John Shalikashvili

John Malchase David Shalikashvili (Georgian: ჯონ მალხაზ დავით შალიკაშვილი, romanized: jon malkhaz davit shalik'ashvili, IPA: [ʃalikʼaʃʷili]; June 27, 1936 – July 23, 2011) was a United States Army general who served as Supreme Allied Commander Europe from 1992 to 1993 and the 13th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1993 to 1997.^[1] He was born in Warsaw, Poland, in the family of émigré Georgian officer Dimitri Shalikashvili and his Polish wife Maria Rüdiger-Belyaeva. In 1996, he was the first recipient of the Naval War College Distinguished Graduate Leadership Award.^[2]

John Shalikashvili
Shalikashvili in August 1993
Nickname(s)	"General Shali"
Born	(1936-06-27)June 27, 1936 Warsaw, Poland
Died	July 23, 2011(2011-07-23) (aged 75) Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, U.S.
Buried	Arlington National Cemetery
Allegiance	United States
Service/branch	United States Army
Years of service	1958–1997
Rank	General
Commands held	Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Supreme Allied Commander Europe Operation Provide Comfort 9th Infantry Division 1st Battalion, 84th Field Artillery
Battles/wars	Vietnam War Operation Provide Comfort Iraqi no-fly zones Third Taiwan Strait Crisis
Awards	Defense Distinguished Service Medal (4) Army Distinguished Service Medal Legion of Merit (3) Bronze Star Medal (V) Meritorious Service Medal (4) Air Medal Joint Service Commendation Medal Army Commendation Medal Presidential Medal of Freedom
Alma mater	George Washington University
Spouse(s)	Gunhild Bartsch ​ ​ (m. 1963; died 1965)​ Joan Zimpelman ​ (m. 1966)​
Children	2
Other work	Visiting professor, Stanford University Director, Frank Russell Trust Company Director, L-3 Communications Holdings, Inc. Director, Plug Power Inc. Director, United Defense Industries, Inc.

Shalikashvili was the first, and as of 2023 only, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff not born in the United States. He served in every level of unit command from platoon to division.^[3] Shalikashvili died of a stroke in 2011 at the age of 75.^[4]

Early life and education

Shalikashvili was a scion of the medieval Georgian noble house of Shalikashvili. His father, Prince Dimitri Shalikashvili (1896–1978), born in Gurjaani,^[5] served in the army of Imperial Russia and his wife, Countess Maria Rüdiger-Belyaeva. Dimitri was a grandson of Russian general Dmitry Staroselsky.

After the Bolshevik Revolution, Dimitri became a lieutenant colonel in the army of the Democratic Republic of Georgia. When the Soviet Union invaded and occupied Georgia in 1921, Dimitri was on diplomatic service in Turkey. Dimitri then joined other Georgian exiles in Poland, where he met and married John's mother, Maria; she was Polish and of part German ancestry,^[6] and the daughter of Count Rudiger-Bielajew (Rüdiger-Belyaev), a former Tsarist general. They had three children: Othar, John and Gale. Dimitri served in the Polish Army (along with other Georgian exiles) as a contract officer.

In 1939, the elder Shalikashvili fought against the German invasion of Poland. After the Polish defeat, Dimitri was demobilized. In 1941, he enlisted in the Georgian Legion, a force of ethnic Georgians recruited by Germany to fight against the Soviet Union.^[7] The unit was later incorporated into the SS-Waffengruppe Georgien^[8] and transferred to Normandy. Dimitri surrendered to British forces and was a prisoner of war until after the war. A collection of Dimitri Shalikashvili's writings are on deposit at the Hoover Institution. Meanwhile, Maria, John and his two brothers lived through the destruction of Warsaw. As the Red Army approached Warsaw in 1944, the family fled to Pappenheim, Germany, being reunited with Dimitri along the way.^[9] It was in Pappenheim in the closing days of World War II that John first laid eyes on U.S. soldiers.^[10] His family stayed with relatives there in Pappenheim for eight years.

