1953-1956

General Alfred M. Gruenther, USA

In July of 1953 the President of the United States appointed General Alfred Gruenther to become the Supreme Allied Commander Europe. General Gruenther had long experience in the Alliance, having begun with the early planning group and continued through the first two SACEURs. He had joined the organisation before SHAPE existed, and was tasked, as the director of the Advanced Planning Group at the Hotel Astoria in Paris, to organise a headquarters and NATP military structure. Upon its activation by General Eisenhower on 2 April 1951, Gen. Gruenther was the logical choice to be the first Chief of Staff of SHAPE.

He served as the chief of Staff for both General Eisenhower, an old World War II comrade and for General Ridgway, Ike’s successor. He had actually been Ike’s choice as his successor, but the President and NATO council had agreed upon Ridgway. Less well known than his two predecessors, Gruenther was highly talented and, working in conjunction with the first DSACEUR, Field Marshal Montgomery, did much to improve Allied Command Europe.

When appointed SACUER, General Gruenther was the youngest four star general in the US Army. He was known as an officer who could assimilate and organise masses of information, converting the whole into clear operational plans. His sense of informality inspired the SHAPE staff and was in great measure responsible for the harmony among SHAPE officers in carrying out their tasks.

He was famous for sending little notes, called “Grunnions,” that dealt with details to be looked into. He also occasionally “Gruetherized” the staff, which meant he queried someone intensely in order to refine something more clearly. He was also known to send “Gruenther-grams”, or short but detailed memos, to the staff to provide guidance.

He felt that NATO’s defensive concept was one of U.S. nuclear weapons that formed a ‘sword’ and a necessary conventional ‘shield’ that would make that nuclear retaliation one of last resort. Another member joined the Alliance in 1955 – Germany. General Gruenther strongly promoted the addition of German forces into the military structure as an important element of the ‘shield’.

He campaigned vigorously for German integration into NATO’s force structure against some significant opposition and reluctance by some of the allies. Gruenther succeeded and with the new German armed force integrated into Allied Command Europe, the conventional defence of the Alliance was significantly enhanced.

Some of General Gruenther’s other achievements as SACUER were: a new approach that improved basic Allied planning; improved infrastructure planning and programming; the initiation of a coordinated air defence system in NATO Europe; and the introduction of improved communications systems into the Alliance’s command and control environment.

General Gruenther had the same zeal as General Eisenhower in his desire to promote NATO and he continued a personal public information campaign throughout his tenure. In 1955, for example, Gruenther made numerous speeches outside the headquarters and spoke to hundreds of visitor groups. His message was always ‘Unity!’ His speaking style was careful but casual and he never used a prepared speech.

By December of 1955 General Gruenther had decided to retire. He announced his retirement in April 1956.

General Gruenther was a native of Nebraska who graduated fourth in his class at the U.S. Military Academy at West Pont in 1918. He served in numerous peacetime assignments through 1941. In August 1942 he was appointed as Deputy Chief of Staff for the new Allied Force Headquarters in London, where his boss was General Eisenhower. Later he served as Chief of Staff of the 15 th Army Group in Italy. After the war, he served as Director of the Joint Staff of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Before assuming duties as the Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans for the US Army. It was from this position that he was sent to Paris as chief of the Advanced Planning Group in January 1951.

After SHAPE, General Gruenther went on to become the President of the American Red Cross.