by Monique Guy
Four Star General (retired) and former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO. Sucessfully led NATO troops against Serbia in the Kosovo conflict in 1999 despite numerous obstacles. A Democratic primary candidate for president in 2003/4, he endorsed and campaigned for John Kerry after exiting the primaires. Presently Chairman and CEO of Wesley K. Clark & Associates, he is also a partner in the emergency response design firm, James Lee Witt Associates. After his primary race, Clark formed his own leadership PAC, WesPAC: Securing America. He is in demand as a public speaker around the country. Author of two books, Waging Modern War: Bosnia, Kosovo, and the Future of Combat and Winning Modern Wars: Iraq, Terrorism and the American Empire, he has also published numerous articles. He lives with his wife, Gert, in Little Rock, Arkansas. They have one son, Wes Clark Jr., and two grandsons.
General Clark currently serves in leadership roles with a number of non-profit public service organizations, including the Center for Strategic and International Studies (Distinguished Senior Adviser), the Center for American Progress (Trustee), the International Crisis Group (Board Member), City Year Little Rock (Board Chair), the National Endowment for Democracy (Board Member), the United States Institute of Peace (United Nations Task Force Member), and the General Accountability Office (Advisory Board Member). He is a member of the US Congress Democratic National Security Advisory Group. A featured marcher in the Stop Global Warming Virtual March, he is on the honorary task force for Global Green USA's project to build sustainable housing in the devastated Gulf Coast hurricane area.
Wesley Clark was born Wesley Jay Kanne on December 23, 1944 at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago. His mother, Venteta Updegraff, was an Arkansas native from a large family. Her father was a lumber mill worker and both of her parents were born in Arkansas. Pretty and independent, she left home at eighteen and took a job as a stenographer, eventually moving north to Chicago after a short marriage and divorce. Wesley’s father, Benjamin Kanne, was an attorney who worked for the city as legal consul and in private practice. Benjamin’s parents were Russian Jews that had immigrated to the United States to escape the pogroms of the late 1800’s. His legal career was intertwined with his involvement in politics; he made a run for a seat on the city council while an assistant prosecutor and as alderman of the Fourth Ward in 1927. He was a Delegate at the 1932 Democratic Convention. When Veneta and Benjamin married in 1939, they entered into a “mixed marriage”; Veneta was a Methodist and Benjamin a Reform Jew. Such a match was not common at the time and Veneta was exposed to the prejudice Jews had to endure and it disturbed her. The couple agreed not to raise Wesley within the Jewish faith and she took him with her to a Methodist church on Sundays.
In 1948, the family was shocked when Benjamin died in his sleep of heart failure, despite apparent good health. He was only 51 years old. Clark remembers, “My father was a tremendous influence in my life, and then one night he read to me, and I woke up in the middle of the night and there were a lot of adults in the apartment. They kept me from going in the bedroom, and that was the night he died.” Although Clark was only 4 at the time, he remembers his father fondly. "I remember he went out to buy me a present every Saturday. I remember he read to me every night. He loved three things: pinochle, horses, and politics, plus my mother and me." At the time of his father’s death, Wesley developed a speech impediment that he eventually overcame.
Veneta said the memories of her surroundings where too painful and decided to return to Little Rock. She was not close to the Kanne clan and living in Chicago was expensive. Left with little after her husband’s death, she took a job as a secretary at a local bank and moved into her parent’s apartment, depending on them to watch over Wesley while she was at work (her father had now retired). Working full-time, she eventually saved enough money to buy a home in the upscale neighborhood of Pulaski Heights and brought her parents with her. “I was the poorest kid in the richest neighborhood” in Little Rock, recalled Clark.
Fearing the prejudice her son would encounter in Arkansas, Veneta made the decision to keep his Jewish ancestry hidden, even from Wesley himself. Clark would not learn of this until he was a young adult.
Wes was a curious and active child, displaying early signs of the intellectual capacity, drive and self-discipline that would serve him well throughout his life. Friends remember Clark stopping his own playtime to do his schoolwork, which he always took seriously. He had a natural aptitude for math and science, which developed into a lifelong interest. Model building was a favorite pastime, as well as a love of toy soldiers. Wesley also took a strong interest in religion at a young age, continuing to attend a Baptist church regularly, despite his mother’s lack of participation. He would continue his activities within the church youth group throughout his teenage years.
