Background
Alfred Maximilian Gruenther was born on March 3, 1899 in Platte Center, Nebraska, United States. He was the son of Mary "Mayme" Shea, a school teacher, and Maximilian Gruenther, a newspaper editor who published the Platte Center Signal.
Alfred Maximilian Gruenther was born on March 3, 1899 in Platte Center, Nebraska, United States. He was the son of Mary "Mayme" Shea, a school teacher, and Maximilian Gruenther, a newspaper editor who published the Platte Center Signal.
Alfred Gruenther attended St. Thomas Academy in Saint Paul, Minnesota. In June 1917, he entered the United States Military Academy at West Point and after studying for nineteen months, graduated early due to the wartime, on 1 November 1918, with a rank of fourth in a class of 277. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Field Artillery but after the Armistice he was recalled to West Point to complete his training, and graduated a second time in June 1919.
Until May 1935, when Alfred Gruenther was promoted to captain, he served various tours of duty including teaching mathematics, electricity and chemistry at West Point for eight years.
In September 1941, he, now a major, took part in the Army's Louisiana Maneuvers, the largest war exercises since World War I. Nearly 400,000 troops were involved. His performance was noticed by the Chief of Staff of the General Headquarters, United States Army (GHQ), Lt. Gen. Lesley J. McNair.
In October 1941, Alfred Gruenther was promoted to lieutenant colonel, and became deputy chief of staff and then chief of staff of the Third Army as a colonel under Lt. Gen. Walter Krueger, headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. Gruenther's immediate commanding officer was Dwight D. Eisenhower, and the two became bridge partners.
Alfred Gruenther was an adviser and planner to top generals in World War II. He possessed a strong power of analytical reasoning with capacity both to detail and overall perspective for which his colleagues called him the Brain. In 1942, he was promoted to brigadier general and became a deputy chief of staff of Allied Force Headquarters in London under Gen. Eisenhower, who assigned him the Operation Torch development. A year later, he was promoted to major general and served as chief of staff of the Fifth Army, and the 15th Army Group under Gen. Mark W. Clark; he was the principal planner of the allied invasions of North Africa in 1942 and Italy in 1943.
After the end of World War II in 1945, Alfred Gruenther served as deputy commander of U.S. forces in Austria. In 1946-1947, he was appointed deputy commandant of the recently established National War College.
In 1947, he served as Director of the Joint Staff and then Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1947-1949. In 1949, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general and served as the U.S. Army's deputy chief of staff for plans and operations.
In 1951, Alfred Gruenther was promoted to four-star general and appointed as the Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (COFS SHAPE) under Gen. Eisenhower, who became the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR). He continued to serve under Gen. Matthew Ridgway and later replaced him as SACEUR. From 11 July 1953 to 20 November 1956, he was Supreme Allied Commander, Europe/Commander in Chief, U.S. European Command (SACEUR/USCINCEUR). On December 31, 1956, Gruenther retired from the Army.
From January 1957 to March 1964, he was president of the American Red Cross. As head of the Red Cross, he personally visited and inspected disaster areas in the United States. He made frequent public appearances, captivating the audience with "easy manner and conversational style."He received several awards for International Red Cross related activities, which included visits to Russia and Poland.
In the 1956 presidential campaign, Gruenther's name was placed on the list of possible candidates for the Republican nomination after Eisenhower's heart attack on September 24, 1955. After serving two terms, President Eisenhower considered Gruenther as a possible alternative to Richard Nixon for the Republican presidential nomination in 1960, and later suggested Alfred Gruenther as a potential vice-president for Nixon, but ultimately realized that Gruenther did not have the political base required to get either place on the ticket.
Alfred Gruenther served on the boards of Dart Industries, Inc., New York Life Insurance Company, and Pan American World Airways. He also served on the Draper Committee and several presidential commissions on draft, health and disarmament. He was a president of the English-Speaking Union.
Alfred Gruenther died of complications after pneumonia at Walter Reed Army Hospital, and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
Quotes from others about the person
General Eisenhower characterized Alfred Gruenther as: "one of the ablest all-around officers, civilian or military, I have encountered."
In 1922, Alfred Gruenther married Grace Elizabeth Crum of Jeffersonville, Indiana, who gave birth to two sons, Donald A. Gruenther, and Richard L. Gruenther; they both became career military officers. His great-grandson, USAF Captain Lucas Gruenther died at the age of 32 while flying F-16 jet fighter on January 28, 2013, during a training mission over the Adriatic Sea.