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In the end, Pershing can be easily considered a great commander.  The Allied forces during WWI were exhausted in both a morale and logistical sense so when the U.S. entered into the war the turning of the tide was really not surprising.  However, fresh legs and more supplies do not always mean success will be found, the people in charge need to be aware of the situation and come in with a good strategy.  Pershing was able to build the military of the United States by proving his ability to lead and thus building trust with those who were taking note of his successes and with those who were inspired by him.

Considering the fact that Pershing is often mentioned to be the example of the first modern commander, learning from him is important so we can continue to evolve the leadership role.  We can examine how he led from afar to better gauge the situation and strategize more effectively.  Survivability of the leader has also become more important in today's warfare as having a truly great commander is not an every day occurrence.

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Photo of John J. Pershing.  Photo from the Collections of the Army and Navy Club.

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There are two facts about General Pershing that I find to be quite interesting.  The first one being the fact that his style of leadership for commanding over the United States' military was not like that of other great commanders before him.  Rather than leading from the front he is what many might say to have been more "hands off" but he was still just as involved as if he were to be on the front lines.  With new technologies for communication and the changing nature of war at the time, Pershing became more of a manager of the military rather than a front line commander.  I believe this was the point in time where military leadership began to shift what was being required of the role into one that strategized from afar more and relied upon delegating tasks to those out in the field more.  This loosely reflects management in the business world where the executives are creating the strategy for organization to use and distributing it to the lower ranking employees and managers to actually execute from logistical and operational perspectives.

The other fact about Black Jack Pershing I find to be interesting is him being the champion to the military awards and medals that we all know of today. Upon arrival into Europe for World War I, it is believed that Pershing saw the English and French soldiers wearing all sorts of badges and medals signifying things they had done to earn recognition and honor and at this time the United States had nothing outside of the Medal of Honor and receiving this medal was quite meaningful to the recipient but equally as rare (Borch, 2016). There are many theories of motivation that exist that both businesses and the military have relied on and one of these being extrinsic, or incentive, based theory. This theory states that some individuals can be motivated to perform better if there is a reward that they may receive for going beyond their expected duty (Cherry, 2022), and having medals awarded to individuals based on the performance of their duties can help keep people motivated to keep doing so. Perhaps Pershing realized this and began pushing for the idea of the medal system that we have not only to make our own soldiers appear more distinguished but also to assist in motivating them to be the best they can be at their job.

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John J. Pershing was born in Laclede, Missouri in 1860 and lived a fairly normal life in his younger years.  He went through school and graduated from high school at the time and shortly afterwards went on to teach at one of the local schools (Gabel & Willbanks, 2010, p. 138).  After growing tired of this lifestyle, he enrolled into the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and quickly showed his talents as a leader.

His success at West Point led him to be placed with cavalry and it was likely during this point where he earned the nickname of "Black Jack".  This name was given to him due to him being assigned to a unit of soldiers that consisted only of African-Americans.  Pershing found his success continuing in the Spanish-American War and also found himself gaining the respect and admiration from his superiors for remaining calm and focused during tense situations and battles, such as the Battle of San Juan Hill.  Afterwards, he found himself being quickly promoted to Brigadier General and this promotion is quite remarkable as roughly 860 other potential officers were passed over for this rank (National Park Services, n.d.).

When it came to the United States' entrance into World War I, Pershing was adamant that the force the United States was bringing into the war remain commanded independently of the rest of the Allied nations' forces.  While Pershing was a good commander for the United States' forces during WWI, the offensive to take over Sedan is often criticized as being a negative mark on his military record.  The Americans suffered many casualties due to friendly fire and blown opportunities to attack due to other Allied forces moving in too early in order to claim victory over the American forces.  Pershing may not be to blame for all of these decisions but with seemingly being inflexible to work with the Allied nations to draw up plans to take over Sedan, was he being overconfident in his own plans?

