Kenneth E. BeLieu

Kenneth E. BeLieu
Official portrait of Kenneth E. BeLieu as Under Secretary of the Army
United States Under Secretary of the Navy
In office 26 February 1965 – July 1965
Preceded by	Paul B. Fay
Succeeded by	Robert H. B. Baldwin
United States Under Secretary of the Army
In office September 1971 – June 1973
Preceded by	Thaddeus Beal
Succeeded by	Herman R. Staudt
Personal details
Born	(1914-02-10)February 10, 1914 Portland, Oregon
Died	February 10, 2001(2001-02-10) (aged 87) Sterling, Virginia
Alma mater	University of Oregon
Awards	Silver Star Bronze Star Medal Legion of Merit Croix de guerre
Military service
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Army
Years of service	1940-1955
Rank	Colonel
Battles/wars	World War II Korean War

Kenneth E. BeLieu (1914–2001) was the United States Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Installations and Logistics) 1961-65, Under Secretary of the Navy in 1965; Under Secretary of the Army 1971-73; and then director of the National Petroleum Council in the late 1970s.

Early life

Kenneth E. BeLieu was born in Portland, Oregon on February 10, 1914, the son of Ila Jean BeLieu and Perry G. BeLieu. After graduating from Theodore Roosevelt High School in 1933, he attended the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon, graduating in 1937.

Military career

After three years in business in Portland, in 1940, BeLieu enlisted in the United States Army as a Second Lieutenant. As a soldier during World War II, he participated in the Invasion of Normandy, the Battle of the Bulge, and the Western Allied invasion of Germany. BeLieu was awarded the Silver Star, the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star Medal, the Purple Heart, and the Croix de guerre.

Following the end of World War II, BeLieu served in several assignments with the Army in the United States Department of War and with the General Staff of the United States Army.

The Korean War saw BeLieu return to the field of battle and in 1950, BeLieu lost his left leg below the knee because of wounds received in combat. Upon discharge from hospital, BeLieu was assigned to the Office of the Secretary of the Army. There, he served as Executive Officer to two Secretaries of the Army, Frank Pace and later Robert T. Stevens. BeLieu retired from the Army in 1955 with the rank of colonel.

Political career

Upon leaving the army, BeLieu attended Harvard Business School's Advanced Management Program, graduating in 1955. From 1955 to 1960, BeLieu was a staff member of the professional staff of both the United States Senate Committee on Armed Services (serving as Staff Director of the Preparedness Investigating Subcommittee) and the United States Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences (serving as the committee's Staff Director).

In February 1961, President of the United States John F. Kennedy appointed BeLieu Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Installations and Logistics), a post he held for four years. In February 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson named BeLieu Under Secretary of the Navy, and he served in that capacity from February 26, 1965 until July 1965. During his time in the United States Department of the Navy, BeLieu was awarded the Navy Distinguished Public Service Award.

In July 1965, BeLieu left public service for the private sector. In the second half of the 1960s, he would serve as the President of the Leisure World in Laguna Beach, California (which is today Laguna Woods Village); as a member of the Defense Science Board; as a Member of the Board of Advisors of Ryan Aeronautical; and as a member of the Technical Advisory Board of RCA.

On January 21, 1969, President Richard Nixon appointed BeLieu Deputy Assistant to the President for Congressional Relations. He held this post until 1971, when President Nixon nominated him as United States Under Secretary of the Army; after being confirmed by the United States Senate, BeLieu was sworn in as Under Secretary of the Army on September 22, 1971. BeLieu served as Under Secretary of the Army until 1973.

Later life

In the late 1970s, he served as Director of the National Petroleum Council, a council that represented oil and natural gas companies' interests to the United States Secretary of Energy.

After BeLieu retired from government work in 1979, he became a consultant. He retired to Sterling, Virginia, where he died of cancer on February 10, 2001.

