LeJeune: A Marine's Life, 1867-1942

by Merrill L. Bartlett

This well-documented and hard-hitting biography of the thirteenth commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps succeeds in converting John A. Lejeune from a near mythical figure in corps history to a flesh and blood officer who helped build the service from a small appendage of the U.S. Navy to an important arm of naval warfare.
Commandant from 1920 to 1929, when he retired from military service to become president of Virginia Military Institute, Major General Lejeune is regarded by many as the man most responsible for the establishment of the modern Marine Corps. In capturing the life and times of this visionary leader who directed the corps toward major amphibious operations, Merrill Bartlett provides vivid insight into the political and military giants of the era and shows Lejeune to be an adroit player of Washington politics and a shrewd manipulator who marshalled the energies and loyalties of his senior officers to accomplish his vision.

Genres: World War I, Biography

240 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1991

Reviews

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a military biography of Marine General John Archer Lejuene. It brings to light his maneuvering in the military political system to obtain promotions and the office of commandant of the Corps. Much of thee book is devoted to World War I. This is an informative read. I finished it on the Marine Corps birthday.

[Patrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

An adequate biography on the Commandant who led the Marine Corps as it transitioned from a small force of men into the elite amphbious warfare force that served the nation in World War II Pacific. This biography is particularly good in covering Lejeune's time as the leader of the Marines in World War I Europe under Pershing and his brief stint as an Army Division commander during that war.

However, my edition contained numerous spelling errors, and I felt the book was poorly written. I found that the author did a poor job of identifying important people throughout the text, and that events and dates were sometime out of sequence. Many of the same ideas were repeated from paragraph to paragraph, which was maddening. My annotation upon finishing the books reads: "Was this a first draft?? Why didn't the University of South Carolina [the original publisher] give him an editor?!?"

[Grahambo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Completely concur with the good reads review. Worth the time.