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Personally, I do feel as if Pershing was a great commander.  He showed where he had the intelligence that Clausewitz bases his definition of leadership off of by graduating near the top of his class from West Point.  While academic success does not directly translate to military success, being a more intelligent individual will make evaluating battlefield situations and making proper decisions off of that information easier.

Being unwavering in his duties is beneficial for him being considered a great commander and leader as it lends credit to his firmness in making decisions and sticking with them.  Woodrow Wilson's goal from WWI was to establish what became the League of Nations (White House Historical Association, n.d.) and Pershing being commander of the United States' forces had his goals to keep the U.S. force independent of the rest of the Allied nations in terms of being commanded.  This determination to stick with the goal is one thing that can make or break a commander and their reputation.  For Pershing, perhaps this feeling of being bound to follow those goals made him inflexible in dealing with the other commanders of the Allied nations; but, since the United States' entry into WWI was a turning point for the war the contrasting view is that maybe this dedication by Pershing is what made this be the turning point.

Another attribute to Pershing was his ability to notice talent that individuals possessed. This ability helped him immensely leading up to the first World War in order to raise the numbers of the United States' military. While he may not have been able to see the talent that each and every newly enlisted member of the military may have had, he was able to recognize those that would go above and beyond their expected duties.

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Borch, F. (2016). "Pershing's gallant legacy". Military History, 32 (6). p.36.  https://web.s.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=5&sid=d5a7ed82-65a3-4fe7-8d5a-59ab0e7f702c%40redis&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPXVpZCZzaXRlPWVob3N0LWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%3d%3d#AN=111525548&db=aph

Cherry, K. (2022). What is extrinsic motivation. Verywellmind.com. https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-extrinsic-motivation-2795164

Clinedinst Portrait Photographers. (1917). "Portrait of Major General John Pershing of the National Army". Retrieved from The Army and Navy Club. https://collections.armynavyclub.org/objects/major-general-john-pershing-of-the-national-army/

Gabel, C. & Willbanks, J. (2010). Great commanders. "Chapter 5: John J. Pershing". p. 135. Fort Leavenworth, KS: Combat Studies Institute Press. https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Portals/7/combat-studies-institute/csi-books/GreatCommanders.pdf

Gabel, C. & Willbanks, J. (2010). Great commanders. "Chapter 5: John J. Pershing". p. 138. Fort Leavenworth, KS: Combat Studies Institute Press. https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Portals/7/combat-studies-institute/csi-books/GreatCommanders.pdf

National Park Services. (n.d.). John Pershing - Success and tragedy. Presidio of San Francisco. https://www.nps.gov/prsf/learn/historyculture/john-pershing.htm

White House Historical Association. (n.d.). Woodrow Wilson. About the White House - Past Presidents. whitehouse.gov. https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/woodrow-wilson/

Zabecki, D. T. (2018). "Racing headlong". Military History, 35(1). p. 30. https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=b253ea52-cf30-4893-bba0-94accac6419a%40redis&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPXVpZCZzaXRlPWVob3N0LWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%3d%3d#AN=128280058&db=aph

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I believe one thing that is very fascinating about Pershing's leadership is the fact that he was one of the first well-known commanders in military history to have led from afar rather than up near the front (Gabel & Willbanks, 2010, p. 135).  Having a commander near the front lines is great for morale and imposing confidence into your own forces, but the risks for it are extremely high especially if there is little clue on who should be next in charge.  Additionally, Pershing realized that he was better off utilizing the more modern communication technology to communicate to his troops his plans.

I do feel that Pershing may have lacked foresight into his plans, especially during the assault on Sedan.  During that battle, he was wanting to draw the German forces out of hiding and their defensive positions (Zabecki, 2018).  While this makes logical sense in order to break the seemingly impenetrable German defenses, luring them out into the open was never going to work as the Germans had been in that position for several years and were well versed on how to effectively defend it.

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HS 315: Leadership and Great Commanders

Date: May 23rd, 2023

Name: Joshua Rounds