Wes joined the Boys Club when he was seven years old, originally attending a class to overcome his speech impediment, it became a central part of his life. Here he took up swimming, which he excelled in, socialized, became a camp counselor and found a father figure, Jimmy Miller. Miller, who was the swimming coach and ran the Kwanis summer camp, was committed to instilling in the boys under his charge ideals of character and leadership. He found an eager student in young Wesley, who attended his Saturday leadership classes. Clark has retold the story of Miller’s challenge to a group of boys to jump to from a high bridge to the water below, an activity Miller indulged in himself, which he assured them was safe. Those who dared would be allowed to become camp counselors. They had been skinny dipping at the time and the approach of a car full of women gave the incentive that had been floundering. Wes took the leap. “The afterglow lasted a good two weeks, at least. Or maybe forty years. You have to have courage and faith. And you have to expect to go through some trials to be a leader.” As a counselor with 16 boys under his charge, Clark found satisfaction in learning the basics of leadership. He would go on to win the Boys Club “Boy of the Year” award, chosen out of 5,400 members.
Veneta met and eventually married Victor Clark, a bank vice-president, in 1954. He was divorced and had one son from his previous marriage. He also had a drinking problem, which he overcame, but not before it had ruined his banking career. His employment thereafter was sporadic and Veneta was often the sole breadwinner for the family. Those periods were stressful for the family, Clark remembers. “I loved him dearly, but he hardly ever made any money because he’d been divorced and was an alcoholic. And he just had a hard time getting a job that was commensurate, really, with his ability.” Victor took Wesley fishing and hunting on the weekends. He never met his stepbrother while growing up. Clark spoke of his mother as “a strong woman with strong ideas, and she was very protective of me..” and motivating force in his life. “It was my mother who was pushing me.”
Wes continued to excel academically in High School, where he was known as a classic “smart kid”, always in the top ten percent of his class, an honors student in math, english and science. He became President of the National Honor Society, edited the literary journal of the English honors class and took the first calculus classes offered at the school. He also joined and found success in the debate club, which he would continue at West Point and Oxford. Clark was chosen along with other exceptionally bright students that displayed leadership potential for the American Legion Boys State, a mock government exercise that Bill Clinton would participate in a few years later.
Forming a contrast to this bookish image was Clark’s success as a competitive swimmer. Although no team, or even a pool, existed at Hall High, Wes took it upon himself to form one, acting as both coach and captain (the Boys Club pool was used for practice). During a state meet a member of the team was out due to illness and Clark decided to race two of the legs of a four-man relay. A teammate, Phillip McMath recalls, “When he swam the anchor leg of that relay, he was behind. And he had already been in the water for an event. So there was no way he was supposed to catch those guys that were fresh. He caught them and passed them, we won the event.” The team won a Big Nine Championship that year. McMath was convinced that Wes had Olympic potential as a swimmer. But Clark’s main interest lay elsewhere.
Growing up against the backdrop of the cold war and into the Kennedy era, Wes was drawn to the military as a form of national service and wanted to go to West Point. “It was my belief in service that led me to West Point. It was the year after John F. Kennedy admonished us to ask not what our country could do for us, but what we could do for our country.” He also acknowelged that this respect for the military was “a southern thing.” When he learned that his less than 20/20 vision would not prevent him from attending, his mind was set, turning down full scholarships to both Harvard and Yale. “I wanted to be an officer and a leader in the Army,” Clark has said. “I wanted public service.” In order to attend West Point, a nomination from a member of Congress or the Department of the Army was required. After being rejected by State Senator John. L. McClellan as “not old enough, big enough or smart enough”, Clark obtained a nomination from Arkansas Representative Dale Alford, who decided which of the boys he would support by making them take a civil service test. Wes earned the top score, and went on to take the West Point academic and physical exams. He received his letter of acceptance to the school in March of 1962.
