ROBERT E. CUSHMAN IS DEAD: FORMER MARINE COMMANDANT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00901R000500090001-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 6, 2000
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: January 5, 1985
• Content Type: NSPR

STATINT
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Robert E. Cushman Is Dead;
Former. Marine Commandant
By PETER KERR
Gen. Robert E. Cushman Jr., a for-
mer Commandant of the Marine Corps
and. deputy director of the Central' In-
telligence Agency, died Wednesday at
his home in Fort Washington, Md., ap-
parently of a heart attack, a Pentagon
spokesman said Thursday. He was 70
years old.
Although he was decorated as a hero
in World War II and, in Vietnam, was
awarded the largest troop command
ever held by a Marine officer, General
Cushman had a career that was most
influenced by his relationship with a
civilian -- Richard M. Nixon.
President Nixon, whom General
Cushman had served as an adviser in
the 1950's, passed over more senior
officers to nominate General Cushman
as Commandant of the Marine Corps in
November 1971. And it was General
Cushman's association with the Nixon
Administration that drew the general
into the growing storm of Watergate in
1973, when it was disclosed that he had
initially approved C.Y.A. assistance for
the burglary of the office of Daniel
Ellsberg's psychiatrist in 1971. Dr.
Ellsberg was a former national se-
curity aide who said he was responsible
for releasing the Pentagon Papers to
the press.
Joined Marines in 1935
Robert Everton Cushman Jr. was
born in St. Paul, Minn., on Dec. 24,
1914. He went to public schools there
and then attended the Naval Academy,
where he finished 10th in his class of 442
and was commissioned a second lieu-
tenant in the Marine Corps in 1935.
After serving as a platoon com-
mander in Shanghai for two years, he
was commander of the marine detach-
ment aboard the battleship Pennsylva-
nia when she was attacked at Pearl
Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.
In World War II he repeatedly led his
battalion into combat in the Pacific,
earning the Bronze Star with a Combat
V on Bougainville and the Legion of
Merit with Combat V in the Iwo Jima
campaign. As a 29-year-old lieutenant
colonel on Guam, he earned the Navy
Cross, the nation's second-highest
medal, for moving to the front of his
crumbling battalion and setting up a
defense against a Japanese attack.
He served in numerous posts in Eu-
rope and the United States before
becoming chief adviser on national se-
curity affairs to Vice President Nixon,
and he was promoted to brigadier gen-
eral in 1958.
General Cushman was sent to Viet-
nam in April 1967, and by June was
promoted to lieutenant general in
charge of the Third Marine Amphibi-
ous Force and I Corps, commanding
162,000 Army and Marine troops in the
northernmost provinces. No other Ma-
rine officer had ever commanded so
many battlefront troops. i
During his Vietnam command Gen-
headquarters in the Watergate office
and apartment complex. It showed Mr.
Hunt had asked for "alias documenta-
tion" and disguises, and the'general
had said he thought the agency could
assist him.
As Commandant of the Marine Corps
from 1972 to 1975, General Cushman re-
sisted the movement by other services
to provide a more relaxed, less mili-
tary image after Vietnam. Recruit-
ment was still aimed at those seeking
to join a tough, elite military service.
He also acted to end voluntary segre-
gation of Marine facilities where
blacks and whites chose to bunk and
congregate along racial lines.
General Cushman is survived by his
wife, Audrey Boyce Cushman, and two
children, Robert Ed and Mrs. Bernard
Cauley.
Robert E. Cushman Jr.
eral Cushman stressed troop mobility
and the use of helicopters.
In 1969, shortly after Nixon became
President, General Cushman was ap-
pointed deputy director of the C.I.A. It
was in that role that he was asked by
John D. Ehrlichman, then chief assist-
ant to the President for domestic af-
fairs, to provide assistance for what
turned out to be the burglary of Dr.
Ellsberg's psychiatrist.
Although the C.I.A. later refused to
lend assistance to the White House unit
that carried out the burglary, General
Cushman was called to testify before
Congressional committees investigat-
ing Watergate.
At a Senate Watergate Committee
hearing on Aug. 2, 1973, a transcript
was released of a recorded conversa-
tion between General Cushman and E.
