GEN. WESLEY KANNE CLARK (RET.)

GEN. WESLEY KANNE CLARK (RET.)

Age:

58

Birthdate:

December 23, 1944 in Chicago, Illinois

Current Position:

Chairman and CEO, Wesley K. Clark and Associates consulting firm. Also, Chairman of WaveCrest Laboratories, which develops hybrid motors.

Career Highlights:

White House Fellow; instructor and assistant professor at West Point; investment banker at Stephens Group; military analyst for CNN

Education:

West Point Military Academy (1966, 1st in his class); Oxford University (1968, Rhodes Scholar, Master's Degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics)

Military service:

U.S. Army, 1966-2000; retired as a four-star general. Served in Vietnam from 1968-70. Was lead military negotiator for 1995 Dayton peace accord. Was Supreme Allied Commander of NATO and U.S. European Commander-in-Chief from 19972000.

Hometown:

Little Rock, Arkansas

Religion:

Born Jewish, raised Baptist and converted to Catholicism around the time he married in 1967.

Announcement:

September 17, 2003 Little Rock, Arkansas

Spouse:

Gertrude "Gert" Kingston Clark

Age:

59

Birthday:

December 1, 1943 in Brooklyn

Career Highlights:

Executive assistant turned military wife; Arkansas Cancer Research Center Foundation Fund Board

Education:

High School Graduate

Hometown:

Little Rock, Arkansas

Religion:

Catholic

Family:

One son, Wesley Jr. (34)

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WESLEY CLARK TIMELINE

12/23/44

WESLEY CLARK: Born Wesley Kanne in Chicago, IL to B.J. and Veneta Kanne. His father died when he was 4 years old and shortly thereafter, his mother moved home to Little Rock, AR and moved in with her parents. Eventually, his mother married a banker named Victor Clark. Wesley Kanne was born Jewish and raised Baptist after his mother remarried. He later converted to Catholicism after his marriage in 1967.

1962

FIRST IN HIS CLASS: Graduated first in his class from Hall High School in Little Rock.

1966

FIRST IN HIS CLASS - AGAIN: Graduated first in his class from West Point. In August, he begins at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. While at Oxford, he defended U.S. policy in Vietnam on speaking tours around Britain. Also while at Oxford, he learned of his Jewish heritage when a long-lost Kanne cousin got in touch with him.

1967

MARRIES: Clark marries Gertrude Kingston who he met in 1963 at a Navy dance that he and his friends crashed in New York. The West Point cadet met Kingston, a native of Brooklyn, during her days as a Wall Street executive assistant.

8/68

Earned a Master's from Oxford in Philosophy, Politics and Economics.

1968-70

CLARK IN VIETNAM: Served in the Army in Vietnam. On Feb. 19, 1970, while he was a company commander with the 1st Infantry Division, his unit was involved in a firefight. Clark was hit four times. He initially recovered in Japan, but returned to the U.S. and rehabbed for a year, eventually receiving a Silver Star and Purple Heart.

11/1969

Son, Wesley K. Clark, Jr., born.

1971-74

Instructor and, later, assistant professor of social science at West Point

1975

Received Masters in military science from U.S. Army Command and General Staff College.

1975-76

IN THE WHITE HOUSE: Served in the Ford Administration as a White House Fellow and worked as a special assistant to the director of the Office of Management and Budget.

1976-78

Army operations officer in Europe.

1978-79

Assistant executive officer to the Supreme Allied Commander in Brussels.

2/80-6/82 Commander of the Army's 1st Battalion, 77th Armor, 4th Infantry Division at Fort Carson, Colorado.

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WESLEY CLARK TIMELINE cont.

7/83-9/83 Chief, Plans Integration Division, Office of the Chief of Staff for Operations and Plans, U.S. Army.

10/83-7/84 Chief, Army Study Group, Office of the Chief of Staff of the Army.

8/84-1/86 Commander, Operations Group, National Training Center, Fort Irwin, Calif.

4/86-3/88 Commander of the Army's 3rd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division at Fort Carson, Colorado.

4/88-10/89 Commander of the Battle Command Training Program at Fort Leavenworth, KS.

10/89-10/91 Commander of the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif.

10/91-8/92 Deputy Chief of Staff for Concepts, Doctrine and Developments with the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command at Fort Monroe, VA.

8/92-4/94 Became commander of the Army's 1st Calvary Division, Fort Hood, TX.

5/20/93

Named by President Clinton to the President's Commission on White House Fellowships for 1993-94.

4/94-6/96 Director, Strategic Plans and Policy, J5, Joint Chiefs of Staff in Washington.

1995

Served as the senior military member of the U.S. team crafting the Dayton peace accord to end the war in Bosnia.

4/18/96

Nominated by President Clinton to be Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Southern Command in Panama.

6/26/96

Officially becomes Commander-in-Chief, United States Southern Command, Panama.

3/31/97

SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER: Nominated by President Clinton to be Supreme Allied Commander of Europe and Commander-inChief of the U.S. European Command.

7/10/97

Took over as Supreme Allied Commander of Europe and Commander-in-Chief of the European Command.

