Becton: Autobiography of a Soldier and Public Servant (Hardcover)

~ Julius W. (Author), Jr. (Author), Lt. Gen Becton (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Julius Becton served from Army private to 3-star general in three wars and 40 years; afterward he headed FEMA, and later was a university president. His service was exceptional; his life remarkable; his story fascinating and inspirational. Becton is a real American hero. --Joseph L. Galloway, author of We Were Soldiers Once . . . and Young

Julius Becton served from Army private to 3-star general in three wars and 40 years; afterward he headed FEMA, and later was a university president. His service was exceptional; his life remarkable; his story fascinating and inspirational. Becton is a real American hero. --Joseph L. Galloway, author of We Were Soldiers Once . . . and Young<br /><br />This is the straightforward and impressive memoir of a great and path-breaking American. He fought for his country in three wars, overcame many obstacles to reach an unprecedentedly high rank in the army, and was later the innovative head of both a university and a federal agency. His integrity has inspired many others at different stages of his life. He writes with the honesty, humor, and family feeling that make this a rewarding human story. He has included principles of leadership, which have the authority of someone who has derived them from experience and exemplified them in his life. --James H. Billington, author of Russia in Search of Itself

Product Description

This autobiography, published in cooperation with the Association of the United States Army (AUSA), highlights Lt. Gen. Becton's remarkable career and reveals the influences that contributed to his success. Becton's autobiography reflects on his youth in the suburban Philadelphia area, his parental and family influences, and his almost forty years of service in the U.S. Army and in subsequent civilian appointments. His devotion to leadership, education, service, race, and his spiritual upbringing are all central themes in the book.

After finishing high school, Becton entered a segregated Army at age eighteen and over nearly forty years rose to the rank of lieutenant general. Two years after enlisting in the Army Air Corps Enlisted Reserve, he was commissioned a second lieutenant of infantry and subsequently fought with distinction in the Korean War. Integrated into the Regular Army in 1951, he went on to earn undergraduate and graduate degrees in mathematics and economics and held combat commands in the 101st Airborne Division in Vietnam. He commanded the legendary 1st Cavalry Division in 1975-76. Promoted to lieutenant general in 1978, he served as commanding general of the U.S. VII Corps in Germany and deputy commander of Training and Doctrine Command and the Army Inspector of Training before retiring in 1983.

Following retirement he entered fields of international disaster assistance, emergency management, and education. Becton joined the Reagan administration in 1984 as Director of the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance for the Agency for International Development. From 1985 to 1989 he was Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Over the next six years, he was the COO of American Coastal Industries and president of Prairie View A&M University. His final civilian post was as CEO/Superintendent of public schools in the District of Columbia.

Becton was listed several times by Ebony magazine as 'One of the 100 Most Influential Blacks in America.' In 2007 he was selected to receive the George Catlett Marshall Medal, the highest award presented by the Association of the U.S. Army (AUSA) for being a 'soldier, combat commander, administrator, educator, public servant, government leader, and role model.'

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Naval Institute Press; illustrated edition edition (March 3, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591140218
• ISBN-13: 978-1591140214
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #845,116 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The tale of a great American who spent 60 years in public service, April 27, 2008

By	J. Rudy "Major, USAF" (Fairfax, VA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

"Becton's" autobiography is the tale of a great man of humble beginnings. Born the son of a handy-man, he took advantage of the opportunities life presented and he still serves as the role-model of someone we should all aspire to be.

Lt Gen Julius Becton enlisted in the Army just after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Beginning the war as a private, he ended it as a second lieutenant. The book follows his military career through the hot wars in Korea and Vietnam, and finished with the Cold War in West Germany. Having led at every organization level in the Army, he retired as a Lt General with 39 years of service.

After serving our nation in the profession of arms, he came out of retirement to run another organization that greatly benefitted from his proven abilities at international diplomacy and crisis management. He ran the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), which coordinates United States assistance to other countries that have suffered man-made or natural disasters. After fixing OFDA he was asked to head the newly-formed Federal Emergency Management Agency. From there, he returned to his Alma Mater of Prairie View A&M University, this time as President, and saved it from going into receivership. He continued his pattern of restoring desperately needed leadership to (at the time) dysfunctional organizations one more time for the District of Columbia Public School system before finally retiring.

