General Goodpaster was born on 12 February 1915 in Granite City, Illinois. He was graduated from the United States Military Academy n 1939, and commissioned a Second lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers.
General Goodpaster's initial assignment was with the 11 th Engineers in Panama. He served there in a variety of Engineer duties, during the rapid construction and fortification effort jest prior to World War II and during the initial months of the war. He returned to the United States in mid – 1942 and served as Executive Officer, 390 th Engineer General Service Regiment at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana, until early 1943. From there he went to a wartime course at the Command and General Staff School, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
His next assignment was as Commanding Officer, 48 th Engineer Combat Battalion which he joined in the maneuver area and took to North Africa, and then to Italy in September 1943. He served in Italy, commanding the 48 th Engineer Combat Battalion, II Corps, 5 th Army, through the remainder of 1943 and part of 1944. He returned to the United States in mid – 1944 and was assigned to the Operations Division, General Staff, War Department, where, he served until mid – 1947. This period included a one-year tour with the Joint War Plans Committee of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
In 1947 he was detailed to Princeton University for graduate study. He carried out one year's study in international relations, culminating in a Ph. D. degree in 1950. During the latter six months of 1950, he was assigned to the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Washington as a member of the Joint Advance Study Committee.
In December 1950 General Goodpaster went to Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, as Special Assistant to the Chief of Staff, and served in that capacity until July 1954. He then was named U.S. District Engineer at Sa Francisco, California. He held that position until 10 October 1954, when he assumed duties on the White House Staff as Defense Liaison Officer and Staff Secretary to the President of the United States. He served in that capacity through President of the United States.
He served in that capacity through President Eisenhower's tenure, and stayed with President Kennedy for two months at the beginning of the latter's term in office, leaving on 20 March 1961 for assignment with troops in Germany.
In April 1961 General Goodpaster became Assistant Division commander, 3 rd Infantry Division, U.S. Army Europe, serving until October 1961.
At that time, he was assigned as Commanding General, 8 th Infantry division, and held that post for just over a year, until late October 1962.
In November 1962 he was assigned as Special Assistant (Policy) to the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff. In January 1964 his duties were expanded and title changed to Assistant to the chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff. He held this position until July 1966.
In August 1966 General Goodpaster was appointed Director, Joint Staff, Organization of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
In April 1967 General Goodpaster was assigned as Director of Special Studies in the Office of the Chief of Staff, U.S. Army. As an additional duty he was appointed Senior U.S. Army member of the Military Staff Committee of the United Nations.
In August 1967 he was assigned as Commandant, the National War College, Washington, D.C.
In April 1968, the President appointed General Goodpaster, Deputy COMUSMACV and he was promoted to General on 3 July 1968. At various times during the period 1964 – 1968, he served in a representative and advisory capacity to President Lyndon Johnson on special assignments as an additional duty. He also served as the Senior Military Advisor to Ambassador Harriman and was third ranking member of the U.S. Delegation for the Paris negotiations with North Vietnam, in the spring of 1968 before taking up hi duties in Vietnam in July.
In December 1968 and January 1969 he returned to the U.S. on temporary duty to assist President-elect Nixon in organizing his administration for the conduct of foreign policy and international security affairs.
General Goodpaster assumed the post of Commander-in-Chief, United States European Command on 5 May 1969 and Supreme Allied Commander, Europe on 1 July 1969. His U.S. European Command responsibility was expanded to include the Middle East in 1971. He was retired on 17 December 1974.
General Goodpaster then served as a Senior Fellow, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. from March 1975 through September 1976, and thereafter as the John C. West Professor of Government an International Studies at The Citadel, Charleston, S.C. from October 1976 until June 1977. During this period he also served as assistant to vice President Rockefeller on the Commission on the Organization of the Government for the Conduct of Foreign Policy.
In June 1977 he was recalled to active duty to serve as the 51 st Superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Pont, N.Y., in the grade of lieutenant general. In January 1980 he served as a special representative of President Carter for discussions with the governments of Argentina and Brazil following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Upon completing his service at West Point, he retired again in July 1981.
Education
- McKendree College, Lebanon, Illinois, 1931 – 1933
- U.S. Military Academy, 1935 – 1939, B.S.
- Command and General Staff School, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, 1943
- Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, 1947 – 1950, M.S.E., M.A., Ph.D.
Decorations
- U.S. Medal of Freedom
- Distinguished Service Cross
- Defense Distinguished Service Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster
- Army Distinguished Service Meal with three Oak Leaf Clusters
- Navy Distinguished Service Medal
- Air Force Distinguished Service Medal
- Silver Star
- Legion of Merit with Oak Leaf Cluster
- Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster
Honorary Degrees
- LL.D., McKendree College, Lebanon, Illinois
- Dr. of Military Science, Univ. of Maryland at Heidelberg
- LL.D., Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey