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Maj. Gen. Clifford Stanley
Maker interview details
Interview
- August 6, 2013
Profession
- Category:
MilitaryMakers
- Occupation(s):
Major General
Birthplace
- Born: March 31, 1947
- Birth Location: Washington, District of Columbia
Favorites
- Favorite Color: Blue, Red
- Favorite Food: Shrimp, Grits
- Favorite Time of Year: Spring
- Favorite Vacation Spot: Charleston, South Carolina
Favorite Quote
"Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus."
Biography
U.S. Marine Corps MajGen. Clifford L. Stanley was born on March 31, 1947 in Washington, D.C. After graduating from Theodore Roosevelt High School in 1965, Stanley enrolled in South Carolina State University and graduated with his B.S. degree in psychology in 1969. He went on to graduate with honors from Johns Hopkins University with his M.S. degree in counseling in 1977. In 2005, Stanley received his Ed.D. degree in education from the University of Pennsylvania. Stanley’s military education includes the Amphibious Warfare School (1978), the Naval War College (1983), the Marine Corps Command and Staff College (1984), and the National War College (1988).
Throughout his thirty-three year career, Stanley has served in numerous command and staff positions in the U.S. Marine Corps, including as commanding officer of M Company, 3rd Battalion, 8th Marines, commanding officer of Headquarters Company of the 4th Marines; commanding general of Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center (MCAGCC) Twentynine Palms, California; and commanding general of the Marine Corps Base, Quantico, Virginia. In 1993 Stanley assumed command of the 1st Marine Regiment, Camp Pendleton, California, making him the first African American to command a U.S. Marine Corps Infantry Regiment. Stanley has also served in various assignments outside of the Fleet Marine Forces, including as psychology and leadership instructor at the U.S. Naval Academy; executive officer at the Marine Corps Institute; special assistant and Marine Corps aide for the Assistant Secretary of the Navy; and as a desk officer in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia and the Pacific Region in the Pentagon. In 2002, Stanley retired from the U.S. Marine Corps at the rank of Major General. He went on to serve as executive vice president of the University of Pennsylvania, and then as president of Scholarship America, Inc. Stanley was sworn in as the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness on February 16, 2010.
Stanley is a life member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., the South Carolina State University Alumni Association, the National Naval Officers Association, and the White House Fellow’s Foundation and Association. He also serves as a member of the Board of Deacons at Grace Baptist Church of Germantown in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Stanley’s military honors include the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal (2 awards), the Navy Commendation Medal, and the Navy Achievement Medal. His civilian awards include receiving the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s (N.A.A.C.P.) Meritorious Service Award, the N.A.A.C.P. Roy Wilkins Award, and the American Legion Award for Inspirational Leadership. Stanley also received Honorary Doctorate of Laws Degrees from Spalding University and South Carolina State University, and the Doctor of Science, honoris causa from the Medical University of South Carolina.
Stanley and his wife, Rosalyn Hill Stanley, have one daughter: U.S. Navy Commander Angela Yvonne Stanley.
U.S. Marine Corps MajGen. Clifford Lee Stanley was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on August 6, 2013.
Previews from the Digital Archive
Watch the full interview in the Digital Archive
- Slating of Clifford Stanley's interview
- Clifford Stanley lists his favorites
- Clifford Stanley describes his mother's family background, pt. 1
- Clifford Stanley describes his mother's family background, pt. 2
- Clifford Stanley talks about his mother's career, her personality, and how she raised her family
- Clifford Stanley describes his father's family background
- Clifford Stanley talks about his paternal family's life during discrimination in the South
- Clifford Stanley talks about his family being the target of a sniper attack and their response towards racial discrimination
- Clifford Stanley describes his grandparents and how he was taught about the importance of character
- Clifford Stanley talks about the sniper attack on his family in April, 1975
- Clifford Stanley talks about the impact of the sniper attack on his family in April of 1975
- Clifford Stanley talks about his father's education and how his father was drafted into World War II
- Clifford Stanley describes how his parents met and married
- Clifford Stanley discusses his father's employment as a photographer with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
- Clifford Stanley describes his parents' personalities and who he takes after
- Clifford Stanley discusses his parents' personalities
- Clifford Stanley talks about his brother, Michael Stanley
- Clifford Stanley talks about growing up around relatives in Washington, D.C.
- Clifford Stanley describes the sights, sounds and smells of growing up
- Clifford Stanley discusses his activities as a child
- Clifford Stanley discusses his experience in elementary school in Washington, D.C.
- Clifford Stanley talks about the integration of schools in Washington, D.C.
- Clifford Stanley talks about his favorite teachers in school and college and his elementary school in Washington, D.C.,
- Clifford Stanley talks about his interest in reading and his struggle with mathematics
- Clifford Stanley talks about his service activities as a child and his limited interest in television
- Clifford Stanley talks about his middle school in Washington, D.C.