3/24/99

KOSOVO: NATO begins its effort to stop the Kosovo conflict.

4/1/99

Clark speaks out about three American soldiers captured by Serb forces on 3/31. "We've all seen their pictures," he said. "We don't like it. We don't like the way they are [being] treated, and we have a long memory about these kinds of things."

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WESLEY CLARK TIMELINE cont.

6/20/99 9/24/99 5/2/00

6/00 8/9/00 5/11/01

7/2001

NATO ends air war against Yugoslavia after Serb forces pulled out of Kosovo. NATO Sec. Gen. Javier Solana saluted Clark and NATO's men and women in uniform.

Receives Defense Distinguished Service Medal at a Pentagon ceremony. Defense Secretary William Cohen said: "General Clark's leadership and personal demeanor created an atmosphere of cooperation within the North Atlantic Treaty organization Alliance that ensured accomplishment of the largest military and humanitarian operation in Europe since World War II.

CHANGE OF COMMAND; CLARK REPORTEDLY UNHAPPY: Clark is replaced as Commander in Chief of the European Command and NATO Supreme Allied Commander by former Joint Chiefs Vice Chairman Gen. Joseph Ralston at an official event in Stuttgart, Germany. The Washington Post reported that Clark was "stunned" by the move, which occurred two months early, and said it was one of the low points of his career. There were reports that Clark clashed with Cohen and other administration officials about the Kosovo war strategy. On September 23, 2003, Retired Gen. Hugh Shelton, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs referred to his early retirement as one of the reasons he would not vote for him for president. "I will tell you the reason he came out of Europe early had to do with integrity and character issues, things that are very near and dear to my heart," he said. Clark responds in November 2003 saying that Shelton's comments were a "smear" and that the problem was a "policy dispute" over Bosnia.

RETIRES: Clark retires from the military and joins the Washington office of the Stephens Group Inc., an Arkansas investment banking firm, on 7/5/00. He left Stephens in 2003 to open his own consulting firm.

Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Clinton.

PRAISE FOR THE GOP: Clark praises past GOP presidents, including Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, and goes even further and praises the current Bush administration. "If you look around the world, there's a lot of work to be done," he said. "And I'm very glad we've got the great team in office . . . Colin Powell, Don Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney and Condoleezza Rice . . . people I know very well - our President George W. Bush. We need them there because we've got some tough challenges ahead in Europe." The RNC conveniently sent out transcripts and tapes of the fundraiser at Clark's first debate in NYC (Clark responds 11/5/03).

Clark's first book, "Waging Modern War: Bosnia, Kosovo and the Future of Combat," is published

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WESLEY CLARK TIMELINE cont.

8/27/01 10/5/01 12/02 3/2003 3/9/03

5/12/03 5/31/03 6/15/03

PRESSED INTO TV SERVICE: Clark becomes a military analyst for CNN. Interestingly, he was signed just two weeks before the 9/11 attacks.

DINES WITH CLINTON; QUESTIONED ABOUT ARK GOV RACE: Dined with the former president and others in Little Rock. Following the dinner, he was asked if he was considering running for governor of Arkansas. "I just haven't seriously considered it," Clark said.

FUNDRAISING MEETING IN NEW YORK ARRANGED BY ALAN PATRICOF, WHO IS NOW THE NEW YORK FINANCE COMMITTEE CO-CHAIR.

Re-joined CNN as a military analyst for the Iraq war. Also became chairman and CEO of Wesley K. Clark & Associates, a consulting firm.

"I AM NOT A CANDIDATE": In a Washington Post interview, Clark said: "I am not a candidate. This is my story, and I'm sticking to it. ... I have not taken any money; I am not a member of a political party. I have no political consultants on the payroll. . . . I am just a concerned citizen participating in the dialogue."

NH VISIT: Visits Manchester, N.H. and again says "I am not a candidate." While in Manchester, he spoke to the Rotary Club, met with Segway inventor Dean Kamen and even took a swim in the YMCA pool.

NY VISIT: Spoke to the Democratic Rural Conference in Lake Placid, NY and criticized the current direction of the country. "I believe we need to redefine not only what America stands for abroad, we have to redefine what America stands for at home," he said.

CLARK ON "MEET THE PRESS"; ACCUSES WH OF MEDDLING IN TV ANALYSIS: Clark insinuated the White House called him on 9/11 to pressure him to link the attacks to Saddam Hussein while on CNN. "Well, it came from the White House, it came from people around the White House. It came from all over. I got a call on 9/11. I was on CNN, and I got a call at my home saying, 'You got to say this is connected. This is state-sponsored terrorism. This has to be connected to Saddam Hussein.' I said, 'But-I'm willing to say it, but what's your evidence?' And I never got any evidence." Clark later told Fox News' Sean Hannity it was not the White House but "a fellow in Canada who is part of a Middle Eastern think tank." On 7/18, the New York Times published a letter from Clark that reiterated his later claims that the White House did not ask him to link 9/11 to Saddam Hussein while he was on the air September 11.

When asked by Tim Russert if he was running for president, Clark said: "I'm going to have to seriously consider it. ... In many respects, I would like a chance to help this country. I've spent my entire life in public service,

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