page_title: David C. Jones
section_title: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
hierarchical_section_title: David C. Jones / Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
caption_attribution_description: English: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General David C. Jones during a Press Briefing in The Pentagon, Washington, D.C., on May 1, 1981.
context_page_description: David Charles Jones was a United States Air Force general and the ninth Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In this capacity, General Jones served as the highest ranking uniformed officer of the United States military forces. Prior to serving as Chairman of The Joint Chiefs of Staff, Jones served as the ninth Chief of Staff of The United States Air Force and fifteenth Commander of The United States Air Force in Europe.
  Jones was best known for his effort in-order to make the Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman position broader and rather than just the head of Joint Chiefs of Staff and the nations highest-ranking military officers, but as The President, The Secretary of Defense and The National Security Council primary military advisors. Following his retirement as Chairman of The Joint Chiefs of Staff and from active-duty, General Jones continued to emphasize the importance of this act which ultimately leading to the passage of Goldwater-Nichols Act.
context_section_description: General David C. Jones was nominated by President Jimmy Carter to become Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on 21 June 1978, replacing General George S. Brown who retired due to ill health. General Jones became the only Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who was not graduate from either a college or service academy. General Jones became the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during a period of increasing Soviet military arsenal and the emerging of Muslim-militia within the Persian Gulf region that was deemed as a threat within the Western World nations. General David C. Jones also oversaw the increased funding for defense in response to the Soviet threat and due to the continuing Joint Chiefs of Staff advocacy of strategic force modernization.
  Jones accompanied President Jimmy Carter to Vienna, Austria, in June 1979 for the final stage of the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty II negotiations with the USSR. When the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan raised fears that Soviet forces there might move into neighboring Iran, where an anti-Western militant Islamic regime had taken power in early 1979, Carter created a rapid deployment force for Southwest Asia to counter any such attempt in the region. Subsequently, at the direction of the secretary of defense, Jones oversaw planning for the transformation of the Rapid Defense Force into a regional unified command. The planning for what in 1983 became the United States Central Command (USCENTCOM) was essentially completed during his chairmanship.
  Jones also oversaw the planning for the rescue of the U.S. embassy personnel taken hostage in November 1979 by followers of the Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini, and he survived the criticism for that rescue mission's failure. During his second term as chairman, Jones worked to make the chairman, rather than the corporate JCS, the principal military adviser to the president and the secretary of defense, arguing that such a change of the National Security Act would improve the quality and timeliness of military advice and the combined readiness and effectiveness of the nation's combat forces. Jones continued his efforts toward that goal after his retirement as chairman of the JCS and saw it come to fruition with the passage of the Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act in 1986.
  Jones continued to served as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the first years of Ronald Reagan's Presidency in 1981. He retired from active-duty within the United States Air Force after his second term period as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff finished on June 18, 1982. In 1989 military history book Four Stars: The Inside Story of The Forty-Year Battle Between The Joint Chiefs of Staff and America's Civilian Leaders, historian Mark Perry wrote that General David C. Jones had earned a reputation as "a good service manager" who "welcomed change" during his tenure as both U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Jones served for four years as Air Force Chief of Staff under three different Presidents, Nixon, Ford and Carter and served for four years as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under two different Presidents, Carter and Reagan. Making his tenure within The Joint Chiefs of Staff longer than any of his predecessor on the Joint Chiefs of Staff history.
  Jones was awarded an honorary doctorate of humane letters degree from the University of Nebraska at Omaha in 1974, an honorary doctorate of laws degree from Louisiana Tech University in 1975, and an honorary doctorate of humane letters degree from Minot State College in 1979. Jones was the final Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to be decorated for service in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam.
  Jones was a member of the Air Force Association, the Falcon Foundation, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Alfalfa Club, the Bohemian Club and the Family.
caption: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General David C. Jones during a Press Briefing in The Pentagon.
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