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Lot 281
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4 Star General ALS to Groves, Fantastic Army Content, "I have few regrets"
4 Star General ALS to Groves, Fantastic Army Content, "I have few regrets"
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4 Star General ALS to Groves, Fantastic Army Content, “I have few regrets"

[GROVES, LESLIE]  Autograph Letter Signed “Johnny Johnson", 2pp, 7" x 8.5", Silver Bay, July 25, 1968. To General Leslie Groves.  Expected mailing fold, light uniform toning, staple holes to top left, else Fine.  

Johnson's letter, in part, “I suppose that one is far more conscious of his failures than aware of his successes, and I had far too many failures to take much comfort from actions that might tend to be offsetting...I am enormously proud of the manner in which the army performed during my tenure as Chief of Staff. I am grateful for the staunch support that I had from inside the active Army, from the retired colony and from outside. Without that support, the task would have been grim, indeed. I have few regrets. Changes in the law over more than twenty years have altered the position of the Chief of Staff to such an extent that I doubt that General Marshall would recognize the position...Given certain inherited instincts in the American people, I foresee no enlargement of authority for the man in uniform. It does give one pause, though, when you remember that the armed conflicts in which we have engaged have been relatively inconclusive since the establishment of the Department of Defense. Perhaps your project is the cause rather than the establishment of the DOD. At any rate someone needs to do some hard thinking about the security mechanism for our nation.”

As Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, General Johnson participated in the escalation of the Vietnam War and was instrumental in having General William C. Westmoreland replaced in Vietnam. Westmoreland succeeded Johnson as Chief of Staff in July 1968.One of Johnson’s most important accomplishments as Chief of Staff was creating the office of Sergeant Major of the Army in 1966 to improve the quality of life of enlisted personnel. The sergeant major is the senior enlisted member of the Army and serves as spokesman to address the issues of enlisted soldiers to all officers and is a senior adviser to the Army Chief of Staff. General Johnson selected Sergeant Major William O. Wooldridge (1922-2012), the only candidate actively serving in Vietnam, from 4,700 nominations.

Harold K. “Johnny” Johnson (1912-1983) was born in North Dakota and graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1933. Captured by the Japanese after the Battle of Bataan in the Philippines, Johnson participated in the Bataan Death March in 1942, and spent the rest of the war in Japanese prison camps, eventually in Korea, where he was liberated in September 1945. He returned to Korea in 1950 in command of a battalion and later a regiment. In February 1951, he was assigned as Assistant Chief of Staff of the I Corps. He returned to the United States in 1952, attended the National War College, and filled further administrative posts in the United States and Europe. On July 3, 1964, Johnson became the 24th Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, a position he held until July 2, 1968. Although he supported escalation of the Vietnam War to pacify South Vietnam, he later came to regret that support, observing, “I am now going to my grave with that lapse in moral courage on my back.” After his retirement from the military in 1968, Johnson headed the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge and worked as a banking executive.

Leslie R. Groves Jr. (1896-1970) was a United States Army General with the Corps of Engineers who oversaw the construction of the Pentagon and directed the Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb during World War II. Born in New York to a Protestant pastor who became an army chaplain, Groves graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1918 in a course shortened because of World War I. He entered the Corps of Engineers and gained promotions to major by 1940. In 1941, he was charged with overseeing the construction of the Pentagon, the largest office building in the world, with more than five million square feet. Disappointed that he had not received a combat assignment, Groves instead took charge of the Manhattan Project, designed to develop an atomic bomb.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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