biography
| name: |
Taylor, Maxwell D(avenport)
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1901–87)
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| biography:
| US soldier, born in Keystesville, Missouri, USA. He trained at West Point (1922), and was among those who set up the first airborne units. In World War 2, he commanded the 101st Airborne Division and was the first general to land in Normandy on D-Day. Superintendent of West Point (1945–9), he served as military governor of Berlin (1949–51), and he commanded the US Eighth Army in the Korean War (1953–5) before taking over as commander of the US and United Nations Far East commands. He was army chief-of-staff (1955–9) before retiring, but President John F Kennedy called him out of retirement (1961) and appointed him chairman of the Joint Chiefs-of-Staff (1962–4). He took an active role under presidents Kennedy and Johnson in escalating the US commitment to South Vietnam, and served as ambassador to South Vietnam (1964–5). Regarded as more cosmopolitan than the average army officer, he was fluent in several languages and wrote four books on military issues. |
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