General Paul D. Harkins

General Paul D. Harkins
Name	Paul D. Harkins
Caption	General Paul D. Harkins
Birth date	March 30, 1904
Birth place	Cleveland, Ohio
Death date	October 16, 1984
Death place	Washington, D.C.
Allegiance	United States
Branch	United States Army
Serviceyears	1928–1964
Rank	General
Commands	United States Army Vietnam, United States Army War College

Contents

General Paul D. Harkins was a senior United States Army officer who served in key staff and command positions during World War II, the Korean War era, and the early years of the Vietnam War, notably as the first commanding general of United States Army, Vietnam and as Superintendent of the United States Military Academy. He played roles in staff planning with leaders from Dwight D. Eisenhower to Douglas MacArthur and engaged with institutions such as the United States Department of Defense, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Office of the Secretary of Defense. Harkins’s career intersected with events and figures including World War II, the Korean War, the Cold War, and early Vietnam War policy and command debates.

Early life and education

Paul Davidson Harkins was born in Cleveland, Ohio and attended local schools before entering the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, where he graduated in 1928 alongside contemporaries who later became generals and admirals associated with Omar Bradley, Mark W. Clark, J. Lawton Collins, Joseph Stilwell, and Matthew B. Ridgway. He later attended the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth and the United States Army War College, linking him to curricula influenced by thinkers from George C. Marshall to Alfred M. Gruenther. Harkins’s professional education brought him into contact with doctrine debates involving the National War College, the Army Staff College, and planning circles tied to the Strategic Air Command and United States Army Air Forces.

Harkins’s early assignments included service with infantry units and postings at posts such as Fort Benning, Fort Bragg, and Schofield Barracks; he served in staff roles in the War Department General Staff and was engaged with leaders of the Army Ground Forces and Adjutant General's Corps. During World War II he served on the staff of the China-Burma-India Theater and worked with commands connected to Chennault, Joseph Stilwell, and the Fourteenth Air Force. After the war Harkins held positions at Fort Belvoir and within the Pentagon, collaborating with figures from the Department of State and the Central Intelligence Agency as the United States adjusted to the Truman Doctrine and the onset of the Cold War. He participated in interservice planning with the Navy, Air Force, and the Marine Corps on issues that intersected with the North Atlantic Treaty, the Marshall Plan, and the emerging North Atlantic Council.

During the period of the Korean War Harkins served in capacities that connected him to theater-level planning with commanders such as Douglas MacArthur, Matthew Ridgway, and Mark Clark, and to staff leaders including members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the United Nations Command. He held command and staff responsibilities that placed him in the orbit of operations tied to the Battle of Inchon, the Pusan Perimeter, and the armistice negotiations at Kaesong and Panmunjom. Post‑Korea assignments included leadership of training institutions and liaison with organizations such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the United States European Command, and the United States Army Europe, bringing Harkins into contact with NATO commanders like Lauris Norstad and national defense ministers from Britain, France, West Germany, Italy, and Turkey.

Harkins’s later career included senior staff roles that interfaced with NATO structures, strategic planning bodies such as the National Security Council, and allied headquarters across Western Europe. He served as Superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point and later was appointed as the first commanding general of United States Army, Vietnam, interacting with civilian leaders including John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Robert McNamara, and Dean Rusk and military figures such as William Westmoreland and Gordon Sullivan. His tenure in Vietnam connected him with agencies like the Agency for International Development, the Central Intelligence Agency, and advisory groups tied to the Military Assistance Advisory Group Vietnam. Harkins’s NATO and Far East experiences overlapped with diplomatic initiatives from the Geneva Conference era to summits of the North Atlantic Council and bilateral talks with governments in Thailand, South Korea, Japan, and Australia.

Over his career Harkins received decorations and recognitions bestowed by United States Army authorities and allied governments, reflecting participation in campaigns related to World War II, the Korean War, and Cold War service. Awards and institutional honors associated with officers of his rank often included the Army Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, campaign medals from European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal theaters, and decorations exchanged with allied states such as the Order of the British Empire, the Legion of Honour, or honors from South Vietnam and Republic of Korea for work involving the Military Assistance Advisory Group and coalition activities.

After retiring in 1964 Harkins remained engaged with veteran affairs, military education, and policy discussions involving institutions like the United States Institute of Peace, the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and academic centers such as Harvard University, Yale University, and the Johns Hopkins University where Cold War studies and Vietnam analyses were prominent. His legacy is examined in histories of the Vietnam War, analyses of civil‑military relations influenced by scholars at Columbia University, Princeton University, and Stanford University, and in biographies of contemporaries including William Westmoreland, Maxwell Taylor, Creighton Abrams, and Paul D. Harkins‑adjacent figures in strategic studies. Harkins is remembered in institutional histories of West Point, the United States Army War College, and the early organizational development of United States Army, Vietnam.

Category:United States Army generals Category:1904 births Category:1984 deaths