General,
investment banker, and candidate for
President of the United States of America in
2004.
He was born in Little Rock, Arkansas on December 23, 1944. After he graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1966, he spent two years working on a master's degree at the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. He then attended the National War College, trained as both Ranger and Airborne, and completed the advanced Armor Officer course. He jumped from job to job across the broad spectrum of Army command positions, including:
- White House fellow, 1975 - 1976
- Commander of the 1st Battalion, 77th Armor, 4th Infantry Division, 1980 - 1982
- Chief of the Plans Integration Division, 1983
- Chief of the Army's Study Group, 1983 - 1984
- Commander Operations Group, National Training Center, 1984 - 1986
- Commander of the 3rd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, 1986 - 1988
- Commander of the National Training Center, 1989 - 1991
- Deputy Chief of Staff for Concepts, 1991 - 1992
- Commander of the 1st Cavalry Division, 1992 - 1994
- Director of Strategic Plans and Policy, Joint Chiefs of Staff, 1994 - 1996
- Commander of United States Southern Command, 1996 - 1997
The awards he racked up during this period include:
In July of
1997, General Clark became
SACEUR, the highest officer in
NATO's
European command structure and the head of the
United States European Command. His crowning achievement during this time was
Operation Allied Force, the liberation of
Kosovo from
Slobodan Milosevic.
In May of 2000, Clark retired from the Army, went to work as an investment banker at Stephens, Inc., and started his own defense consulting firm.
After months of speculation about whether or not he would enter the 2004 U.S. presidential election, Clark officially declared his candidacy as the tenth Democratic contender on September 17, 2003. He was a much more left-wing candidate than his military resume would indicate, favoring affirmative action, open immigration, lower class sizes in public schools, abortion rights, prison reform, gun control ("people who like assault weapons should join the United States Army, we have them"), etc., etc.
Although the buzz surrounding Clark's entry was pronounced in 2003, it fizzled out in 2004, and Clark dropped out in February after winning just one state (Oklahoma).