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Major General Edwin Anderson Walker (November 10, 1909 – October 31, 1993) — known as Ted Walker — was a highly decorated United States Army officer who fought in World War II and the Korean War. He became known for his ultra-conservative political views and was criticized by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower for promoting a personal political stand while in uniform. Walker resigned his commission in 1959, but Eisenhower refused to accept his resignation and gave Walker a new command over the 24th Infantry Division in Augsburg, Germany. Walker again resigned his commission in 1961 after being publicly and formally admonished by the Joint Chiefs of Staff for calling Eleanor Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman "pink" in print and for violating the Hatch Act by attempting to direct the votes of his troops. President John F. Kennedy accepted his resignation, making Walker the only US General to resign in the 20th century. In early 1962 Walker ran for governor of Texas and lost in the Democratic primary election to the eventual winner, John Connally. In October 1962, Walker was arrested for leading riots at the University of Mississippi in protest against admitting a black student, James Meredith, into the all-white university. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy ordered Walker committed to a mental asylum for a 90-day evaluation in response to his role in the Ole Miss riot of 1962, but psychiatrist Thomas Szasz protested and Walker was released in five days. Attorney Robert Morris convinced a Mississippi grand jury not to indict Walker. Walker was the target of an assassination attempt on April 10, 1963, that has been linked to Lee Harvey Oswald. The attacks on United Nations Ambassador Adlai Stevenson on October 24, 1963, were traced to plans organized by Edwin Walker and his followers among the John Birch Society, according to the November issue of the ''Texas Observer''. One month later, the Black-bordered Ad and the "Wanted for Treason: JFK" handbills of November 22, 1963, appeared on the streets of Dallas. They were traced to Edwin Walker and his associates by the Warren Commission. From the period of President Kennedy's assassination forward, Walker wrote and spoke publicly about his belief that there were two assassins at his "April Crime", Oswald, and another one never found. ==Early life and military career== Walker was born in Center Point in Kerr County in the Texas Hill Country. He graduated in 1927 from the New Mexico Military Institute. He attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he graduated in 1931.〔Handbook of Texas: ("Center Point, Texas." ) Retrieved March 16, 2007.〕 Walker's background was as an artilleryman, but during World War II, he commanded a sub-unit of the Canadian-American First Special Service Force. Walker took command of one of the force's three regiments while still in the United States, and commanded the 3rd Regiment throughout its time in Italy. Their first combat actions began in December 1943, and after battling through the Winter Line, the Force was withdrawn for redeployment to the Anzio beachhead in early 1944. After the fight for Rome in June 1944, the force was withdrawn again to prepare for Operation Dragoon. In August 1944, Walker succeeded Robert T. Frederick as the unit's second, and last, commanding officer.〔Joyce, Ken'' Snow Plough and the Jupiter Deception: The Story of the 1st Special Service Force and the 1st Canadian Special Service Battalion, 1942-1945'' (Vanwell Publishing Ltd., St. Catharines, ON, 2006) ISBN 1-55125-094-2, p. 118.〕 The FSSF landed on the Hyeres Islands off of the French Riviera in the autumn of 1944, taking out a strong German garrison. Walker commanded the FSSF when it was disbanded in early 1945.〔Joyce (2006), ''Snow Plough and the Jupiter Deception'', p. 273.〕 Walker saw combat in the Korean War, commanding the Third Infantry Division's 7th Infantry Regiment and serving as a senior advisor to the Army of the Republic of Korea. Next Walker was assigned as commander of the Arkansas Military District in Little Rock, Arkansas. During his years in Arkansas, he implemented an order from President Eisenhower in 1957 to quell civil disturbances during the desegregation of Central High School. Osro Cobb, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, recalls that Walker "made it clear from the outset ... that he would do any and everything necessary to see that the black students attended Central High School as ordered by the federal court... he would arrange protection for them and their families, if necessary, and also supervise their transportation to and from the school for their safety."〔Osro Cobb, "Osro Cobb of Arkansas: Memories of Historical Significance," Carol Griffee, ed. (Little Rock, Arkansas: Rose Publishing Company, 1989), p. 238.