In 1952, when Shalikashvili was 16, the family emigrated to the US, and settled in Peoria, Illinois. They were sponsored by Winifred Luthy, the wife of a local banker, who was previously married to Dimitri's cousin. The Luthys and the Episcopal Church helped the Shalikashvili family get started, finding jobs and a home for them. Dimitri worked for Ameren, and Maria was a file clerk at Commercial National Bank. When Shalikashvili arrived in Peoria he spoke little English:

I spoke a little bit [of English]. But not much beyond yes and no and what time is it. And the stories that subsequently have been told that I learned English by watching John Wayne movies is only a little bit of a stretch ... As school was over [at Peoria High School], I would run to the local movie theater. There I would sit through movies in order to learn English. In those days movies didn't start at a specific time and end at a specific time, but they would roll continuously ... The first time through it wouldn't make much sense to me. But the second time through, it would begin to make a little more sense. Now in my memory, that is probably very faulty, a lot of those movies were John Wayne movies or at least were Wild West movies.

Shalikashvili went to Peoria High School, where he was a long-distance runner. He attended Bradley University in Peoria and received a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering in 1958. He was a member of Theta Chi. In 1970, Shalikashvili received a master's degree in international affairs from the George Washington University's School of International Affairs.

In May 1958, Shalikashvili and his family became U.S. citizens. It was the first nationality he ever held. He had previously been classified as stateless because he had been born to parents who had been refugees.

Military career

 

Shalikashvili with U.S. President Clinton.

 

U.S. Secretary of Defense William Cohen (left) and Shalikashvili (right) at a Pentagon briefing on July 31, 1997.

 

Shalikashvili at his farewell ceremony on September 30, 1997.

After graduation Shalikashvili had planned to work for Hyster, but received a draft notice in July 1958. He entered the United States Army as a private, enjoyed it, and applied to the Army's Officer Candidate School. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1959.

Shalikashvili served in various Field Artillery and Air Defense Artillery positions as a platoon leader, forward observer, instructor, and student, in various staff positions, and as a battery commander. He served in the Vietnam War in Quang Tri Province with Advisory Team 4 (redesignated Team 19 in September, 1968), Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV), as a senior district advisor from 1968 to 1969. He was awarded a Bronze Star Medal with "V" for heroism during his Vietnam tour. Immediately after his Vietnam service, he attended the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island.

In 1970, Shalikashvili became executive officer of the 2nd Battalion, 18th Field Artillery at Fort Lewis, Washington. Later in 1975, he commanded the 1st Battalion, 84th Field Artillery, 9th Infantry Division at Fort Lewis. In 1977, he attended the U.S. Army War College and served as the Commander of Division Artillery (DIVARTY) for the 1st Armored Division in Germany. He later became the assistant division commander. In 1987, Shalikashvili commanded the 9th Infantry Division at Fort Lewis. There he oversaw a "high technology test bed" tasked to integrate three brigades—one heavy armor, one light infantry, and one "experimental mechanized"—into a new type of fighting force.^[11]

Shalikashvili achieved real distinction with his considerable success as the commander of Operation Provide Comfort, the peacekeeping and humanitarian activity in northern Iraq after the Gulf War. This assignment involved intense and complex negotiations with the Turkish government, and tough face-to-face meetings with the Iraqi military.^[12] Another important achievement was the establishment of the Joint Vision 2010 program, which would transfer the United States military into one great and effective digitalized military force.

Shalikashvili was appointed Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1993 by President Bill Clinton, effective October 25. During the 1995-96 Third Taiwan Strait Crisis, commanded the US Navy to assist in the defense of Taiwan. He retired from the Army in September 1997, after serving for 38 years.

Later life and death

 

Ashton Carter shows Tinatin Khidasheli an official portrait of General Shalikashvili.

Shalikashvili was an advisor to John Kerry's 2004 Presidential campaign. He was a visiting professor at the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University. He served as a director of Russell Investments, L-3 Communications, Inc., Plug Power Inc., United Defense, Inc., the Initiative for Global Development,^[13] and the National Bureau of Asian Research.

