Superintendents of the United States Military Academy

The commanding officer of the United States Military Academy is its Superintendent. This position is roughly equivalent to the president of a civilian university. The officer appointed is by tradition a graduate of the United States Military Academy who is considered to best exemplify the creed of "Duty, Honor, Country". The billet mandates the rank of Lieutentant General and is considered in the modern era as a terminal assignment in the Army, though in the past, with both Generals Schofield and MacArthur it was a stepping stone to be Commanding General/Army Chief of Staff. The current formulation was meant to insure the independence of the Superintendent from undue command influence, the primary problem of this formulation is that what insures his independence also restricts the power and influence within the Army. There has been discussion to revert back to the previous system or to recall a retired officer to fill the post. In the case of Gen. Andrew J. Goodpaster, who was re-commissioned so to assume the superintendency after his original retirement from active duty, he wore that rank, though was still carried on the books officially as a General, which was re-assumed after his second retirement.

Superintendents

• 1st Superintendent: 1801-1812: Col. Jonathan Williams (1751-1815) – In June 1803, Lieutenant Colonel Williams vacated (he did not resign) the post of Superintendent. He returned in Superintendency in April 1805.
• 1803-1805: Maj. William Amherst Barron (1769-1825) - Major Barron resigned his commission on 14 June 1807, just before he was brought to trial by a court martial for "for ...neglect of the Military Academy..."
• 1805-1812: Col. Jonathan Williams (1751-1815)
• 1812-1814: Col. Joseph Gardner Swift (1783-1865), Class of 1802
• 1814-1817: Capt. Alden Partridge (1785-1854), Class of 1806
• 1817-1833: Col. Sylvanus Thayer (1785–1872), Class of 1808
• 1833-1838: Maj. Rene DeRussy (1796-1864), Class of 1812
• 1838-1845; Richard Delafield (1798-1873), Class of 1818
• 1845-1852: Henry Brewerton (1801-1879), Class of 1819
• 1852-1855: Gen. Robert E. Lee (1807-1870), Class of 1829
• 1855-1856: John Gross Barnard (1815-1882), Class of 1833
• 1856-1861: Richard Delafield (1798-1873), Class of 1818
• January 23-28, 1861; Pierre Gustave Toutant (P.G.T.) Beauregard (1818-1893), Class of 1838
• January 28-March 1, 1861: Richard Delafield (1798-1873), Class of 1818
• 1861-1864, Alexander Hamilton Bowman (1803-1865), Class of 1825
• July to September 1864, Zealous Bates Tower (1819-1900), Class of 1841
• 1864-1866, George Washington Cullum (1809-1892), Class of 1833
• 1866-1871, Thomas Gamble Pitcher (1824-1895), Class of 1845
• 1871-1876, Thomas Howard Ruger (1833-1907), Class of 1854
• 1876-1881: Maj. Gen. John McAllister Schofield (1831-1906), Class of 1853 – Awarded the Medal of Honor at the Battle of Wilson's Creek in 1861. Later commanding general of the Army.
• 1881-1882: Maj. Gen. Oliver Otis Howard (1830-1909), Class of 1854
• 1882-1887: Maj. Gen. Wesley Merritt (1834-1910), Class of 1860
• 1887-1889: Col. John Grubb Parke (1827-1900), Class of 1849
• 1889-1893: Col. John Moulder Wilson (1837-1919), Class of 1860 - Awarded the Medal of Honor at the Battle of Malvern Hill, VA in 1862
• 1893-1898: Col. Oswald Hurbert Ernst (1842-1926), Class of 1864
• 1898-1906: Albert Leopold Mills (1854-1916), Class of 1879 - Awarded the Medal of Honor as a 1st Lt. at San Juan Hill in Cuba. Appointed Superintendent to West Point by President McKinley, which carried an automatic promotion from 1st Lt. to Col.
• 1906-1910: Hugh Lenox Scott (1853-1934), Class of 1876
• 1911-1912: Thomas Henry Barry (1855-1919), Class of 1877
• 1913-1917: Clarence Page Townsley, 18??-1926, Class of 1881
• 1917-1919: Samuel Escue Tillman (1847-1942), Class of 1869
• 1919-1922: Brig. Gen. Douglas MacArthur, Class of 1903 - Awarded the Medal of Honor in 1942 for his leadership to Philippine resistance to the Japanese invasion.
• 1922-1925: Brig. Gen. Fred Winchester Sladen (1863-1945), Class of 1890
• 1926-1928: Merch Bradt (M.B.) Stewart (1875-1934), Class of 1896
• 1928: Edwin Baruch Winans (1869-1947), Class of 1891
• 1929-1932: William Ruthven Smith (1868-1941), Class of 1892
• 1932-1938: William Durward Connor (1874-1960), Class of 1897
• 1938-1940: Jay Leland Benedict (1882-1953), Class Of 1904
• 1940-1942: Robert L. Eichelberger (1886-1961), Class of 1909
• 1942-1945: Francis Bowditch Wilby (1883-1965), Class of 1905
• 1945-1949: Gen. Maxwell Davenport Taylor, Class of 1922
• 1949-1951: Bryant Edward Moore (1894-1951), Class of Aug 1917
• 1951-1954: Maj. General Frederick Augustus Irving (1894-1995), Class of 1917
• 1954-1956: Blackshear Morrison Bryan (1900-1977), Class of 1922
• 1956-1960: Gen. Garrison Holt Davidson (1904-1992), Class of 1927
• 1960-1963: Gen. William Westmoreland (1914-2005), Class of 1936
• 1963-1966: James Benjamin Lampert (1914-1978), Class of 1936
• 1966-1969: Gen. Donald V. Bennett (1915- 2005), Class of 1940
• 1969-1970: Maj. Gen. Samuel William Koster (1919-  ), Class of 1942
• 1970-1974: William Allen Knowlton (1920-  ), Class of Jan. 1943
• 1974-1977: Sidney Bryan Berry (1926-  ), Class of 1948
• 1977-1981: Lt. Gen. Andrew Jackson Goodpaster (1915-2005), Class of 1939
• 1981-1986: Gen. Willard Warren Scott, Jr. (1926-  ), Class of 1948
• 1986-1991: Lt. Gen. Dave Richard Palmer (1934-  ), Class of 1956
• 1991-1996: Lt. Gen. Howard Dwayne Graves (1939-2003), Class of 1961
• 1996-2001: Lt. Gen. Daniel W. Christman (1943-  ), Class of 1965
• 2001: Lt. Gen. William J. Lennox, Jr. (1950?-  ), Class of 1971 (incumbent)