Lucius D. Clay

General Lucius Dubignon Clay (April 23, 1898 – April 16, 1978) was a senior officer of the United States Army who was known for his administration of occupied Germany after World War II.[1] He served as the deputy to General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1945; deputy military governor, Germany, in 1946; Commander in Chief, United States Forces in Europe and military governor of the United States Zone, Germany, from 1947 to 1949. Clay orchestrated the Berlin Airlift (1948–1949) when the USSR blockaded West Berlin.

For other people named Lucius Clay, see Lucius Clay (disambiguation).

Lucius D. Clay
Born(1898-04-23)April 23, 1898[1]
Marietta, Georgia
DiedApril 16, 1978(1978-04-16) (aged 79)
Chatham, Massachusetts
Buried
West Point Cemetery
AllegianceUnited States
Service/branchUnited States Army
Years of service1918–1949
RankGeneral
Commands heldEuropean Command
Normandy Base Section
Battles/warsWorld War II
AwardsArmy Distinguished Service Medal (3)
Legion of Merit
Bronze Star Medal
RelationsAlexander S. Clay (father)
Lucius D. Clay Jr. (son)
Frank B. Clay (son)
Eugene H. Clay (brother)

Early life

Clay was born on April 23, 1898,[1] in Marietta, Georgia, the sixth and last child of Alexander S. Clay, who served in the United States Senate from 1897 to 1910. In 1918 Clay graduated from West Point, where he later taught.

Rise in influence

Clay held various civil and military engineering posts during the 1920s and 1930s, directing the construction of dams and civilian airports. Because Clay's work involved large government projects, he became closely acquainted with the people and workings of the Federal agencies and Congress. He achieved close working relationships with President Roosevelt associate Harry Hopkins and House majority leader and speaker Sam Rayburn. In Rayburn's state of Texas, Clay supervised the building of the Denison Dam; at the time of its completion, in 1943, the largest earthen dam in the world. From 1940 to the attack on Pearl Harbor, in December, 1941, Clay selected and supervised the construction of 450 airports, the foundation of America's civil aviation network.[2]

World War II

By March 1942 Clay had risen to the position of being the youngest brigadier general in the army, a month short of his 44th birthday. All the while he acquired a reputation for bringing order and operational efficiency out of chaos, and for being an exceptionally hard and disciplined worker, going long hours and refusing to even stop to eat during his workdays.

Clay did not see actual combat but was awarded the Legion of Merit in 1942, the Army Distinguished Service Medal in 1944, and received the Bronze Star Medal for his action in stabilizing the French harbor of Cherbourg, critical to the flow of war materiel. In 1945 he served as deputy to General Dwight D. Eisenhower. The following year, he was made Deputy Governor of Germany during the Allied Military Government.

Clay would later remark regarding the occupation directive guiding his and General Eisenhower's actions, "there was no doubt that JCS 1067 contemplated the Carthaginian peace which dominated our operations in Germany during the early months of occupation."[3]

OMGUS and Cold War
Clay with General of the Army D.D. Eisenhower at Gatow Airport in Berlin during the Potsdam Conference in 1945.

Clay heavily influenced United States Secretary of State James F. Byrnes' September 1946 speech in Stuttgart, Germany. The speech, "Restatement of Policy on Germany", marked the formal transition in American occupation policy away from the Morgenthau Plan of economic dismantlement to one of economic reconstruction. Clay was promoted to lieutenant general on 17 April 1945 and to general on 17 March 1947.

On March 15, 1947, Clay succeeded Joseph T. McNarney as military governor (or "high commissioner"[4]) of occupied Germany—the head of the OMGUS, the "Office of Military Government, United States". Clay's responsibilities covered a wide spectrum of social issues related to Germany's recovery from the war in addition to strictly military issues.[5] He commissioned Lewis H. Brown to research and write "A Report on Germany," which served as a detailed recommendation for the reconstruction of post-war Germany, and served as a basis for the Marshall Plan. Clay promoted democratic federalism in Germany and resisted US politicians who sought to undo a conservative constitution adopted in Bavaria.[6] He also closed the borders of the American Zone in 1947 to stem the tide of Jewish refugees who were generating tension with the local populations.[7]

Treatment of Nazis during governorship

Clay was responsible for the controversial commuting of some death sentences; for example, convicted Nazi war criminals Erwin Metz and his superior, Hauptmann Ludwig Merz, to only five years imprisonment (time served). Metz and Merz were commanders of the infamous Bergba, Thuringia slave labor camp in which 350 U.S. soldiers were beaten, tortured, starved, and forced to work for the German government during World War II. The soldiers were singled out for looking or sounding Jewish. At least 70 U.S. soldiers died in the camp or on a later forced "death march", some by the hand of Metz himself.[8][9] At the time West Germany was considered strategically vital in the Cold War developing between the West and Eastern Bloc nations. Releasing the offenders early had the intended effect of boosting German public opinion towards the United States.