Shalikashvili was married to Joan and had one son, Brant, a graduate of Washington State University, and a daughter, Debra.

Shalikashvili suffered a severe stroke on August 7, 2004 that paralyzed his left side.^[14]

In 2006 the National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR) launched the John M. Shalikashvili Chair in National Security Studies to recognize Shalikashvili for his years of military service and for his leadership on NBR's Board of Directors.^[15]

In 2007, Shalikashvili penned an op-ed in The New York Times calling for a reversal of Don't ask, don't tell.^[16] A similar op-ed by him appeared in the June 19, 2009, issue of The Washington Post.^[17] The policy was reversed July 22, 2011, the day before his death.

Shalikashvili died at the age of 75 on July 23, 2011, at the Madigan Army Medical Center in Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, from a stroke.^[18] He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.^[19]

The first biography on Shalikashvili, "Boy on the Bridge: The Story of John Shalikashvili's American Success," was published by the University Press of Kentucky in conjunction with the Association of the U.S. Army in October 2019.^[20]

Ancestry

Ancestors of John M. Shalikashvili

16. Prince Ioseb Shalikashvili 8. Prince Ivane Shalikashvili 17. Princess Mariam Andronikashvili 4. Prince Ioseb Shalikashvili 18. Prince Noshrevan Chavchavadze 9. Princess Daria Chavchavadze 19. Princess Nino Vachnadze 2. Prince Dimitri Shalikashvili 20. Semyon Staroselsky 10. Dmitry Staroselsky 21. ? 5. Nina Staroselskaya 22. Prince Tadeoz Guramishvili 11. Princess Ekaterine Guramishvili 23. Elisabed N. 1. John M. Shalikashvili 24. Mikhail Belyaev 12. Alexei Belyaev 25. ? 6. Alexander Belyaev 26. Alexander Daler 13. Maria Daler 27. ? 3. Countess Maria Rüdiger-Belyaeva 28. George German Rüdiger 14. Count Fyodor Rüdiger 29. Auguste von Huhn 7. Countess Maria Rüdiger 30. Yulii von Krusenstern 15. Sofia von Krusenstern 31. Elzaveta Furman

Dates of rank

Rank	Date
Second lieutenant	July 7, 1959
First lieutenant	July 7, 1961
Captain	July 8, 1963
Major	August 23, 1967
Lieutenant colonel	May 12, 1974
Colonel	December 6, 1978
Brigadier general	August 1, 1983
Major general	September 1, 1986
Lieutenant general	October 1, 1989
General	June 24, 1992

^[21]

Awards and decorations

Badge	Combat Infantryman Badge
1st row	Defense Distinguished Service Medal		Distinguished Service Medal		Legion of Merit
2nd row	Bronze Star Medal		Meritorious Service Medal		Air Medal
3rd row	Joint Service Commendation Medal		Army Commendation Medal		Presidential Medal of Freedom
4th row	National Defense Service Medal with one bronze service star		Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal		Vietnam Service Medal
5th row	Southwest Asia Service Medal with service star		Humanitarian Service Medal		Army Service Ribbon
6th row	Army Overseas Service Ribbon		Inter-American Defense Board Medal		Vietnam Gallantry Cross with two silver and one bronze star
7th row	Armed Forces Honor Medal, 1st class (Vietnam)		Commander of the Order of the White Lion (Czech Republic)		Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland
8th row	Meritorious Service Medal of Canada		Vietnam Campaign Medal		Order of Military Merit of Brazil, Grand-Officer^[22]
Badge	Parachutist Badge
Badges	Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Identification Badge			United States Army Staff Identification Badge
Badge	9th Infantry Division Combat Service Identification Badge

• GEN Shalikashvili received at least two more foreign awards.

