Joseph Alexander McChristian (October 12, 1914 – May 13, 2005) was a United States Army Major General and the assistant chief of staff for intelligence, Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (J-2, MACV) (then commanded by General William Westmoreland) from July 13, 1965, to June 1, 1967. As J-2, MACV, he supported an increase in the official estimates of Viet Cong personnel strength in South Vietnam. His view was unpopular because the official policy was optimism, claiming that US and South Vietnamese forces were winning the war.

Early life and education

thumb|left|McChristian as a West Point cadet in 1939

Born in Chicago, Illinois, and raised in Miami, Florida,

Military career

thumb|right|McChristian as Division Headquarters Commandant of the 4th Armored Division 1942

During World War II, McChristian served with the 10th Armored Division in Europe, participating in the Battle of the Bulge and Western Allied invasion of Germany. During the war, he earned a Silver Star Medal and four Bronze Star Medals.

From 1949 to 1950, McChristian was a member of the Joint Military Assistance Group in Greece. During the Korean War, he served on the faculty at the Military Academy. After learning Greek, McChristian returned to Greece as Army attaché from 1956 to 1960. Long after the war, McChristian was interviewed about this for a CBS Television documentary, "The Uncounted Enemy." When General Westmoreland sued CBS for libel, McChristian testified as a witness for CBS.

Between July 1967 and July 1969 he commanded the 2nd Armored Division. Afterwards until his retirement on April 30, 1971, he was assistant chief of staff for intelligence in the Department of the Army.

McChristian received two Distinguished Service Medals and the Legion of Merit. He is a member of the Military Intelligence Hall of Fame. They were married on June 7, 1910, in New York City, but were divorced in 1929. The family moved to Chicago after their first son was born, and then to Miami after their third son was born. McChristian's older brother Robert Lee McChristian Jr. worked in the sport fishing industry and invented a fishing reel mechanism, while his younger brother Stanley Earl McChristian was a World War II veteran and retired Air Force major.

After his death in Jupiter, Florida, His wife Dempsie Catherine (Van Fleet) McChristian was interred beside him eight years later. She was the daughter of General James A. Van Fleet.

Notes

References

  • Major General Joseph A. McChristian, The Role of Military Intelligence 1965-1967 (Vietnam Studies), Department of the Army, Washington DC, 1974 (Library of Congress Catalogue Card number 74-600003)
  • Jake Blood, The Tet Effect: Intelligence and the Public Perception of War (Cass Military Studies) Routledge 2005.
  • Bob Brewin and Sydney Shaw, Vietnam on Trial: Westmoreland vs. CBS, Atheneum, 1987.
  • McChristian by SNAC
  • McChristian in the Hall of Valor
  • McChristian's Biography by IKN. Army.mil