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Above is an audio intro to the presentation! Please listen before proceeding.

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Birth: Born 1860 in Laclede Missouri (History.com Editors, 2018)
Early Years: Taught school to African American students (History.com Editors, 2018)
Schooling: Attended West Point Military Academy in 1882.  Graduated 30th position of 77 classmates (History.com Editors, 2018)
Early Military Career: Spent his early career fighting against Apache and Sioux tribes in the American southwest.  Drawing a comparison to his early years, he became First Lieutenant of an all black regiment.  He admired his soldiers, and spoke highly of them to others - this, combined with his staunch adherence to discipline, earned him to nickname "Black Jack" (History.com Editors, 2018) He served in many instructional roles, from a military instructor at the University of Nebraska (where he also earned his law degree) to an instructor of Tactics at West Point, with various military campaigns sprinkled in (Library of Congress, n.d.)
Becoming commander of Army in European campaign: Pershing progressively rose through the ranks with successful campaigns - he organized the Bureau of Insular Affairs and was chief through 1899 (Library of Congress, n.d.) he served in Spanish-American War in Cuba with Theodore Roosevelt where he earned a Silver Star and was promoted to Captain.  Following the Cuba, he led successful campaigns in the Philippines which led to his promotion to Brigadier General from Roosevelt (who had become president) (History.com Editors, 2018).  Shortly after his return home from the Philippines, he was restationed in San Francisco, where after a fire broke out, his wife and three daughters perished (History.com Editors, 2018). He thrust himself further into his work, and lead a successful force in to Mexico in pursuit of Pancho Villa, who had been attacking New Mexican towns.  President Wilson was impressed with the way he lead this expedition, and decided he would be the commandar of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) of over two million troops in to Europe to assist with the suppression of the German forces (History.com Editors, 2018).

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Attributes:

Learned from mistakes he made (TheGreatWar, 2018)

Exhibited courage by stopping when something was failing, sought different training, and regrouped his men (TheGreatWar, 2018)

If viewed in positive context: Strongly convicted - believed that the American Army should stay as one group instead of splitting or putting troops under Allied command (TheGreatWar, 2018)

Flaws:

If viewed in negative context: Inflexible (TheGreatWar, 2018)

Not charismatic or loved by his men after his wife and children's death (TheGreatWar, 2018)

Failed to see "human cost" of his actions - Still holds the record for the largest amount of casualties in a single offensive with Meuse-Argonne, which ended with 26,000 Americans killed and 95,000 wounded (Ruane, 2018)

Note: I chose to put his inflexibility / strong conviction as both a strong and negative context.  In my opinion, his unwavering stance on splitting the Army, and requirement to train a strong army was probably the best thing for his men, and ultimately this looks like a positive trait to me.  His inflexible stance on the best way to win the war made the Americans rely heavily on European machine warfare (tanks and planes) because he thought infantry was the best way to win the war.  This inflexibility could have cost them dearly, especially if the European support in these areas failed to deliver (TheGreatWar, 2018)

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Accomplishments:

Created and equipped an army millions strong in a year (TheGreatWar, 2018)

Created "general staff" system that is still used by today's military (TheGreatWar, 2018)

Improved military education (TheGreatWar, 2018)

Credited for creating successful protégés in WWII generals (TheGreatWar, 2018)

Responsible for the Philippines staying loyal to the US through WWII (TheGreatWar, 2018)

Failures:

Did not make full use of air power or tanks (TheGreatWar, 2018)

Boldly claimed infantry and morale were the decisive factors for battles (TheGreatWar, 2018)

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Gabel Analysis:
Challenges accepted social norms: Pershing's praise and admiration of black soldiers was unheard of at the time - he did so unabashedly (History.com Editors, 2018)
Challenges political context: Did not bow-down to the wishes of the allied commanders, held his line and fiercely opposed integration in to allied forces (History.com Editors, 2018)
Makes the most of resources at hand: Utilized the time available to maximize training opportunities for his men prior to deployment (TheGreatWar, 2018)
Exploits technology better than opponents:  Although Pershing did not make use of tanks or aircraft, his Infantry tactics were solid, and he was able to leverage the use of Allied air and mechanized units to support his infantry successfully (TheGreatWar, 2018)
Character traits hold up under extreme stress: Despite extreme pressure from other high-ranking Allied commanders, he did not break away from his strategy and battle plan to keep allied troops together. (TheGreatWar, 2018)

Clausewitz Analysis:
Personal Courage: Courage to stand up for his men, courage to fight life-long military battles, courage to stand up to other commanders (TheGreatWar, 2018)
Intellect: Highly educated - spent much of his life as a student and a teacher (History.com Editors, 2018)
Energy: Lifelong dedication to the Army, spent majority of his adult life commanding various forces (Library of Congress, n.d.)
Firmness: Strict adherence to discipline and proper training of his forces (TheGreatWar, 2018)
Staunchness: Refusal to sway from his battle plans and tactics, refusal to integrate his army in to allied forces (TheGreatWar, 2018)
Strength of Mind: Went through person trials with death of wife and daughter, still was able to be a Great Commander and lead successful campaigns in Mexico and Europe (History.com Editors, 2018)
Strength of Character:  Overall support of his men, whatever color they were, and protecting his men from being subjected to command of other leaders (TheGreatWar, 2018)

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Pershing as the "CEO Leader"

When looking at Pershing in comparison to the other Great Commanders we've learned about in class thus far, there are some clear differences and adaptations that show Pershing in more of a CEO role more so than other commanders.  Rather than swinging a sword and riding in to battle amongst his men, Pershing acted more as a conductor, moving his men in and out of battle and taking more of a "helicopter" tactical view of how his men were operating rather than being "in the weeds" amongst his men. (TheGreatWar, 2018) He put a high value on training and empowerment of his subordinates, assigning his other commanders to handle "in the weeds" decisions of his groups of men rather than him having to be involved in every decision.  In this way, he went from a "middle management" mindset where he still had to approve every decision to a "CEO" mindset, where he was responsible for only the highest level decisions of the organization (or in this case, AEF) as a whole.

As a business student, I believe that Pershing's style of leadership is the most applicable to the modern era of business on a holistic level, and for me, he has been the most interesting commander to learn about so far!

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Great Commanders / Edited by Christopher R. Gabel, Ph.D. and James H. Willbanks, Ph.D.

History.com Editors. (2009, October 29). John J. Pershing. History.com. Retrieved December 19, 2021, from https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/john-j-pershing

John J. Pershing Timeline. The Library of Congress. (n.d.). Retrieved December 19, 2021, from https://www.loc.gov/collections/john-pershing-papers/articles-and-essays/timeline/

Ruane, M. E. (2018, September 26). America's bloodiest battle happened 100 years ago this month. it claimed 26,000 lives. The Washington Post. Retrieved December 19, 2021, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2018/09/26/americas-bloodiest-battle-happened-years-ago-this-month-it-claimed-lives/

TheGreatWar. (2018, August 20). Creating an american army - John J. Pershing I who did what in WW1? YouTube. Retrieved December 19, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xffX-4jC-4g&amp;ab_channel=TheGreatWar