〕 During that time, Walker repeatedly protested to President Eisenhower that using Federal troops to enforce racial integration was against his conscience. Although Walker obeyed orders and successfully integrated Little Rock High, he also turned toward anti-Communist literature and radio programs. He listened to segregationist preacher Billy James Hargis and oil tycoon H. L. Hunt, whose anti-Communist "Life Line" radio program was the launching platform for conservative activist and publisher Dan Smoot. Anti-Communist activists (in 1957-1959) claimed that Communists controlled key portions of the U.S. government and the United Nations; some Soviet spies and agents occupied prominent positions within the U.S. Federal government, e.g. some of the Silvermaster group. In 1959, General Walker met publisher Robert Welch. The latter man had just founded the John Birch Society to promote his anti-Communist views, one of which was that President Eisenhower was a Communist. This assertion shocked General Walker, who took it to heart because it coincided with the segregationist position of Reverend Billy James Hargis, that the Civil Rights Movement was a Communist plot. On August 4, 1959 General Walker submitted his resignation to the U.S. Army. President Eisenhower denied Walker's request for resignation, and instead offered him command over more than 10,000 troops in Augsburg, Germany, specifically over the 24th Infantry Division. Walker accepted that command. He began promoting his Pro-Blue indoctrination program for troops, which included a reading list of materials from Billy James Hargis and the John Birch Society. The name "Pro-Blue," said Walker, was intended to suggest "anti-Red." 〔p. 105 Schoenwald, Jonathan M. ''A Time for Choosing: The Rise of American Conservatism,'' Oxford University Press, 2001.〕 He later wrote that the Pro-Blue program was based upon his experiences in Korea, where he saw "hastily mobilized and deployed soldiers 'bug out' in the face of Communist units with inferior equipment and often smaller numbers. American soldiers, unprepared for the psychological battlefield, needed to know why they had to beat the enemy as well as the how."〔Major General Edwin A. Walker, ''Censorship and Survival'' (New York, The Bookmailer Inc. 1961) pp. 14, 18.〕 Promoting the Pro-Blue program brought General Walker into conflict with the ''Overseas Weekly,'' a tabloid newspaper. On April 16, 1961, the ''Weekly'' published a front-page article accusing Walker of brainwashing his troops with John Birch Society materials supplied by Hargis.〔Scott, Peter Dale. ''Deep Politics and the Death of JFK'', (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1993), pp. 34, 50. ISBN 0-520-20519-7.〕 Because the John Birch Society regularly claimed that all U.S. presidents from Franklin D. Roosevelt forward had been Communists, its positions were considered too politically controversial for a U.S. general to advocate; military officers were not supposed to promote politics at all. Walker was quoted by the ''Overseas Weekly'' as saying that Harry S. Truman, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Secretary of State Dean Acheson were "definitely pink." Additionally, a number of soldiers had complained that Walker was instructing them how to vote in the forthcoming American election by using the ''Conservative Voting Index,'' which was biased toward the Republican Party. According to Walker, his alleged instruction to soldiers as how to vote would later be disproved. The allegation was based on an article in the division newspaper that provided information as to how to fill out absentee ballots.〔Major General Edwin A. Walker, ''Censorship and Survival'' (New York, The Bookmailer Inc. 1961), p. 59.〕 On the day after the ''Overseas Weekly'' story appeared, Walker was relieved of his command by Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, while an inquiry was conducted. In October, Walker was reassigned to Hawaii to become assistant chief of staff for training and operations in the Pacific. Walker chose to resign from the Army a second time. Because the investigation had found no evidence of wrongdoing by Walker, the Secretary of the Army chose to admonish the officer, which could not be appealed by the general. The Secretary also stated that Walker would not be permitted to take command of VIII Corps, as the President had seen fit to withdraw his name for promotion.〔Major General Edwin A. Walker, ''Censorship and Survival'' (New York, The Bookmailer Inc. 1961), p. 60.〕 In protest, Walker, choosing political activism over his 30-year military career, did not retire but resigned his post, thereby forfeiting his pension. This time the President accepted his resignation. Walker said: "It will be my purpose now, as a civilian, to attempt to do what I have found it no longer possible to do in uniform."〔"(I Must Be Free . . . )," ''Time'', November 10, 1961.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Edwin Walker」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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