Warren Gulley

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Warren Gulley
1st Marine Division
WarsWorld War II
Korean War
Awards Presidential Unit Citation Purple Heart
Other workWhite House Military Office (1968–1977)
The International Six
Signature

Warren "Bill" Gulley (November 16, 1922 – February 24, 2012) was an American military non-commissioned officer (NCO) who, in retirement, served (1968–1977) as the first civilian chief of the White House Military Office. In that position he amassed substantial political influence and established a sometimes feared reputation.

Gulley later went into private business with Gen. Brent Scowcroft and others. In 1980 he wrote an exposé on misdeeds and embezzlement he'd witnessed during his career, Breaking Cover.

Early life and later career

Youth and military service

Gulley was raised in

Lyndon Johnson.[2]

White House Military Office

Gulley had been recommended to his new post by Brent Scowcroft.[2] He was the first civilian to hold the position of chief of the military office; to make it appear the president's staff was smaller than it was, Gulley was placed on the United States Postal Service payroll.[1][2] He spent the next 11 years in charge of the White House Military Office, which was then responsible for the nuclear football, Air Force One, Marine One, the White House Communications Agency, and the White House Mess.[2]

According to Col. Stephen Bauer, who worked in the White House during Gulley's tenure, Gulley had a reputation as the "big, bad wolf" and wielded such influence that no one below sub-Cabinet rank dared question his decisions, though many people resented a former NCO having virtually unchecked power. Bauer claims that, during the

Richard Nixon presidency, Gulley was the second "most feared member of the staff" after H. R. Haldeman.[3]

By 1975 Gulley was also serving in a de facto capacity as the president's liaison with former presidents of the United States after the post of special assistant for liaison with former presidents had gone unfilled following the retirement of the former Special Assistant, Gen. Robert Schulz.[4]

Gulley retired in 1977. Then President Jimmy Carter was informed of Gulley's departure by special assistant for administration Hugh Carter, who noted that "I regret losing Bill because he did an excellent job".[5]

International Six

After retirement, Gulley went into business with Brent Scowcroft,

Washington Post article from the time period, "the nature of their business, investing or consulting is not something they choose to discuss".[6]

Gulley and Scowcroft had originally been introduced to Zawawi by Richard Nixon. ISI specialized in facilitating business deals in the United States with Omani and Iraqi concerns. It shut-down in 1988 after Scowcroft accepted appointment as National Security Advisor to Ronald Reagan. According to Gulley, the business realized only marginal profit during its existence.[7]

Breaking Cover

In 1980,

United States government"; and that Lyndon Johnson had given several of his mistresses clerical jobs in the U.S. government.[2][8][9]

Gulley was one of two former White House staff to report that Jimmy Carter refused to allow the military aide responsible for the nuclear football to stay at a trailer adjacent to his house in Plains, Georgia, when Carter was in residence there, charges which Carter later denied.[10] He also alleged that Richard Nixon had taken a "behind the scenes" role in Gerald Ford's 1976 presidential campaign, and that Nixon had once described the position of United States Secretary of the Navy as "a job anyone can do ... why we even had John Warner in that job".[11]

Breaking Cover's details about the nuclear football are some of the best known source material on the device publicly available and have frequently been used as a reference in mainstream media over the 35 years since publication, being cited by

UPI in 1983, USA Today in 2005, Business Insider in 2015, and CNN in 2016, among others.[12][13][14][2][15]

Personal life

Gulley was married and had four children.[1]

References

  1. ^
    Washington Times
    . March 30, 2012. Retrieved March 4, 2017 – via Legacy.com.
  2. ^
    ISBN 0671879197
    .
  3. ISBN 1589790790
    .
  4. ^ "MEMORANDUM TO: JACK MARSH" (PDF). Ford Library and Museum. National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved February 16, 2017.
  5. ^ "Memorandum for the President" (PDF). Jimmy Carter Library. White House. Retrieved February 16, 2017.
  6. Washington Post
    . Retrieved February 16, 2017.
  7. ISBN 978-1586489632
    .
  8. ^
    Washington Post
    . Retrieved February 15, 2017.
  9. New York Times. Associated Press
    . June 14, 1981. Retrieved February 15, 2017.
  10. ISBN 978-0307461377
    .
  11. ^ "BREAKING COVER". Kirkus. Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved February 16, 2017.
  12. ^ "Nuclear biscuits and footballs: How the president launches an atomic bomb". CNN.
  13. ^ "Why a mysterious black briefcase follows the US president everywhere". Business Insider.
  14. ^ "Military aides still carry the president's nuclear 'football'". USA Today.
  15. UPI
    . December 13, 1983. Retrieved February 16, 2017.

External links

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