Norman Schwarzkopf remembered as a 'genuine native son' of N.J.
U.S. Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf is shown in a 1991 photo. He died today at age 78. (Photo by Bill Gentile/Zuma Press/MCT)
TRENTON — Retired Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf Jr., the no-nonsense New Jersey native who commanded the U.S.-led coalition that repelled Saddam Hussein’s troops from Kuwait during the first Gulf War, died Thursday at age 78.
Dubbed "Stormin’ Norman," the four-star general was a bear of a man — grizzly on the outside, teddy on the inside — and became a celebrity in 1991 for his often-blunt televised news conferences describing Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm.
In typical straight-talking fashion, he said of the Iraqi despot: "As far as Saddam Hussein being a great military strategist, he is neither a strategist, nor is he schooled in the operational arts, nor is he a tactician, nor is he a general, nor is he a soldier. Other than that, he’s a great military man."
Schwarzkopf died of complications from pneumonia in Tampa, Fla., where he had retired, according to his sister Ruth Barenbaum.
Schwarzkopf was born in Trenton in 1934, the son of a State Police founder and superintendent of the same name, who investigated the kidnapping death of famed aviator Charles Lindbergh’s baby before the "Trial of the Century" in Flemington.
He grew up in Lawrenceville and returned for New Jersey State Police functions, including as a keynote speaker for the State Police’s 75th Anniversary in 1996 and as a guest of honor at a State Police-sponsored Boy Scout event in the early 2000s, State Police spokesman Lt. Stephen Jones said.
His longtime friend, Clinton Pagano, a former State Police superintendent, told The Star-Ledger in an interview Thursday night that the public perception of the general as brash or hard-charging could not be further from the truth.
"The people of New Jersey should know they lost a genuine native son who never forgot where he came from and always performed to the ultimate," Pagano said. "He was a man who belonged to the world."
While Schwarzkopf was living overseas, his wife, Brenda, raised their three children in Englishtown, Monmouth County.
Gov. Christie Whitman in 1999 offered the general the job of State Police superintendent, which he declined with a chuckle.
As a 6-year-old, he spent a month at Camp Echo Hill in Clinton Township, learning how to fish and swim with his two older sisters.
In a letter to the assistant county park planner in 2005, Schwarzkopf fondly recalled his days at the camp, noting, "The quarry was sunfish and, although they may not appear to be a very big fish today, to a 6-year-old, anything I caught was a giant."
The little boy with the fishing pole went on to become a larger-than-life figure with much bigger quarry to catch.
Despite his visible presence during the first Persian Gulf war against Iraq, he kept a low public profile in controversies over the second Gulf War.
At the peak of his postwar national celebrity, Schwarzkopf — a self-proclaimed political independent — rejected suggestions that he run for office and remained far more private than other generals, although he did serve briefly as a military commentator for NBC.
While focused primarily in his later years on charitable enterprises, he campaigned for President George W. Bush in 2000 but was ambivalent about the 2003 invasion of Iraq, saying he doubted victory would be as easy as the White House and Pentagon predicted. In early 2003 he told the Washington Post the outcome was an unknown:
"What is postwar Iraq going to look like, with the Kurds and the Sunnis and the Shiites? That’s a huge question, to my mind. It really should be part of the overall campaign plan," he said.
Initially, Schwarzkopf had endorsed the invasion, saying he was convinced that former Secretary of State Colin Powell had given the United Nations powerful evidence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. After that proved false, he said decisions to go to war should depend on what U.N. weapons inspectors found.
He seldom spoke up during the conflict, but in late 2004, he sharply criticized then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and the Pentagon for mistakes that included inadequate training for Army reservists sent to Iraq and for erroneous judgments about Iraq.
"In the final analysis I think we are behind schedule. … I don’t think we counted on it turning into jihad (holy war)," he said in an NBC interview.
Schwarzkopf’s father was named Herbert, but when the son was asked what his "H" stood for, he would reply, "H." Although reputed to be short-tempered with aides and subordinates, he was a friendly, talkative and even jovial figure who didn’t like "Stormin’ Norman" and preferred to be known as "the Bear," a sobriquet given him by troops.
As a young boy, Schwarzkopf idolized his father’s military career, said George Wren, who interviewed the general for a recent book about the history of New Jersey State Police. Both men attended West Point and led missions in the Middle East as decorated generals.
When the elder Schwarzkopf left the family home in Lawrenceville for a mission overseas, he told his young son to look after his mother and sisters because he was "man of the house," Wren said.
As a teenager, Norman accompanied his father to Iran, where the dad trained the country’s national police force and was an adviser to Reza Pahlavi, the young shah of Iran. Young Norman studied there and in Switzerland, Germany and Italy, then followed in his father’s footsteps to West Point, graduating in 1956 with an engineering degree. After stints in the U.S. and abroad, he earned a master’s degree in engineering at the University of Southern California and later taught missile engineering at West Point.
After retiring from the Army in 1992, Schwarzkopf wrote a best-selling autobiography, "It Doesn’t Take A Hero." Of his Gulf war role, he said, "I like to say I’m not a hero. I was lucky enough to lead a very successful war." He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II and honored with decorations from France, Britain, Belgium, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain.
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