General Fox Conner: Pershings Chief of Operations and Eisenhowers Mentor (Leadership in Action)

About this book

"What a great book that covers a great soldier and general." Huntington B. Hunt Downer Jr. Major General USA Retired Winner of the 2016 Army Historical Foundation Distinguished Writing Award. Fox Conner presents the portrait of the quintessential man behind the scenes in U.S. military history. John J. Pershing considered Fox Conner to have been a brilliant solider and one of the finest characters our Army has ever produced. During World War I General Conner served as chief of operations for the American Expeditionary Force in Europe. Pershing told Conner: I could have spared any other man in the A.E.F. better than you. Dwight D. Eisenhower viewed Fox Conner as the outstanding soldier of my time. In the early 1920s Conner transformed his protg Eisenhower from a struggling young officer on the verge of a court martial into one of the American armys rising stars. Eisenhower acknowledged Fox Conner as the one more or less invisible figure to whom I owe an incalculable debt. This book presents the first complete biography of this significant but now forgotten figure in American military history. In addition to providing a unique insiders view into the operations of the American high command during World War I Fox Conner also tells the story of an interesting life. Conner felt a calling to military service although his father had been blinded during the Civil War. From humble beginnings in rural Mississippi Conner became one of the armys intellectuals. During the 1920s when most of the nation slumbered in isolationism Conner predicted a second world war. As the nation began to awaken to new international dangers in the 1930s President Roosevelt offered Fox Conner the position of army chief of staff which he declined. Poor health prevented his participation in World War II while others whom he influenced including Eisenhower Patton and Marshall went on to fame. Table of Contents List of Maps Acknowledgments Prologue Chapter 1: Calhoun County Chapter 2: West Point Chapter 3: Biding Time Chapter 4: Getting Started Chapter 5: The War within the War Chapter 6: Fighting with the French Chapter 7: Our Seat at the Table Chapter 8: Home Again Chapter 9: Unlike Ike Chapter 10: Panama Chapter 11: Climbing Their Ladders Chapter 12: Third Time the Charm? Chapter 13: The Zenith of Fox Conner Epilogue Notes Bibliography Index