William J. Crowe - Biography

Biography

Crowe was born in La Grange, Kentucky. At the beginning of the Great Depression, Crowe's father moved the family to Oklahoma City. In June 1946, Crowe completed a war-accelerated course of study and graduated with the Class of 1947 from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. From 1954 to 1955, he served as assistant to the naval aide of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. From 1956 to 1958, Crowe served as executive officer of the submarine USS Wahoo. In 1958, he served as an aide to the deputy chief of naval operations. In 1960, Crowe took command of USS Trout, homeported in Charleston, South Carolina, and served as commanding officer of that ship until 1962. From there, Crowe earned a master's degree in education at the Stanford University School of Education, and then, turning down an invitation from Admiral Hyman G. Rickover to enter the Navy's nuclear-power course, earned an M.A. and a PhD in Political Science at Princeton University. During the Vietnam War he was the senior adviser to the Vietnamese Riverine Force. In 1969, he returned to service to take command of Submarine Division 31, homeported in San Diego, California.

A long string of assignments followed:

• 1967—head of East Asia Pacific Branch, Politico-Military Division, office of the chief of naval operations
• 1970—senior adviser to the Vietnamese Navy Riverine Force
• 1973—promoted to rear admiral and made deputy director, Strategic Plans, Policy, Nuclear Systems, and NSC Affairs Division, office of the chief of naval operations
• 1975—director, East Asia and Pacific region, office of the secretary of defense
• 1976—commander Middle East Force
• 1977—promoted to vice admiral and made deputy chief of naval operations, Plans and Policy
• 1980—promoted to admiral and made commander in chief, Allied Forces Southern Europe
• 1983—commander in chief, United States Pacific Command

On July 10, 1985, Crowe was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to serve as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He continued to serve as CJCS through the Bush administration until 1989, when he retired from active duty. He was the first chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to serve under the provisions of the Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986 where he as chairman became (not the collegial body of the Joint Chiefs of Staff), by statute, the principal military adviser to the president, the National Security Council, and the secretary of defense. In 1989, Army General Colin L. Powell replaced him as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.