existing after World War II , primarily between the USSR and its satellite states, and the powers of the Western world, including the United States...
, and a demonstration of American support for the citizens of Berlin.
Clay is remembered as a hero for ordering and maintaining the airlift, which would ultimately last 324 days, through May 1949. He resigned his post days after the blockade was lifted.
Retirement
After Clay retired from the military, he went into politics and served several presidents. In 1954, he was called upon by U.S. President
Dwight D. EisenhowerDwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was a five-star general in the United States Army and the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. During the Second World War, he served as Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe, with responsibility for planning and supervising the...
, to help forge a plan for financing the proposed Interstate highway system. He had previous experience in 1933 with managing and organizing projects under the
New DealThe New Deal was the name that United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave to his complex package of economic programs 1933-36 with the goals of what historians call the 3 Rs, of giving Relief to the unemployed and badly hurt farmers, Reform of business and financial practices, and promoting...
, and later became one of Eisenhower's closest advisers. During the Berlin Wall crisis in 1961, President
John F. KennedyJohn Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
asked him to be an adviser and to go to Berlin and report on the situation. Two years later Clay accompanied Kennedy on his trip to Berlin. During his famous
Ich bin ein Berliner||-||-||}"Ich bin ein Berliner" is a quotation from a June 26, 1963 speech by U.S. President John F. Kennedy in West Berlin...
-speech Kennedy said: "I am proud (...) to come here in the company of my fellow American, General Clay, who has been in this city during its great moments of crisis and will come again if ever needed."
Among many other honors, Clay was given a
ticker-tape paradeA ticker-tape parade is a parade event held in a downtown urban setting, allowing the jettison of large amounts of shredded paper products from nearby office buildings onto the parade route, creating a celebratory effect by the snowstorm-like flurry....
upon his return to the United States on May 19, 1949. He appeared on the cover of
TimeTime is an American newsmagazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong. As of 2009, Time no longer publishes a Canadian advertiser edition...
magazine three times. Clay also received an honorary doctorate of the Freie Universität Berlin and became honorary citizen of Berlin (West) in 1953. One of the longest streets in
West BerlinWest Berlin was the name given to the western part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. It consisted of the American, British, and French occupation sectors established in 1945. It was in many ways integrated with, although legally not a part of, West Germany...
was named
Clayallee in his honor, as was the Clay Headquarters Compound, which was located on the street. It held the headquarters of the
Berlin BrigadeAfter the end of World War II, under the conditions of the Yalta and Potsdam agreements, Allied forces occupied West Berlin. This occupation lasted throughout the Cold War...
, U.S. Army Berlin (USAB), and the U.S. Mission in Berlin.
Marietta, GeorgiaMarietta is a city located in central Cobb County, Georgia, and is its county seat.As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 58,748, making it one of metro Atlanta's largest suburbs. Census estimates of 2007 indicate a population of 67,021...
named one of its major streets
Clay Street in honor of his work in creating what is now Dobbins Air Force Base there. While now called South Marietta Parkway (State Route 120 Loop), it still carries
memorialA memorial is an object which serves as a focus for memory of something, usually a person or an event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or art objects such as sculptures, statues or fountains ....
signs at each end dedicating the
highwayA highway is a main road for travel by the public between important destinations, such as cities and states. Highway designs vary widely and can range from a two-lane road without margins to a multi-lane, grade separated motorway. In English and U.S...
to him. In 1978 a new U.S. Army base in Northern Germany near the city of
BremenThe City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A port city along the river Weser, about south from its mouth on the North Sea, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area...
was named for Clay and until the end of the Cold War housed a forward-stationed brigade of the 2nd Armored Division, the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Armored Division, which had been based at Fort Hood, TX with the rest of the 2AD. This unit was redesignated as the 2nd Armored Division (Forward). 2AD(FWD) saw action in the Gulf War of 1991 before being disbanded as part of the post-Cold War drawdown of the
U.S. ArmyThe United States Army is the branch of the United States Military responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military and is one of seven uniformed services...
.
Clay lies buried in
West Point CemeteryWest Point Cemetery is an historic cemetery on the grounds of the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York. It overlooks the Hudson River, and served as a burial ground for American Revolutionary War soldiers and early West Point inhabitants long before 1817 when it was officially...
. At his grave site is a stone plate from the citizens of Berlin that says: "Wir danken dem Bewahrer unserer Freiheit" (We thank the Preserver of our Freedom).
Clay was the father of two sons, both of whom became Generals. Clay's son, General
Lucius D. Clay, Jr.General Lucius DuBignon Clay, Jr. was an American military leader who held the positions of commander-in-chief of the North American Air Defense Command, the Continental Air Defense Command, the United States element of NORAD, and was also a commander of the United States Air Force's Aerospace...
, held the positions of commander-in-chief of the North American Air Defense Command, the Continental Air Defense Command, and the United States element of NORAD, and was also a commander of the U.S. Air Force
Aerospace Defense CommandAerospace Defense Command , was a major command of the United States Air Force from 1946 to 1979. Its mission was to provide air defense of the United States.- World War II :...
