Wesley Clark

Biography

Wesley Clark was born Wesley Kanne in Chicago in 1944. After his father's death his mother moved the family to Little Rock, Arkansas, where she remarried and his stepfather adopted him. He entered West Point in 1962 and graduated first in the class of 1966, then studied philosophy, politics and economics at Magdalen College, Oxford, as a Rhodes Scholar. As an infantry company commander in Vietnam he was shot four times in February 1970 and received the Silver Star.

He rose through the Army as a staff officer and commander, serving as a White House Fellow in 1975, as a special assistant to Supreme Allied Commander Alexander Haig in 1978-79, and as commander of the National Training Center in 1989-91. As director of strategic plans and policy on the Joint Staff from 1994 to 1996 he was the military member of Richard Holbrooke's Bosnia negotiating team, which produced the Dayton Agreement. He then headed U.S. Southern Command.

In 1997 he became NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe and head of U.S. European Command. He directed Operation Allied Force, the 1999 air campaign against Yugoslavia over Kosovo, and afterwards ordered British troops to stop Russian forces at Pristina airport, an order the British commander refused. He was told to leave his command early and retired in 2000.

After working at the Arkansas investment firm Stephens Inc. he founded his own consulting company in 2003 and testified at the war crimes trial of Slobodan Milošević. Entering the 2004 Democratic presidential primaries late, he won only Oklahoma and withdrew in February 2004 to back John Kerry. He later formed the political action committee WesPAC and has worked in business as a consultant and investment banker.