- Clifford Stanley talks about the Civil Rights Movement and his involvement in South Carolina State University
- Clifford Stanley talks about attending high school in Washington, D.C., and his family's interest in President John F. Kennedy
- Clifford Stanley talks about his service activities and African American members of the military
- Clifford Stanley talks about his involvement in junior ROTC in high school
- Clifford Stanley talks about his desire to become a lawyer while in high school, and the poor counseling that he received there
- Clifford Stanley describes his decision to attend South Carolina State University
- Clifford Stanley talks about the summer of 1965, before heading to college
- Clifford Stanley describes his experience at South Carolina State University as well as meeting his wife
- Clifford Stanley describes his extracurricular activities and leadership positions at South Carolina State University
- Clifford Stanley discusses the South Carolina State Student Legislative Branch and the resignation of President B.C. Turner
- Clifford Stanley talks about the disciplinary standards at South Carolina State University
- Clifford Stanley reflects upon the Orangeburg Massacre of 1968, pt. 1
- Clifford Stanley reflects upon the Orangeburg Massacre of 1968, pt. 2
- Clifford Stanley talks about his stand during the Orangeburg Massacre
- Clifford Stanley talks about meeting the governor of South Carolina and Attorney Matthew Perry
- Clifford Stanley talks about majoring in psychology, and graduating from South Carolina State University
- Clifford Stanley talks about his brother's service in the Vietnam War, and joining the U.S. Marines
- Clifford Stanley talks about joining the U.S. Marine Corps and his training at Officer Candidate School
- Clifford Stanley talks about leadership standards for the U.S. Marine Corps
- Clifford Stanley talks about becoming an infantry officer in the U.S. Marine Corps
- Clifford Stanley talks about getting married in 1961, and reflects upon the Vietnam War
- Clifford Stanley reflects upon the wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq
- Clifford Stanley talks about serving as an infantryman in the U.S. Marine Corps
- Clifford Stanley reflects upon being an instructor at the U.S. Naval Academy in 1974
- Clifford Stanley reflects upon the war in Afghanistan and in Iraq
- Clifford Stanley describes his experience at the U.S. Naval Academy and talks about pursuing his master's degree at Johns Hopkins University
- Clifford Stanley discusses his experience and training at the Amphibious Warfare School
- Clifford Stanley discusses his philosophy of command
- Clifford Stanley discusses his assignment as the Infantry Company Commander, 3rd Marine Division, in Okinawa, Japan
- Clifford Stanley discusses his assignments as a ceremonial parade commander and a special assistant in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy
- Clifford Stanley discusses his experience at Marine Corps Command and Staff College at Quantico, Virginia and talks about the Beirut bombing of 1983
- Clifford Stanley discusses his experience at Camp Lejune and Parris Island in the 1980s, and the challenges that he faced in the Marines
- Clifford Stanley talks about attending the National War College, and writing a paper on the fall of the Berlin War
- Clifford Stanley talks about his experience as a White House Fellow in the Reagan and Bush administrations in the late 1980s, pt. 1
- Clifford Stanley talks about his experience as a White House Fellow in the Reagan and Bush administrations in the late 1980s, pt. 2
- Clifford Stanley describes his service as advisor for POW/MIA Affairs and as assistant for Australia and New Zealand, Office of the Secretary of Defense
- Clifford Stanley talks about his service as head of the Marine Corps Combat Development Command Battle Assessment Team at Quantico and in the Gulf War
- Clifford Stanley describes his assignment and experience as Infantry Regimental Commander in the 1st Marine Division, at Camp Pendleton
- Clifford Stanley explains the Posse Comitatus Act
- Clifford Stanley discusses his appointment as a Fleet Marine Officer of USS Mount Whitney, and the challenges that he faced as an early-select colonel
- Clifford Stanley discusses the challenges and resistance he faced in the U.S. Marine Corps
- Clifford Stanley talks about the USS Mount Whitney
- Clifford Stanley reflects upon the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy that was signed into law in 1993
- Clifford Stanley discusses his assignment as Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff, at the U.S. Marine Corps headquarters and as Director of Public Affairs
- Clifford Stanley discusses his service as Commanding General of the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center at Twentynine Palms, California
- Clifford Stanley talks about the terrorist attack on the Pentagon on September 11, 2001
- Clifford Stanley discusses his retirement from the U.S. Marine Corps in 2002
- Clifford Stanley discusses his appointment as executive vice president of the University of Pennsylvania
- Clifford Stanley discusses his disappointing experience as the executive vice president of the University of Pennsylvania
- Clifford Stanley discusses the genesis of his doctoral dissertation
- Clifford Stanley discusses his experience as the president of Scholarship America
- Clifford Stanley describes his appointment as the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness in 2009
- Clifford Stanley describes his experience as the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness
- Clifford Stanley discusses some of the problems that were faced by the Department of Defense when he became the Under Secretary of Defense
- Clifford Stanley talks about the closure of the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center
- Clifford Stanley reflects upon the circumstances surrounding his resignation as the Under Secretary of Defense in 2011
- Clifford Stanley reflects upon the being treated differently when making executive decisions in the U.S. Marine Corps and at the Pentagon
- Clifford Stanley discusses his involvement with the National Naval Officers Association
- Clifford Stanley talks about his involvement in the Baptist Church
- Clifford Stanley describes his activities after retiring as the Under Secretary of Defense.
- Clifford Stanley reflects upon his legacy as a U.S. Marine
- Clifford Stanley describes his hopes and concerns for the African American community today
- Clifford Stanley describes his hopes and concerns for U.S. Marine Corps
- Clifford Stanley reflects upon his career as a U.S. Marine