This is the first biography of the Army general who, after achieving greatness in the very highest posts in his own service, went on to become chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and then Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, during one of the Cold War's most potentially explosive periods.

A quiet, unassuming young man from a small Pennsylvania manufacturing town, Lemnitzer endured serving as a low-ranking lieutenant for fifteen years in some of the U.S. Army's most obscure posts. Yet eight years after finally becoming a captain, he was a general, the principal planner of the invasion of North Africa, and deputy chief of staff of the 15th Army Group in Italy.

Never lacking for physical courage, he led, with Mark Clark, one of World War II's most celebrated cloak-and-dagger missions, a dangerous submarine trip behind German lines in North Africa. Later, disguised as a civilian, he slipped into France and Switzerland to help negotiate the surrender of a million German troops fighting in Italy.

During the Korean War, Lemnitzer commanded the 7th Infantry Division and subsequently was commander in chief of the Far East Command. Toward the end of his distinguished career, he was at the peak of his profession - Army chief of staff and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Eisenhower and then Kennedy. He gracefully overcame being unfairly blamed for the debacle at the Bay of Pigs to serve brilliantly as Supreme Allied Commander in Europe.