John Otho Marsh, Jr.

John Otho Marsh, Jr. (born August 7, 1926) is an American politician and an Adjunct Professor at George Mason University School of Law.[1][2][3] He served as the United States Secretary of the Army from 1981 to 1989, and as United States House of Representatives from Virginia from 1963 to 1971.[1][4]

Biography

John Otto Marsh, Jr. was born in Winchester, Virginia, on 7 August 1926.[5][6] He joined the United States Army in 1944, and fought in World War II in Germany from 1945 to 1947.[4][5] He was a member of the United States Army Reserve from 1947 to 1951.[5] He graduated from Washington and Lee University in 1951.[1][5] He entered the Army National Guard in Virginia in 1951 and graduated from the Army's Airborne Infantry School in 1964.[5]

Meanwhile, in 1952, he was admitted to the Virginia Bar, and started practising Law in Strasburg, Virginia, where he served as town judge.[5] From 1954 to 1962, he was the town attorney in New Market, Virginia.[5] He served in the United States House of Representatives as a Democrat from Virginia from 1963 to 1971.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] He fought in the Vietnam War for a month without telling his fellow soldier he was a Congressman.[4] In 1973, he was appointed as Assistant Secretary of Defense, and in January 1974, as National Security Advisor for then-Vice President Gerald Ford.[1][2][7] Under President Ford, he became Counsellor to the President and held Cabinet rank.[1][2][6][4][7] From 1981 to 1989, he served as the United States Secretary of the Army under President Ronald Reagan.[1][2][3][6][4] He later served as Chairman and interim CEO of Novavax, a pharmaceutical company.[1][2] He still sits on its Board of Directors.[8] He was a confidant of Dick Cheney when he was Vice President.[7][9]

From 1998 to 1999, he was Visiting Professor of Ethics at the Virginia Military Institute, and Adjunct Professor of Law at The College of William & Mary from 1999 to 2000.[1] He now teaches a course on Technology, Terrorism and National Security Law at George Mason University.[1][10]

He is a former Co-Chair of the Independent Review Group for Walter Reed Hospital and Bethesda Navy Medical Center.[2][11] He is a member of the Markle Foundation.[3] The John O. Marsh Institute for Government and Public Policy at Shenandoah University is named for him.[12] He serves as chairman of the Board of the Reserve Forces Policy.[5]

He lives in Winchester, Virginia with his wife, together they have had three children and seven grandchildren.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k George Mason Law biography
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Forbes profile
  3. ^ a b c d MARKLE
  4. ^ a b c d e f Richard Halloran, 'Washington Talk - Working Profile: Army Secretary John O. Marsh Jr.; Military Leader Wins High Ground, Quietly', in The New York Times, January 03, 1989 [1]
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Bell, William Gardner (1992). "John Otho Marsh, Jr.". Secretaries of War and Secretaries of the Army. United States Army Center of Military History. CMH Pub 70-12. http://www.history.army.mil/books/sw-sa/Marsh.htm. 
  6. ^ a b c d Congress biography
  7. ^ a b c d Dick Cheney, In My Time: A Personal and Political Memoir, New York, NY: Threshold Editions, 2011, pp.71-72
  8. ^ Novavax Board of Directors
  9. ^ Washington Post
  10. ^ George Mason course
  11. ^ 'Wounds, real and political', in The Washington Times, July 2, 2007 [2]
  12. ^ John O. Marsh Institute

External links

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by
Burr Harrison		 Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Virginia's 7th congressional district
1963-1971		 Succeeded by
James Kenneth Robinson
Government offices
Preceded by
Clifford L. Alexander, Jr.		 United States Secretary of the Army
February 1981–August 1989		 Succeeded by
Michael P.W. Stone