A military strategist of the nuclear age
During the Cuban Missile Crisis, he presented the military options and then conveyed the president’s blockade decision to the armed forces.
Maxwell Taylor was a U.S. Army officer who moved from airborne command in World War II to a central military and diplomatic role in the Cold War. He criticized the Eisenhower administration’s nuclear-heavy “New Look” and argued for stronger conventional forces and flexible response. Trusted by John F. Kennedy, he served as presidential military representative and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; during the Cuban Missile Crisis he joined EXCOMM, presented military options, and conveyed the president’s blockade decision to the armed forces. He later supported expanding U.S. involvement in Vietnam, revealing both the reach and limits of Cold War military strategy.
Career Timeline
- 1922Second lieutenant, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
- 1942–1945Commander, 82nd Airborne artillery; commanding general, 101st Airborne Division
- 1949–1951Commander of Allied troops in West Berlin
- 1953–1955Commander, Eighth United States Army; Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Administration
- 1955–1959Chief of Staff of the United States Army
- 1961–1962Military representative to the President
- 1962–1964Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; EXCOMM member
- 1964–1965U.S. ambassador to South Vietnam