Robert M. Gates – A Lifetime of Public Service, a Voice of Conscience
In June 2020, the Black Lives Matter movement found what at first might seem an unexpected advocate. Former United States Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates joined a broadening coalition of public figures calling to rename military bases originally named to honor Confederate generals.
Removing a stain of dishonor
In a recent interview with the New York Times, Gates said that the original Confederate commemorations reflect “the dark side” of the American past. He wondered why so many American military installations bear the names of Confederate generals, while none honor heroes like Ulysses S. Grant, George Washington, or African American recipients of the Medal of Honor.
As an expert on the former Soviet Union, Gates said he is deeply aware of the problems that come when a nation attempts to rewrite its history. However, he argued that existing Confederate statues belong in museums where they can be studied and learned from, not in places where they become objects of public veneration. In the same light, military bases should not honor Confederate generals, either.
There are 10 Army bases, all located in the South, named for Confederate leaders. They include Fort Lee in Virginia, Fort Benning in Georgia, Fort Bragg in North Carolina, and Fort Hood in Texas—a state Gates has previously served as president of Texas A&M University.
Gates said that the killing of George Floyd—the Minneapolis African American man whose death at the hands of police sparked the current Black Lives Matter protests for equality and justice—showed Americans they need to confront these disturbing elements of their history. Gates also said that racism needs to be acknowledged within an Armed Forces that is becoming more and more diverse.
Gates is the senior-most former military leader to clash with President Donald Trump over the issue of base renaming. The president has publicly fumed over his own military leaders’ stance on the issue.
Gates also sided with current Secretary of Defense Mark Esper when Esper opposed Trump’s recent suggestion to deploy regular Army troops in the streets to quash protests.
Memoirs that document history
Gates has served under a total of eight presidents and has earned plaudits from Republican and Democratic leaders alike for his devotion to public service.
Now, he has authored a new book, Exercise of Power: American Failures, Successes, and a New Path Forward in the New Post-Cold War World.
In its pages, Gates provides an in-depth analysis of U.S. foreign policy over the past three decades since the disintegration of the Soviet Union. He does not shy away from noting the mistakes made by the presidents he served—and those errors he made himself. His analysis has generated particular public attention recently. An increasingly bipartisan group of leaders and pundits are blaming Trump’s haphazard governing style and reckless “America first” policies for undermining the country’s long-standing position as leader of the free world.
Gates argues for the effectiveness of recently-neglected alternatives to military power: diplomacy, economic assistance to countries in need, better communication, and other “soft power” strategies that stress international engagement.
In his 2014 book, Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War, Gates recounted the details of his previous service at the National Security Council and the CIA and as Secretary of Defense during the country’s wars in both Afghanistan and Iraq. The account is rich with the politics and personalities at play as he fought to promote constructive changes within the Pentagon. Earlier, in 1996, he published From the Shadows: The Ultimate Insider’s Story of Five Presidents and How They Won the Cold War.
Speaking out against ignorance and isolationism
During the 2016 election cycle, Gates was already calling Trump “stubbornly uninformed” and “beyond repair” on issues affecting national security.
More recently, while Gates agrees with Trump that it is not in American interests to remain mired in “endless wars,” he does not believe this requires America to abdicate its leadership abroad. He has become a strong critic of Trump’s withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the President’s call for removal of American troops from Germany. Gates noted the latter decision seems to have been made “in a fit of pique” after Trump clashed with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
A lifetime of tradecraft and statecraft
Born in Wichita, Kansas, in 1943, Gates received his BA in European history from the College of William & Mary. The CIA recruited him while he was still studying for his master’s degree from Indiana University. He served two years in the U.S. Air Force before becoming a full-time CIA Soviet analyst, then earned his PhD in the history of Russia and the Soviet Union from Georgetown University in 1974.
Gates joined the CIA in the mid-1960s and spent the next quarter-century as a career professional in intelligence. He served on the National Security Council for nine years, as well as within the White House. During the administration of President George H. W. Bush, he served as Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor from 1989 to 1991.
In 1991, he became Director of Central Intelligence. He was the only person to rise to the CIA director job out of the ranks of its career professionals. At 48, he was also the youngest person ever to accept the position.
Having been appointed as Secretary of Defense in 2006 by President George W. Bush, Gates was the only Secretary of Defense in history asked to continue in that position by a newly elected president. He worked in the Obama administration until 2011.
Gates’ many honors include two National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medals, as well as three Distinguished Intelligence Medals, the highest award presented by the CIA. In 2011, Barack Obama presented Gates with the Presidential Medal of Freedom for having “selflessly dedicated his life to ensuring the security of the American people.”