Background
Joseph Stilwell was born on March 19, 1883, in Palatka, Florida, United States.
Joseph Stilwell was born on March 19, 1883, in Palatka, Florida, United States.
He graduated from the U. S. Military Academy in 1914. In 1919 Stilwell was appointed to study Chinese at the University of California, Berkeley.
During World War I he served with the IV Corps in combat intelligence.
In 1920 he sailed for the first of three tours of duty in China. After 1935 he served as military attaché to the Chinese government. Stilwell's work as a tactician and trainer impressed his superiors in Washington.
Following the Japanese assault on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the U. S. War Department, to sustain and strengthen Chinese resistance to the Japanese invaders, ordered Stilwell to improve the Chinese army as chief of staff to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, take command of all United States forces in the China-Burma-India theater, and direct all Chinese forces in Burma (now Myanmar). In April 1942, however, the Japanese defeated Stilwell's forces in Burma and cut off the Burma Road, a Chinese supply line.
Known as "Vinegar Joe" because of his integrity, his refusal to ingratiate himself with others, and the demands he placed on those around him, Stilwell despised Chiang Kaishek and made no effort to conceal it. He recoiled at the administrative paralysis in the wartime Chinese capital. Three times, directly and indirectly, Chiang sought Stilwell's recall. In 1944 Stilwell was to command all Chinese forces, but Chiang managed through President Franklin Roosevelt to force Stilwell's removal from China. Stilwell warned the American government against the Chinese central government, placing more faith in the more efficient Chinese Communists at Yenan. At the time of his death at San Francisco, Calif. , on October 12, 1946, Stilwell commanded the 6th Army.
Joseph Warren Stilwell was the Army officer in charge of U. S. affairs in China during World War II. Although distrustful of his Allies, Stilwell showed himself to be a capable and daring tactician in the field but a lack of resources meant he was continually forced to improvise. He famously differed as to strategy, ground troops versus air power, with his subordinate, Claire Chennault, who had the ear of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek.
On August 24, 2000, the United States Postal Service issued the first 10¢ Distinguished Americans series postage stamp honoring Stilwell.
The award for the Outstanding Overall Cadet, Senior Division, in the California Cadet Corps is named the General Joseph W. Stilwell Award.
Streets in Marina, California and Kendall Park, New Jersey are named for him.
Barbara W. Tuchman records that Stilwell was a lifelong Republican: ". .. he retained the family Republicanism and joined naturally in the exhilarating exercise of Roosevelt-hating" and later (at the time of his meeting with Roosevelt) "At home Stilwell was a conventional Republican who shared the sentiments and adopted the tone of the Roosevelt-haters, in which he was influenced by his brother John, an extremist of the species. ". Elsewhere she notes that, in the view of an (unnamed) close friend, “Stilwell was liberal and sympathetic by instinct. But he was conservative in thought and politics. ”
Quotations:
"Don't let the bastards grind you down. "
"The higher a monkey climbs, the more you see of his behind. "
On Chiang Kai-Shek: "He's a son of a bitch but he's our son of a bitch. "
In 1910, he married Winifred Alison Smith (1889-1972). They were the parents of five children, including Brigadier General Joseph, Jr. , (West Point 1933) served in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam.