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References

United States Department of the Navy Secretaries Cabinet level Stoddert Smith Hamilton Jones Crowninshield S Thompson Southard Branch L. Woodbury Dickerson Paulding Badger Upshur Henshaw Gilmer Mason Bancroft Mason Preston Graham Kennedy Dobbin Toucey Welles Borie Robeson R Thompson Goff Hunt Chandler Whitney Tracy Herbert Long Moody Morton Bonaparte Metcalf Newberry Meyer Daniels Denby Wilbur Adams Swanson Edison Knox Forrestal Dept. of Defense Sullivan Matthews Kimball Anderson Thomas T. Gates Franke Connally Korth Nitze Ignatius Chafee Warner Middendorf Claytor Hidalgo Lehman Webb Ball Garrett O'Keefe Dalton Danzig England Winter Mabus Under Secretaries Forrestal Bard A. Gates Sullivan Kenney Kimball Whitehair Thomas T. Gates Franke Bantz Fay BeLieu Baldwin Baird Warner Sanders Middendorf Potter Macdonald Woolsey Murray Goodrich Garrett Howard Danzig Hultin Pirie Livingstone Aviles Work Assistant Secretaries Pre-1954 Fox Faxon Soley McAdoo T. Roosevelt Sr. Allen Hackett Darling Newberry Satterlee Winthrop F. Roosevelt G. Woodbury T. Roosevelt Jr. Robinson Jahncke H. Roosevelt Edison Compton Bard Hensel Kenney Andrews Koehler Askins Fogler Post-1954 Financial Management and Comptroller Installations and Environment Manpower and Reserve Affairs Research, Development and Acquisitions General Counsel of the Navy defunct: Air Installations and Logistics Material Research and Development Research, Engineering and Systems Shipbuilding and Logistics

U.S. Secretaries of War and the Army U.S. Department of War (1789–1949) Secretaries of War B. Lincoln Knox Pickering McHenry Dexter Dearborn Eustis Armstrong Monroe W. Crawford Calhoun Barbour P. Porter Eaton Cass Poinsett Bell Spencer J. Porter Wilkins Marcy G. Crawford Conrad J. Davis Floyd Holt S. Cameron Stanton Schofield Rawlins Belknap A. Taft J. Cameron McCrary Ramsey R. Lincoln Endicott Proctor Elkins Lamont Alger Root W. Taft Wright Dickinson Stimson Garrison Baker Weeks D. Davis Good Hurley Dern Woodring Stimson Patterson Royall Assistant Secretaries of War Scott Watson Tucker Wolcott Dana Eckert Grant Doe Meiklejohn Sanger Oliver Breckinridge Ingraham Crowell Williams Wainwright D. Davis MacNider Hurley Payne Woodring L. Johnson Patterson McCloy Petersen U.S. Department of the Army (1949–present) Secretaries of the Army Royall Gray Pace Stevens Brucker Stahr Vance Ailes Resor Froehlke Callaway Hoffmann C. Alexander Marsh Stone West Caldera White Harvey Geren McHugh Under Secretaries of the Army Draper Gray Voorhees A. Alexander Bendetsen E. Johnson Slezak Finucane Milton Ailes Ignatius Resor McGiffert Beal BeLieu Staudt Augustine LaBerge Ambrose Stone Shannon Reeder Walker Rostker Dahlberg Brownlee Geren Ford Westphal Carson

Kenneth E. BeLieu was succeeded as Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Installations and Logistics) by Graeme C. Bannerman (1965-68). <Typed Letter Signed on official ASN(I&L) letterhead dated 25 March 1965 in my autograph collection. Further research on Mr. Bannerman shows that his nomination as ASN(I&L) was confirmed by the Senate on 19Feb1965. See http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009989954 ...Ellington, BeLieu, and Bannerman nominations : hearing ... Eighty-ninth Congress, first session, on Buford Ellington, of Tennessee, to be Director of the Office of Emergency Planning; Kenneth E. BeLieu, of Oregon, to be Under Secretary of the Navy; Graeme C. Bannerman, of the District of Columbia, to be an Assistant Secretary of the Navy. February 18, 1965.>