Taylor, Maxwell D. (Maxwell Davenport), 1901-1987

Variant names
Dates:
Birth 1901-08-26
Death 1987-04-19
Gender:
Male
Americans
Spanish; Castilian, French, English

Biographical notes:

Maxwell Davenport Taylor (August 26, 1901 – April 19, 1987) was a senior United States Army officer and diplomat of the mid-20th century.[1] He served with distinction in World War II, most notably as commander of the 101st Airborne Division, nicknamed "The Screaming Eagles."

After the war, he served as the fifth Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, having been appointed by President John F. Kennedy. He is the father of biographer and historian John Maxwell Taylor and of military historian and author Thomas Happer Taylor.

Maxwell Taylor was born in Keytesville, Missouri, on 26 August 1901. The 1920s and 1930s were formative for his longtime career as an Army officer. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1922 and was commissioned a second lieutenant of engineering in June 1922. Taylor served in Hawaii with the 3d Engineers from 1923–1926. Transferred to field artillery, serving with the 10th Field Artillery from 1926–1927, he was promoted to first lieutenant in February 1927. Well versed in languages, Taylor studied French in Paris and was instructor in French and later Spanish at West Point from 1927–1932. In 1933, he graduated from the Field Artillery School at Fort Sill and the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth in 1935. Promoted to captain in August 1935, Taylor became a student of Japanese at the American embassy in Tokyo from 1935–1939, with detached military attache duty at Peking, China in 1937.

In 1940, Taylor graduated from the Army War College and was promoted to permanent major. After graduation, he served in the War Plans Division and on a Hemisphere defense mission to Latin American countries and commanded the 12th Field Artillery Battalion, 1940–1941. Taylor served in the Office of the Secretary of the General Staff from 1941–1942. With United States entry into World War II, he rapidly went through a series of temporary promotions to lieutenant colonel in December 1941, colonel in February 1942, and brigadier general in December 1942. Taylor was chief of staff of the 82d Airborne Divisionv in 1942, and then its artillery commander in operations in Sicily and Italy from 1942–1944 He again received temporary promotion to major general in May 1944, commanding the 101st Airborne Division, also known as the Screaming Eagles, in the Normandy invasion and the Western European campaigns. By June 1945, Taylor was promoted to permanent lieutenant colonel. In September 1945, he became the Superintendent of West Point, serving there for four years.

Taylor achieved brigadier general by January 1948 and was chief of staff of the European Command in 1949. He commanded the United States forces in Berlin from 1949–1951. Made permanent major general in August 1951, Taylor was assistant chief of staff for operations, G–3, and deputy chief of staff for operations and administration from 1951–1953. He was commander of the Eighth Army in the final operations of the Korean War in 1953 and initiated the Korean armed forces assistance program that year. Taylor commanded United States Forces, Far East, and the Eighth Army from 1954–1955, and then was commander in chief, United Nations Command, in 1955. The next four years he was chief of staff of the United States. Taylor opposed dependence upon a massive retaliation doctrine, pushed for an increase in conventional forces to ensure a capability of flexible response, guided the transition to a "pentomic" concept, and directed Army participation in sensitive operations at Little Rock, Lebanon, Taiwan, and Berlin. He retired from active service July 1959.

Afflicted with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (also called "Lou Gehrig's disease"), Taylor spent his last three months at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Wp>ashington, DC, and died at 85 years of age on April 19, 1987. He was interred at Arlington National Cemetery.

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Subjects:

  • Ambassadors
  • Ambassadors
  • United States. Army
  • Bay of Pigs Invasion, Cuba, 1961
  • Military attachés
  • Military ceremonies, honors, and salutes
  • Vietnam War, 1961-1975
  • West Point
  • World War, 1939-1945
  • World War II, 1939-1945
  • Ambassadors

Occupations:

  • Army officers
  • Commanders

Places:

  • Washington, D. C., DC, US
  • Missouri, MO, US

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