Clay also reduced the sentence of Ilse Koch, the "Beast of Buchenwald", who had been convicted of murder at Nuremberg and who had infamously (and perhaps inaccurately) been accused of having gloves and lampshades made from prisoners' skin. The reductions in sentences were based on the hasty convictions of some Buchenwald personnel following the end of the war; evidence was sometimes questionable and many witnesses claimed to have been beaten by Allied interrogators.[10] Clay confirmed several death sentences as valid, commuted several and had some, including Ilse Koch, released after serving a reduced sentence due to questionable evidence.[11] Under the pressure of public opinion Koch was re-arrested in 1949 and tried before a West German court and on 15 January 1951 was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Berlin airlift
Clay on the cover of Time (July 12, 1948)

On June 26, 1948, two days after the Soviets imposed the Berlin Blockade, Clay gave the order for the Berlin Airlift (only afterwards receiving authorization from President Truman).[5] This was an act of defiance against the Soviets, an incredible feat of logistics[12] (at one point cargo planes landed at Tempelhof every four minutes, 24 hours a day), a defining moment of the Cold War, and a demonstration of American support for the citizens of Berlin.

Clay is remembered for ordering and maintaining the airlift, which would ultimately last 324 days, ending on September 30, 1949. He resigned his post days after the blockade was lifted on May 12, 1949.

Post military career

On May 15, 1949, Clay left Germany and was replaced by John McCloy as civilian high commissioner for Germany. Clay retired from the Army at the end of the month. In the same year he was elected as an honorary member of the North Carolina Society of the Cincinnati. In 1950 he became chairman of the Continental Can Company for 12 consecutive years.[13][14] He retired from Continental Can in 1962 to become a Senior Partner in Lehman Brothers investment banking house until his retirement in 1973.[13]

Cultural cold war

During this time he hired American intellectual and former U.S. Army combat historian Melvin J. Lasky. Lasky and Clay developed the concept of a "cultural cold war", through which the USSR would be combated on a psychological and intellectual level.[15] Clay was instrumental in creating, funding, and promoting Der Monat, a journal intended to support US foreign policy and win over German intellectuals. Copies of Der Monat were delivered along with supplies during the airlift.[16]

Clay also studied television propaganda and suggested that in Europe "you get this constant repeated propaganda without advertising and without break", but in the United States "the advertising gives you a direct feeling of assurance that you haven't got propaganda in the program being thrown at you."[17]

Eisenhower Administration and Crusade for Freedom
See also: Berlin Crisis of 1961

After OMGUS ended, Clay served the United States in other capacities. He had previous experience in 1933 with managing and organizing projects under the New Deal, and later became one of Dwight Eisenhower's closest advisers, assisting him in securing the 1952 Republican nomination and helping him select members of his cabinet upon ascension to the Presidency. When Eisenhower was in office, Clay served as his unofficial emissary in Europe. One of his first duties as President Eisenhower's emissary, and as the national chairman of the Crusade for Freedom, was to dedicate the city of Berlin's Liberty Bell.[18] In 1954, he was called upon by President Eisenhower to help forge a plan for financing the proposed Interstate highway system. During the Berlin Crisis of 1961, President John F. Kennedy asked him to be an adviser and to go to Berlin and report on the situation. Two years later Clay accompanied Kennedy on his trip to Berlin. During his famous Ich bin ein Berliner-speech Kennedy said: "I am proud (...) to come here in the company of my fellow American, General Clay, who has been in this city during its great moments of crisis and will come again if ever needed."

Foundations, Corporations, Committees 1950–1978

The George C. Marshall Foundation which oversees Clay's correspondences with corporations, foundations and committees[19] assembled an alphabetical list that gives a very good overview of his broad range of activities in those fields. General Clay served all of the following institutions in some capacity – as an associate, board member, or in a similar position.

