Andrew Goodpaster
Andrew Jackson Goodpaster (February 12, 1915 – May 16, 2005) was the quintessential "soldier-statesman" who served as NATO's Supreme Allied Commander and the Superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He entered the Class of 1939 at West Point and, during World War II, led a battalion over a minefield and under hostile fire, actions for which he received the Distinguished Service Cross, the second-highest military award for valor after the Medal of Honor. Goodpaster entered Princeton University, where he earned master's degrees in engineering and international relations. He became a special assistant to the chief of staff of Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe from 1950 to 1954 and was a favorite of General Dwight D. Eisenhower. He assisted Eisenhower in forming political and military guidelines for the new treaty organization and was Eisenhower's liaison among diplomats such as W. Averell Harriman, Jean Monnet of France and Hugh Gaitskell of the United Kingdom.