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Jim Mattis

James Norman Mattis (born September 8, 1950) is an American military veteran who served as the 26th United States secretary of defense from 2017 to 2019. A retired Marine Corps four-star general, he commanded forces in the Persian Gulf War, the War in Afghanistan, and the Iraq War.

Mattis was commissioned in the Marine Corps through the Naval Reserve Officers' Training Corps after graduating from Central Washington University. A career Marine, he gained a reputation among his peers for intellectualism and eventually advanced to the rank of general. From 2007 to 2010, he commanded the United States Joint Forces Command and concurrently served as NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Transformation. He was commander of United States Central Command from 2010 to 2013, with Admiral Bob Harward serving as his deputy commander. After retiring from the military, he served in several private sector roles, including as a board member of Theranos.[6]


Mattis was nominated as secretary of defense by president-elect Donald Trump, and confirmed by the Senate on January 20, 2017. As secretary of defense, Mattis affirmed the United States' commitment to defending longtime ally South Korea in the wake of the 2017 North Korea crisis.[7][8] An opponent of proposed collaboration with China and Russia,[9] Mattis stressed what he saw as their "threat to the American-led world order".[10] Mattis occasionally voiced his disagreement with certain Trump administration policies such as the withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal,[11] withdrawals of troops from Syria and Afghanistan,[12] and budget cuts hampering the ability to monitor the impacts of climate change.[13][14] According to The Hill, Mattis also reportedly dissuaded Trump from attempting to assassinate Bashar al-Assad, the president of Syria.[15]


On December 20, 2018, after failing to convince Trump to reconsider his decision to withdraw all American troops from Syria, Mattis announced his resignation effective the end of February 2019; after Mattis's resignation generated significant media coverage, Trump abruptly accelerated Mattis' departure date to January 1, 2019, stating that he had essentially fired Mattis.[16]

Early life[edit]

Mattis was born on September 8, 1950, in Pullman, Washington.[17] He is the son of Lucille (Proulx) Mattis (1922–2019)[18] and John West Mattis (1915–1988),[19][20] a merchant mariner. His mother immigrated to the United States from Canada as an infant and had worked in Army Intelligence in South Africa during the Second World War.[21] Mattis's father moved to Richland, Washington, to work at a plant supplying fissile material to the Manhattan Project. Mattis was raised in a bookish household that did not own a television.[22][23] He describes "hitchhiking around a lot from the time I was about 12 or 13 to about 20 going into the Marines on active duty."[23]


Mattis graduated from Richland High School in 1968.[22][24] He earned a Bachelor of Arts in history from Central Washington University in 1971[25][26][27] and a Master of Arts in international security affairs from the National War College of National Defense University in 1994.[28]

Civilian career[edit]

After retiring from the military, Mattis worked for FWA Consultants and served as a member of the General Dynamics Board of Directors.[79] Between 2013 and 2017, while on the board of General Dynamics, Mattis made more than $900,000 in compensation, including company stock.[80] In August 2013, he was appointed an Annenberg Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution[81] and in 2016 he was named the Davies Family Distinguished Visiting Fellow.[82][23]


In December 2015, Mattis joined the advisory board[83] of Spirit of America, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides assistance to support the safety and success of American service personnel and the local people they seek to help.


He is co-editor of the book Warriors & Citizens: American Views of Our Military, published in August 2016.[84]


From 2013 to January 2017, Mattis was a board member of Theranos, a health technology company that claimed to have devised revolutionary blood tests using very small amounts of blood, which was later determined to be a fraudulent claim by the US Securities and Exchange Commission.[85][86][87][88][89] Previously, in mid-2012, a Department of Defense official evaluating Theranos's blood-testing technology for the military initiated a formal inquiry with the Food and Drug Administration about the company's intent to distribute its tests without FDA clearance. In August 2012, Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes asked Mattis, who had expressed interest in testing Theranos's technology in combat areas, to help. Within hours, Mattis forwarded his email exchange with Holmes to military officials, asking "how do we overcome this new obstacle". In July 2013, the Department of Defense gave Mattis permission to join Theranos's board provided he did not represent Theranos with regard to the blood-testing device and its potential acquisition by the Departments of the Navy or Defense.[90]


In 2019, Mattis's book Call Sign Chaos: Learning to Lead was published.[91] It is an autobiography as well as an argument in favor of an internationalist foreign policy.[92] On August 7, 2019, Mattis was re-elected to the board of General Dynamics.[93]

2009: 's Edmund S. Muskie Distinguished Public Service Award[17]

Center for National Policy

2010: 's Distinguished Military Leadership Award[17]

Atlantic Council

2013: World Affairs Council of Greater Hampton Roads " Global Citizen of the Year" Award[79]

Ryan C. Crocker

2014: Marine Corps University Foundation Semper Fidelis Award

[79]

2014: honorary doctor of laws degree[186]

Washington College

2016: Champion of Freedom Award recipient[187]

Washington Policy Center

2021: Elected as a member of the [188]

American Academy of Arts and Sciences

2021: Honorary Companion of the [189]

Order of Australia

Mattis's civilian awards include:

Mattis is the primary subject of 's 2019 book Holding the Line: Inside Trump's Pentagon with Secretary Mattis.[190]

Guy Snodgrass

portrays Mattis in the 2008 HBO miniseries Generation Kill, which depicts the 2003 invasion of Iraq.[191]

Robert John Burke

Mattis is also known for the depicting him as "Saint Mattis of Quantico, Patron Saint of Chaos".[192]

Internet meme

Mattis is commonly "reported on" by the military website Duffel Blog for potentially being fired,[193] winning an "arms race" with Russia,[194] and crossing the Potomac to launch a Roman-style coup d'état.[195]

satire

Mattis is an avid reader and releases his reading lists.

[196]

List of United States Marine Corps four-star generals

Quotes from James Mattis on All Views by Quotes

James Mattis Sworn in As US Secretary of Defense

Department of Defense biography

Official Marine Corps biography

. June 2017. Archived from the original on September 16, 2018.

"Full transcript: Defense Secretary James Mattis' interview with The Islander"

on C-SPAN

Appearances