Howard Hunt, who helped engineer the
burglary of .the Democratic national
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OBITUARIES:\
OMMSM"Emm
R.E. Cushman,
Retired Marine
General, Dies
By Richard Pearson
Washington Past Staff Writer
Robert E. Cushman Jr., 70, a re
Ured Marine Corps general who
was' one ' of the most highly deco-'
.-rated combat veterans of World
War II and was a deputy director of
:'the CIA before,serving as Marine
Corps commandant from 1972 to
` 1975, died Jan. 2: at his home in.',
Fort Washington after a heart at
Gen. Cushman spent 40 years on
active duty. Decorations he. won
during. World War II included., the
Navy. Cross, 'the 'Corps'. - highest.'
award for valor except for the,Med
al of Honor, which he received as a'
battalion commander on Guam
Serving in Vietnam from 1967 to.
1969, he rose to the post of com-
manding general of the III"Marine_
Amphibious Force. Comprising
some 163,000 soldiers. and marines,
it was the largest combined combat
,.unit ever led by a marine.
.From 1957 to 1960, he was as-^
sistant for national security affairs..`
to Vice President Richard - M.
Nixon.
When Pearl Harbor was bombed
on Dec. 7, 1941, Gen. Cushman"
held the rank of captain and was
commmander of the Marine detach-
meat aboard the battleship Penn
Sylvania at Pearl. With his ship out
of action as a result of. the Japanese#,
attack, Gen.' Cushman returned toy
the mainland, then in January 1943
embarked for the Pacific, where he
'commanded the 2nd Battalion, 9th
, Marine Regiment,- 3rd Marine Di-
--- WASHINGTON POST
4 January 1985
During the next two years, he led
his 'battalion through some of the
roughest fighting of the Pacific war.
Gen. Cushman earned the Bronze
' Star with combat "v" device at Bou-
`gainville, the Legion of Merit with' ,
combat "v" at Iwo Jima, and the
":Navy Cross during the recapture of
u
am
.
At Guam, his battalion was or-
,dered to seize and hold a strongly=',
defended enemy strongp~int, which
;dad held up the Marine advance for.
*three days.
The citation for his award de-
scribed . how Gen. Cushman"duet-
stied, the attacks of his battalion and
the repulse of numerous Japanese
'-rcounterattacks, fearlessly exposing.
himself to heavy hostile rifle, ma u
,chine gun and, mortar fire in order
.,:to remain in the.fr.ont fines and ob-
y tain -firsthand knowledge of the en-'?
Amy situation. Following three days.::
'of bitter fighting culminating in ~a
heavy Japanese counterattack,
which pushed back the flank of his
;battalion; he personally led ; a , 'toon into the gap and, placing it for
-defense, repelled the hostile force, .
He contributed to the annihilation
r of one enemy battalion and the rout
'% of another."-
s. ? After the war, he held a variety
of staff and training posts, including
instructor of the command and staff
school and head of the amphibious
warfare branch of the Navy Depart-
ment's Naval Research Office. Dur-
ing the.1950s, his assignments in-;
cluded a. stint as an instructor at the.
Armed Forces Staff College.
From 1962 to 1964, he served as..
assistant: chief of staff for .intelli-,
gene and for plans, operations, and
training.. From 1964' to-1967, he"1
was, stationed at Camp Pendleton,
Calif., as base commander and head
of the 5th Division.
He then went to Vietnam; where.'-?
he earned two Distinguished Ser-`
vice medals and gained a 'reputation'-.'
for independence and tactical inno-, .
6 vation. Commanding in South Viet
Pam's} northernmost provinces;;
privately ,took issue ;with his corn-
minders"instructions from Saigon,:
especially, about' the . defense of the
American bastion , . atT -Khesanh,
which was besieged by the enemy
for months. Gen. Cushman was be-
lieved to have said that Americans
were sacrificing their greatest as-
set: the ability to fight moble war-
fare, to strike rapidly with-- mobile
artillery, helicopters and. specially
organized troops.
He returned to the United States,
in 1969 to become deputy director
of the Central Intelligence Agency,
number. two post,- which -he 'held
until 1972 when . he, became. the
25th commandant of the Marine
Corps. He was awarded the CIA's
Distinguished Intelligence Medal, 1
and upon retiring from the Corps in
1975 was awarded a third Distin-
guished Service Medal.
Robert Everton Cushman Jr. was
born Dec: 24, 1914, in St. Paul. He
graduated 10th. in his class of 442 -
from the U.S. Naval Academy at+
Annapolis in 1935. Before World
War II, he was a platoon command-.,
er with the 4th Marines and later
with the 2nd Marine Brigade in Chi-
na.
Survivors include his. wife, the
former Audrey Boyce of Fort Wash-
ington; a son, Robert" E.:III, of Ar
lington a daughter,.. Robe. rta - Lind
Cauley of Charlottesville, and a sis-
ter, Helen Cushman of California.