Lt Gen Becton's career predated another famous Black American's military career by just a few years. Similar to General Colin Powell's "My American Journey", both books recount the experiences of two men who were very successful in the environment provided by the US armed forces. Gen. Powell's biography benefitted from a professional writer resulting in smoother flow through the book. The author could have also helped elicit more when it came to Lt Gen Becton's incredible accomplishments. In some cases, Lt Gen Becton's humility when relating his proudest moments whet our appetites, but left us wanting "The Rest of the Story".

Lt Gen Julius Becton's life story is an incredible one. Becton's candid story-telling provided examples of what worked, balanced with his introspection as to what he could have done better. This critical self-assessment combined with Becton's 13 principles of the "First Team Philosophy" provides the reader with a very powerful lesson in applied leadership.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, Readable Memoir of a Very Great Man, June 23, 2008

By	Stephen M. Kerwick (Wichita, KS United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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Personal memoirs of famous or near famous people can be risky investments for a reader. General Becton's book has no such risk though, and it makes for enjoyable, informative reading without any of the jargon that often can make military matters tedious to the layperson. In fact, Gen. Becton frequently shows an obvious effort to explain technical points in terms that keep everything well inside the reader's comfort zone. Autobiography of Becton compares very favorably with those of a number of other senior professional officers whose names are quite familiar to the general public and which were issued over the last 15 years or so by some of the larger and more prominent national publishing houses.

Julius Becton is far less known in America today than he deserves to be. Not only does he have a public service career spanning more than 60 years, but it is a career highlighted by taking up tough jobs that entailed a lot more criticism than material reward. These included FEMA, presidency of a historically Black college in the South at a time when those institutions were becoming increasingly strained by the end of segregation at larger state universities and, the hottest potato of all, taking charge of the pathetic District of Columbia school system to root out the graft and incompetence, while fighting off the incessant backbiting from the power centers that benefited by the old ways of doing things. And he did this while in his 70's, postponing a well-deserved retirement.

My own interest in the book was mainly in General Becton's military career. Although he had quite a successful one, it was a career marked by competence and solid performance, rather than the glamour, slogans and catch phrases, goofy reorganization plans or personality stunts that accompanied so many general officers I saw during my service years in the 70s and which were such a burden on their subordinates, at no gain to the service. I was also gratified to see several of General Becton's observations on Army inspections, personnel policies and run-ins with overinflated egos along the career paths. Oddly enough, I had crossed paths with some of those people (at a far lower level on my part) or heard a great deal about them, and in every case agreed with his polite, but negative assessments.

At this point I should note that I had one fleeting contact with the author more than 35 years ago, when he swore me and my graduating class into the Army. The word "charisma" is terribly overused and not necessarily informative, so I won't use it here. I will say that General Becton was a man of monumental dignity, seriousness and personal magnetism. This was most noted by the families who were present at the time, who didn't discuss anything else about the ceremony other than what a stunningly impressive, yet approachable, pleasant and civil individual this was (and this was at a time when a member of an ethnic minority as a military general officer was much less usual than in recent years).

Although I doubt that General Becton's book will be used much this way because youth today don't read much, this would be a wonderful thing for any teenager to read, whether black, white or whatever, because it shows the path to an excellent system of values and life choices. General Becton writes with a good deal of introspection and is quite open about some of his statements and decisions that didn't work out for the best (indeed, he is often too hard on himself in that respect). On the other hand, his many accomplishments and the good he has done for his country come across from the simple facts and not by a lot of self-aggrandizement from this modest and monumentally decent man.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars He Is One of America's Heros, July 1, 2008

By	Quietone40 (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

LTG (Ret.) Becton has served this country honorably for over 40 years. His autobiography is outstanding and demonstrates that hard work will win out over all obstacles. He is truly one of this Nation's great heros and I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning about his life.