Death and burial

Clay died on April 16, 1978 in Chatham, Massachusetts. Clay lies buried in West Point Cemetery, between the graves of Apollo I astronaut Ed White and Panama Canal chief engineer George W. Goethals. At Clay's grave site is a stone plate from the citizens of Berlin that says: "Wir danken dem Bewahrer unserer Freiheit" (We thank the Preserver of our Freedom).

Family

Clay was the father of two sons, both of whom became generals. Clay's son, General Lucius D. Clay Jr.,[20] held the positions of commander-in-chief of the North American Air Defense Command, the Continental Air Defense Command, and the United States element of NORAD, and was also a commander of the United States Air Force Aerospace Defense Command. Clay's other son, Major General Frank B. Clay, served in conflicts from World War II through the Vietnam War, and was an adviser to the US delegation at the Paris peace talks which ended US involvement in the Vietnam War.

Honors

Clay was given a ticker-tape parade, among many other honors, upon his return to the United States on May 19, 1949. He appeared on the cover of Time magazine three times. Clay also received an honorary doctorate of the Freie Universität Berlin and became an honorary citizen of Berlin (West) in 1953. One of the longest streets in West Berlin was named Clayallee in his honor, as was the Clay Headquarters Compound, which was located on the street. It held the headquarters of the Berlin Brigade, U.S. Army Berlin (USAB), and the U.S. Mission in Berlin.[21] Marietta, Georgia, named one of its major streets Clay Road, and South Cobb High School's football stadium is named "Clay Stadium" in honor of his work in creating what is now Dobbins Air Force Base there. While now called South Cobb Drive (State Route 280), it still carries memorial signs at each end dedicating the highway to him. In 1978 a new U.S. Army base in Northern Germany near the city of Bremen was named for Clay and until the end of the Cold War housed a forward-stationed brigade of the 2nd Armored Division, the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Armored Division, which had been based at Fort Hood, Texas, with the rest of the 2AD. This unit was redesignated as the 2nd Armored Division (Forward). 2AD (FWD) saw action in the Gulf War of 1991 before being disbanded as part of the post-Cold War drawdown of the U.S. Army. Since October 1, 1993, these barracks are used by the Bundeswehr but are still named after Clay. The "General-Clay-March" by Heinz Mertins, was written in his honor.[22] Wiesbaden Army Airfield, near Frankfurt, Germany, was renamed "Lucius D. Clay Kaserne" in honor of GEN Clay on 14 June 2012. Wiesbaden Army Airfield was used extensively in "Operation Vittles," aka the Berlin Airlift. The name "Lucius Clay" features in the song "The Legend of Wooley Swamp" by the Charlie Daniels Band. Clay had just died (of emphysema and heart failure) around the time the song was written.

Awards and decorations

Clay's decorations include: the Army Distinguished Service Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal, World War I Victory Medal, Army of Occupation of Germany Medal, American Defense Service Medal, American Campaign Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal, Army of Occupation Medal, Order of Kutuzov, Order of the British Empire, Military Order of the White Lion, Officer of the Military William Order, Commander of the Legion of Honour and Bundesverdienstkreuz (Grand Cross).

Promotions
InsigniaRankComponentDate
No insigniaCadetUnited States Military AcademyJune 15, 1915
Second lieutenantRegular ArmyJune 12, 1918
First lieutenantRegular ArmyJune 12, 1918
CaptainTemporaryJune 12, 1918
CaptainRegular ArmyFebruary 27, 1920
First lieutenantRegular ArmyNovember 18, 1922
CaptainRegular ArmyJune 19, 1933
MajorRegular ArmyMarch 1, 1940
Lieutenant colonelArmy of the United StatesJune 12, 1941
ColonelArmy of the United StatesSeptember 23, 1941
Brigadier generalArmy of the United StatesMarch 12, 1942
Lieutenant colonelRegular ArmyJuly 4, 1942
Major generalArmy of the United StatesDecember 3, 1942
Lieutenant generalArmy of the United StatesApril 17, 1945
Brigadier generalRegular ArmyMarch 5, 1946
GeneralArmy of the United StatesMarch 17, 1947
Major generalRegular ArmyJanuary 24, 1948
GeneralRegular Army, RetiredMay 31, 1949

[23]