. Clay's other son, Major General
Frank Butner ClayMajor General Frank Butner Clay was the son of General Lucius D. Clay, Sr. and the brother of General Lucius D. Clay, Jr.. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery along with his first wife, Patricia Adams Casey Clay...
, served in conflicts from
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
through the
Vietnam WarThe Vietnam War or the Second Indochina War was a Cold War military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1959 to 30 April 1975...
, and was an adviser to the US delegation at the Paris peace talks which ended US involvement in the
Vietnam WarThe Vietnam War or the Second Indochina War was a Cold War military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1959 to 30 April 1975...
.
Criticisms
Clay was responsible for commuting the death sentences, among many others, for convicted Nazi war criminals Erwin Metz and his superior, Hauptmann Ludwig Merz, to only five years imprisonment (time served). Metz and Merz were commanders of the infamous
Berga, ThuringiaBerga is a town in the district of Greiz, in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated on the river Weiße Elster, 14 km southeast of Gera.In World War II a Labor camp called "Berga an der Elster" was operated here to dig 17 tunnels for an underground ammunition factory. Workers were supplied by...
slave labor camp in which 350 U.S. soldiers were beaten, tortured, starved, and forced to work for the German government during
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. The soldiers were singled out for looking or sounding Jewish. More than 100 US soldiers died in the camp or on a later forced death march. After World War II strong pressure was applied by the
PopeThe pope is the Bishop of Rome and, as such, is leader of the worldwide Catholic Church...
and West German government to grant clemency to convicted war criminals including Metz and Merz. The United States needed the German public's support to confront the growing threat the USSR presented to western
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
during the start of the
Cold WarThe Cold War was the continuing state of political conflict, military tension, and economic competition existing after World War II , primarily between the USSR and its satellite states, and the powers of the Western world, including the United States...
.
Awards and decorations
Distinguished Service MedalThe Distinguished Service Medal is a military award of the United States Army that is presented to any person who, while serving in any capacity with the United States military, has distinguished himself or herself by exceptionally meritorious service to the Government in a duty of great...
with Oak Leaf ClusterAn oak leaf cluster or oakleaves is a common device which is placed on U.S. military awards and decorations to denote those who have received more than one bestowal of a particular decoration...
Legion of MeritThe Legion of Merit is a military decoration of the United States armed forces that is awarded for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements. The decoration is issued both to United States military personnel and to military and political figures...
- Bronze Star
The Bronze Star Medal is a United States Armed Forces individual military decoration that may be awarded for bravery, acts of merit, or meritorious service. When awarded for bravery, it is the fourth-highest combat award of the U.S. Armed Forces and the ninth highest military award in the order...
American Defense Service MedalThe American Defense Service Medal is a decoration of the United States military, recognizing service before America’s entry into the Second World War but during the initial years of the European conflict.-Criteria:...
American Campaign MedalThe American Campaign Medal was a military decoration of the United States armed forces which was first created on November 6, 1942 by issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt...
- European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal
The European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal is a military decoration of the United States armed forces which was first created on November 6, 1942 by issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt...
World War II Victory MedalThe World War II Victory Medal is a decoration of the United States military which was created by an act of Congress in July 1945. The decoration commemorates military service during World War II and is awarded to any member of the United States military, including members of the armed forces of...
Army of Occupation MedalThe Army of Occupation Medal is a military decoration of the United States military which was established by the United States War Department in 1946. The medal was created in the aftermath of the Second World War to recognize those who had performed occupation service in either Germany or Japan...
- Bundesverdienstkreuz
The Federal Cross of Merit , officially the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany , is the only general state decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany. This Federal Order of Merit has existed since September 7, 1951...
(Grand Cross)
See also
- Clarence Lionel Adcock
Clarence Lionel Adcock was an army officer. He was born in Waltham, Massachusetts and attended the U.S. Military Academy from 1915-1918. In June 1945 he was appointed Deputy to the Assistant Chief of Staff, Headquarters, U.S. Forces, European Theater ; and then was appointed Assistant Chief of...
, served as deputy to Lucius D. Clay in 1946
External links
- Interview with General Lucius D. Clay
- "The Man Who Changed America"
- Clay's role in the US highway system
- SOUTHERN PARTNERSHIP: JAMES F. BYRNES, LUCIUS D. CLAY AND GERMANY, 1945–47 by Curtis F. Morgan, PhD
- Lucius D. Clay at the Georgia Encyclopedia
- Bell Bomber – building airstrips and airfields
- The Road Ahead: Lessons in Nation Building from Japan, Germany, and Afghanistan for Postwar Iraq, by Ray Salvatore Jennings May 2003, Peaceworks No. 49, United States Institute of Peace
The United States Institute of Peace or USIP, established in 1984, is an independent, nonpartisan, government-funded institution established and funded by the United States Congress...
(The PDF report contains a good overview of Clays activities in Germany 1945–1949)
- Finding aid for General Lucius D. Clay Oral History, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library
- Nazis dig up mass grave of US soldiers
- The complete guide to World War 2