John Otho Marsh Jr.
| John O. Marsh | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 14th United States Secretary of the Army | |
|
In office January 30, 1981 – August 14, 1989 | |
| President |
Ronald Reagan George H. W. Bush |
| Preceded by | Percy Pierre (Acting) |
| Succeeded by | Michael P. W. Stone |
| Counselor to the President | |
|
In office August 9, 1974 – January 20, 1977 Served with Robert Hartmann | |
| President | Gerald Ford |
| Preceded by |
Anne Armstrong Dean Burch Kenneth Rush |
| Succeeded by | Edwin Meese (1981) |
| Assistant Secretary of Defense for Legislative Affairs | |
|
In office April 17, 1973 – February 15, 1974 | |
| President | Richard Nixon |
| Preceded by | Rady A. Johnson |
| Succeeded by | John M. Maury |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Virginia's 7th district | |
|
In office January 3, 1963 – January 3, 1971 | |
| Preceded by | Burr Harrison |
| Succeeded by | Kenneth Robinson |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
August 7, 1926 Winchester, Virginia, U.S. |
| Political party |
Democratic (Before 1980s) Republican (1980s–present) |
| Alma mater | Washington and Lee University (LLB) |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |
 United States |
| Service/branch |
 United States Army |
| Years of service |
1944–1947 (Active) 1947–1951 (Reserve) 1951–1976 (Guard) |
| Rank |
 Lieutenant Colonel |
| Unit |
United States Army Reserve Army National Guard |
| Battles/wars |
Allied-occupied Germany Vietnam War |
John Otho Marsh Jr. (born August 7, 1926) is 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 United States House of Representatives from Virginia from 1963 to 1971.[1][4]
Biography
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] He 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. He later retired in 1976 in the rank of lieutenant colonel.[5]
Meanwhile, in 1952, he 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] He served in the United States House of Representatives as a Democrat from Virginia from 1963 to 1971.[1][2][3][4][5][6][9] He fought in the Vietnam War for a month without telling his fellow soldiers he was a Congressman.[4] In 1973, he was appointed as Assistant Secretary of Defense, and in January 1974, as National Security Advisor for then-Vice President Gerald Ford.[1][2][9] Under President Ford, he became Counselor to the President and held Cabinet rank.[1][2][4][6][9] From 1981 to 1989, he served as the United States Secretary of the Army under President Ronald Reagan.[1][2][3][4][6] Marsh was then selected to serve as Chairman of the Reserve Forces Policy Board, a position he held from 1989 until 1994.[10] He later served as Chairman and interim CEO of Novavax, Inc., a pharmaceutical company.[1][2] He still sits on its Board of Directors.[11] He was a confidant of Dick Cheney when he was Vice President.[9][12]
From 1998 to 1999, he 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] He now teaches a course on Technology, Terrorism and National Security Law at George Mason University.[1][13]
He is a former Co-Chair of the Independent Review Group for Walter Reed Hospital and Bethesda Navy Medical Center.[2][14] He is a member of the Markle Foundation.[3] The John O. Marsh Institute for Government and Public Policy at Shenandoah University is named for him.[15]
He lives in Winchester, Virginia with his wife, together they have had three children and seven grandchildren.[1]
Electoral history
- 1962; Marsh was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives with 50.57% of the vote, defeating Republican James Kenneth Robinson.
- 1964; Marsh was re-elected with 69.61% of the vote, defeating Republican Roy Erickson.
- 1966; Marsh was re-elected with 59.25% of the vote, defeating Republican Edward O. McCue.
- 1968; Marsh was re-elected with 54.43% of the vote, defeating Republican Arthur Rossa Giesen Jr. and Conservative Louis A. Brooks.
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 George Mason Law biography
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Forbes profile
- 1 2 3 4 MARKLE
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Richard Halloran, 'Washington Talk - Working Profile: Army Secretary John O. Marsh Jr.; Military Leader Wins High Ground, Quietly', in The New York Times, January 03, 1989
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 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.
- 1 2 3 4 Congress biography
- ↑ Homeland Security Policy Institute. "Who We Are". Retrieved 19 June 2012.
- ↑ Phi Kappa Psi (1991). Grand Catalogue of the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity (13th ed.). Publishing Concepts, Inc. 1991. pp. 252, 585.
- 1 2 3 4 Dick Cheney, In My Time: A Personal and Political Memoir, New York, NY: Threshold Editions, 2011, pp.71-72
- ↑ Annual Report of the Reserve Forces Policy Board for 2005 (PDF). Washington, DC: Department of Defense. 2006. p. 9.
- ↑ Novavax Board of Directors
- ↑ Washington Post
- ↑ George Mason course
- ↑ 'Wounds, real and political', in The Washington Times, July 2, 2007
- ↑ John O. Marsh Institute
External links
- United States Congress. "John Otho Marsh Jr. (id: M000148)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
| United States House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Burr Harrison |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Virginia's 7th congressional district 1963–1971 |
Succeeded by Kenneth Robinson |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Rady A. Johnson |
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Legislative Affairs 1973–1974 |
Succeeded by John M. Maury |
| Preceded by Anne Armstrong |
Counselor to the President 1974–1977 Served alongside: Robert Hartmann |
Vacant Title last held by Ed Meese |
| Preceded by Dean Burch | ||
| Preceded by Kenneth Rush | ||
| Preceded by Percy Pierre Acting |
United States Secretary of the Army 1981–1989 |
Succeeded by Michael P. W. Stone |
U.S. Secretaries of War and the Army | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. Department of War (1789–1949) |   | ||||||
| U.S. Department of the Army (1949–present) | |||||||