See also

Notes
  1. When he entered West Point Clay stated the birth year as 1897 because he thought he was too young. The incorrect year became part of his military record; biographer Jean Edward Smith discovered the discrepancy in 1970. Smith, Jean Edward (2012). Eisenhower in War and Peace. Random House. pp. 28, 39. ISBN 978-0-679-64429-3.
  2. Lucius D. Clay: An American Life by Jean Edward Smith, New York: Henry, Holt & Company, 1990.
  3. A Nation at War in an Era of Strategic Change, p.129 (Google Books)
  4. "Max Lowenthal, Lawyer, Dies; Book on F.B.I. Stirred a Storm". New York Times. May 19, 1971. Retrieved August 19, 2017.
  5. Vaughn, Mark (February 5, 1998). "GENERAL LUCIUS DUBIGNON CLAY (1897–1978) – FATHER OF THE BERLIN AIRLIFT IN 1948 – 1949". Berlin Airlift Veterans Association. Retrieved September 18, 2012.
  6. Hudson, Walter M. (2004). "THE U.S. MILITARY GOVERNMENT AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF DEMOCRATIC REFORM, FEDERALISM, AND CONSTITUTIONALISM DURING THE OCCUPATION OF BAVARIA, 1945–47" (PDF). Military Law Review. 180. Retrieved September 18, 2012.
  7. "U.S. Army and the Holocaust". Encyclopedia Judaica. Macmillan Reference. 2008. Retrieved September 18, 2012.
  8. John W. Reifenrath. "An American Slave in Nazi Germany". Jewish Virtual Library.
  9. Wayne Drash (October 28, 2010). "'You don't forget': Medic's Holocaust diary tells story of hell". CNN. Retrieved October 7, 2020.
  10. Hackett, David A. (1997). The Buchenwald Report. Westview Press. ISBN 978-0-8133-3363-2.
  11. McCarthy, Jamie. "Frau Ilse Koch, General Lucius Clay, and Human-Skin Atrocities". Bloomberg News. Retrieved September 13, 2011.
  12. Clay speaks on Berlin Airlift, 1948/10/21 (1948). Universal Newsreel. 1948. Retrieved February 22, 2012.
  13. "The Papers of Lucius DuBignon Clay – Biographical and Subject Summary" George C. Marchall Research Foundation
  14. Kisatsky, Deborah: The United States and the European Right, 1945–1955. p.11 Ohio State University Press, 2005
  15. Lasky, Melvin (May 21, 2004). "Melvin Lasky". The Telegraph. Retrieved September 17, 2012.
  16. Saunders, Cultural Cold War (1999), pp. 30, 140.
  17. Anna McCarthy, The Citizen Machine: Governing by Television in 1950s America, New York: The New Press, 2010, p. 23.
  18. Bennett, Lowell. Freedom Bell Tolls Message of Hope and Faith, in Information Bulletin, High Commission of Germany, November 1950.
  19. The Papers of Lucius DuBignon Clay – Biographical and Subject Summary George C. Marshall Research Foundation (Undated)
  20. "Lucius D. Clay Jr. USAF Biography". Archived from the original on February 11, 2004. Retrieved December 19, 2006.
  21. Headquarters of the Berlin Brigade named after General Lucius D. Clay Archived January 4, 2005, at Archive.today
  22. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sg7h2jx8aq0
  23. Official Register of Officers of the United States Army. 1948. Vol. 1. pg. 349.

References
External video
Booknotes interview with Jean Edward Smith on Lucius D. Clay: An American Life, November 18, 1990, C-SPAN
  • Cherny, Andrei "The Candy Bombers: The Untold Story of the Berlin Airlift and America's Finest Hour" 2009 (New York: Berkley Caliber)
  • Judge, Clark S. "Clay, Lucius." in Tracy S. Uebelhor, ed. The Truman Years, Presidential Profiles (New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2006)
  • Hackett, David A. The Buchenwald Report. 1997 Westview Press ISBN 0-8133-3363-6
  • Saunders, Francis Stonor, Who Paid the Piper?: CIA and the Cultural Cold War, 1999, Granta, ISBN 1-86207-029-6 (USA: The Cultural Cold War: The CIA and the World of Arts and Letters, 2000, The New Press, ISBN 1-56584-596-X).
  • Smith, Jean Edward. Lucius D. Clay: An American Life New York: Henry, Holt & Company, 1990.

Primary sources
  • Jean Edward Smith. The Papers Of General Lucius D. Clay Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1974.
Military offices
Preceded by
Joseph T. McNarney		 Commanding General of the European Command
1947–1949		 Succeeded by
Clarence R. Huebner
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