"A Century of Educating Strategic Leaders" - Brief Article

Parameters, Autumn, 2001

Reproduced on the front cover of this issue of Parameters is a collage in tribute to the centennial of the US Army War College. Positioned across the top of the page are the five War College crests that have symbolized the college throughout its century of service. At the center of the cover is Elihu Root, the founder of the Army War College. It was he who sensed the need for an institution that would require students to "study and confer on the great problems of national defense, of military science, and of responsible command." Located in the upper-left corner of the collage are pictures of three buildings that have housed the Army War College during its development: Roosevelt Hall at Fort Lesley J. McNair (originally Washington Barracks), Washington, D.C., home to the school beginning in 1908; Grant Hall, at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, an interim location in 1950; and Upton Hall, the first location of the college following the move to its permanent home at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, in 1951. On the ri ght side is a street scene of Jackson Place (LaFayette Square), in Washington, D.C., the original home to the War College Board following its founding in 1901. Across the lower-right corner of the cover are the pictures of five of the many notable Army War College graduates: Air Force General Hoyt S. Vandenberg, General of the Army Omar Bradley, General of the Armies John J. Pershing, Admiral of the Fleet William F. Halsey, and General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower. The picture in the bottom-left corner depicts President Theodore Roosevelt's address at the laying of the cornerstone to Roosevelt Hall in 1903. Directly above Roosevelt's picture is a "posterized" view of Collins Hall, the latest addition to the War College's campus at Carlisle Barracks.

The back cover shows the main entrance to Root Hall, the college's primary academic building. Together the cover pictures trace the development of the college over the past century, testament in bricks and flesh to the US Army War College's dedication to meeting Root's challenge, "to ensure the nation may have at all times at its disposal a highly trained body of officers and may know who they are."

Artist: We are grateful to Ms. Roberta M. Hill, US Army War College, who designed and produced the cover.