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 UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
CUSEMAN
WASHINGTON
Retired Gen. Robert Everton Cushman Jr., commandant of the Marine Corps
during the final years of the Vietnam war, is dead of an apparent heart attack
at his Maryland home, the Marine Corps said Thursday. He was 70.
No further details surrounding his death !Wednesday at his Fort Washington,
Md., home were available immediately and the Marines said its 25th commandant
will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery Monday.
Cushman, a former deputy director of the CIA, was commandant from Jan. 1,
1972 to July 1, 1975.
He earned the nation's second highest combat award -- the Navy Cross - for
extraordinary heroism while commanding a battalion as a 29-year-old lieutenant
colonel. on the Pacific island of Guam for a month in the summer of 1944.
Following three days of bitter fighting with the Japanese for the island,
Cushman ''personally led a platoon into the gap and, placing it for defense,
repelled the hostile force,'.' his citation read.
1By his inspiring leadership, courage and devotion to duty, he contributed
materially to the success of the mission with the annihilation of one enemy
bataalion and the rout of another, " it read.
Born Dec. 24, 1914, Cushman was appointed to the Naval Academy before his
graduation from high school. He graduated from the academy 10th in a class of
442 and was commissioned a Marine second lieutenant June 6, 19.35,
Seven months later, he was sent to Shanghai, China, as a platoon commander.
He returned to the United States two years later and was promoted to captain in
1941.
On Dec. 7 of that year, he was commanding officer of the Marine detachment
aboard the battleship USS Pennsylvania when it was attacked by the Japanese at
Pearl Harbor. He was transferred to San Diego, Calif., and was a major by
September 1942,
During the war, he led his battalion ''repeatedly into combat,'' earning the
Bronze Star Medal with Combat '' V '' an Bougainville, the Navy Cross on Guam and
the Legion of Merit with Combat ''V" during the Iwo Jima campaign.
Cushman was promoted to full colonel in 1950 while on the staff of the CIA
and served in London for two years on the staff of the commander-in-chief of
Continued
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U.S. naval forces, Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean. He was transferred to
Norfolk, Va., in 1953 and became the director of plans there. Assigned to
Washington in 1957, Cushman served four years on the staff of then Vice
President'Richard Nixon and was promoted to brigadier general in 1958. He went
f'rrrm there to Okinawa and assumed command of the 3rd Marine Division there after
promotion to major general in 1961.
He was sent to Vietnam in April 1967 and by June was promoted to lieutenant
general, assuming the post of commanding general of the III Marine Amphibious
Force -- the biggest combined combat unit ever led by a Marine.
While in Vietnam, he was nominated by Nixon to be deputy director of the
CIA and confirmed by the Senate to that position in April 1969. He was in the
post until December 1971, wk!en he was nominated for the position of commandant.
Cushman is survived by his wife, the former Audrey Boyce of Portsmouth, Va.,
a daughter and a son.
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EMPLOYEE
BULLETIN
3 January 1985
DEATH OF GENERAL ROBERT E. CUSHMAN, JR.
1. General Robert E. Cushman, Jr., former Deputy Director of
Central Intelligence (DDCI) and former Commandant of the United States
Marine Corps, died suddenly at his home in Annapolis, Maryland on
2 January 1985.
2. General Cushman was born on 24 December 1914 in St. Paul,
Minnesota. He was a 1935 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. Prior to
his retirement from the Marine Corps on 30 June 1975, General Cushman
served as its 25th Commandant, a post which he assumed on 1 January
1972. General Cushman served as National Security Advisor to then Vice
President Nixon during the years `1957 to 1961.
3. His first tour with the Agency was from November 1949 to
May 1951 as a military detailee. He was promoted to the rank of colonel
during this assignment. Eighteen years later, he was appointed DDCI on
21 April 1969 and served in that capacity until 31 December 1971. He was
awarded the Distinguished Intelligence Medal in recognition of his
contributions to the Agency and the Intelligence Community.
4. Funeral services are scheduled for Monday, 7 January 1985 at
10 a.m. in the Ft. Myer Old Chapel, Ft. Myer, Arlington, Virginia. The
family has requested that donations be made to the American Heart
Association in lieu of flowers.
DISTRIBUTION: ALL EMPLOYEES (1-6)
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We have no previous request for information
on Gen. Cushman from WHO'S WHO IN AMERICA.
Judy
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