Other Recognition

In 1994, Shalikashvili received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.^[23][24]

In 2006, The National Bureau of Asian Research recognized board member General John M. Shalikashvili for his lifelong contributions to our nation and dedicated a chair in national security studies in his name, The John M. Shalikashvili Chair in National Security Studies.^[25]

References

1. Marble, Andrew (2019). Boy on the Bridge: The Story of John Shalikashvili's American Success. University Press of Kentucky. doi:10.2307/j.ctvn5tz24. ISBN 978-0-8131-7802-8. JSTOR j.ctvn5tz24. S2CID 202496492.
2. . Archived from the original on November 5, 2011.
3. Luttwak (August 22, 1993). "Why Clinton Called Upon Shalikashvili". The Sacramento Bee.
4. Dewan, Shaila (July 23, 2011). "Gen. John M. Shalikashvili, Military Chief in 1990s, Dies at 75". The New York Times.
5. "Around The World". archive.seattletimes.com. The Seattle Times. 24 May 1995. Shalikashvili seeks to have Nazi dad reburied in Georgia. Retrieved 2023-02-03.
6. Halberstam, David (2001). War in a Time of Peace. Scribner. ISBN 9780743202121. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
7. Farley, Christopher John; Lemonick, Michael D.; Meers, Eric A.; et al. (1993-09-06). . Time. Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2023-04-06.
8. Engelberg, Stephen (1993-08-28). "General's Father Fought for Nazi Unit". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-02-03.
9. Shalikashvili, Dimitri. Memoirs. Hoover Institution.
10. Marble, Andrew. "A Biography Project on Gen. John Shalikashvili". Retrieved 11 August 2011.
11. Marble, Andrew (January 2012). (PDF). Joint Force Quarterly (64): 137–138. Archived from the original (PDF-20.75 Mb) on 2014-07-16. Retrieved August 24, 2014.
12. Goldstein, Lyle J. (Spring 2000). "General John Shalikashvili and the Civil-Military Relations of Peacekeeping". Armed Forces & Society. 26 (3): 387. doi:10.1177/0095327X0002600303. S2CID 143933931.
13. . Archived from the original on 2012-01-06. Retrieved 2012-01-25.
14. "Former Head Of Chiefs Of Staff Is Ill". The New York Times. August 10, 2004. Retrieved October 28, 2010.
15. "In Honor of General John M. Shalikashvili (June 27, 1936 – July 23, 2011)". The National Bureau of Asian Research. August 2011. Retrieved August 11, 2011.^{[permanent dead link]}
16. Shalikashvili, John M. (January 2, 2007). "Second Thoughts on Gays in the Military". The New York Times. Retrieved May 7, 2010.
17. Shalikashvili, John M. (June 19, 2009). "Data Must Rule the Debate on Gays in the Military". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 7, 2010.
18. . CNN. July 23, 2011. Archived from the original on 2011-07-25. Retrieved July 22, 2011.
19. Patterson, Michael Robert (January 25, 2023). "John Malchase David Shalikashvili - General, United States Army".
20. Marble, Andrew (15 October 2019). Boy on the Bridge. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 9780813178042.
21. The Chairmanship of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 1949-2016 (PDF) (3 ed.). Joint History Office. June 21, 2019. p. 195. ISBN 978-1075301711.
22. (in Portuguese) Decree of 26 January 1994.
23. "Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement". www.achievement.org. American Academy of Achievement.
24. "Gen. Colin Powell Biography Photo". 1998. At the 1998 Achievement Summit in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, four Academy members and Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff: General John M. Shalikashvili, USA (the Academy's Class of 1994), General David C. Jones, USAF (Class of 1979), General Henry (Hugh) Shelton, USA (Class of 1998) and General Colin L. Powell, USA (Class of 1988).
25. "NBR Director and Former Joint Chiefs Chairman John Shalikashvili Honored with Chair in National Security Studies". The National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR). 2006.

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to John Shalikashvili.

• Shalikashvili calls for rethinking 'don't ask, don't tell'
• The Life and Legacy of Gen. John M. Shalikashvili, Q&A with Shali biographer Andrew Marble (August 2011)
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Arlington National Cemetery

Military offices
Preceded by Gen. John Galvin	Supreme Allied Commander Europe 1992–1993	Succeeded by Gen. George Joulwan
Preceded by Adm. David E. Jeremiah (acting Chairman)	Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff 1993–1997	Succeeded by Gen. Hugh Shelton