Andrew Jackson Goodpaster

West Point, 1939

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by Jim Roberts on May 19, 2005:

I wanted to say a little bit about GEN Goodpaster and the Honor Committee from the Class of 1979. The Executive Committee of the our Honor Committee worked with him extensively during our cow and firstie years. As the Superintendent at USMA, he demonstrated a "hands on" leadership style. He was always a gentleman. In the numerous meetings I attended with him present, he allowed us to respectfully speak our minds without any fear of retribution. He always possessed a vision for the direction he wanted to take his projects (i.e., the Academy, the Honor Code, the aftermath of the Class of '77 EE scandal, any meeting he directed, etc.). He was one of the brightest people I have met, and his logical discussions with you "one on one" were formidable. I remember one particular session where we participated in a meeting of the Academic Board; the Supe, Deputy Supe, Comm, Dean, and Board met with us to discuss potential changes to the Honor System. During that meeting, the Supe and I locked into an exchange of viewpoints concerning a comment I made (I said something about how MacArthur shrewdly got control of the Vigilance Committee (predecessor of the Honor Committee) by offering them an officially sanctioned organization (i.e., the Honor Committee) if they would "simply" follow some rules set up by the authorities; my point was that this was where cadets started losing control of the Honor System). Once he fixed his eyes on you and started engaging you in his logic, everything else disappeared. I still recall the feeling that he and I were in a tunnel, and all of the other people in the room were off in a haze - I vaguely knew that others were in the room, but the Supe kept probing away at my point, and he would not let up. It was my closest experience outside of law school to the "Socratic Method". In the same vein, one of his favorite expressions was "Don't tell me that you can't get there from here." He used this phrase whenever someone tried to throw up a roadblock to his objective. He simply would not accept anything less than whatever he wanted to achieve. Of course, this attribute is one of the hallmarks of a great leader. Incidentally, he also possessed a great sense of humor. One entertaining story involved the BS&L Department chairman's wife, who was an avid skier. One Saturday, she was riding the tow rope up the slope, and got her skis tangled with an elderly gentleman's skis. This knocked them both to the ground. She jumped up, and wanted to make sure that she did not hurt the "old guy". She apologized for knocking him down, and he assured her that everything was "OK." Later that day, she and her husband went to a reception to welcome the new Supe to West Point. As they were walking through the receiving line, the "old guy" (now wearing a uniform with three stars on it) asked her if she had done any skiing recently.... Jim Roberts Townes, Woods, & Roberts, PC 717 Kerr Drive P.O. Box 96 Gardendale, AL 35071 voice: 205-631-4019 fax: 205-631-1333

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