Robert Komer
Encyclopedia
Peace
Peace is a state of harmony characterized by the lack of violent conflict. Commonly understood as the absence of hostility, peace also suggests the existence of healthy or newly healed interpersonal or international relationships, prosperity in matters of social or economic welfare, the...
effort to win South Vietnam
South Vietnam
South Vietnam was a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the "State of Vietnam" and later as the "Republic of Vietnam" . Its capital was Saigon...
ese "hearts and minds
Hearts and Minds
Hearts and Minds may refer to:* A biblical quotation; see the Wikisource link-Film:* Hearts and Minds , a 1974 documentary film about the Vietnam War-Television:...
" during the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, heading Civil Operations and Revolutionary Development Support
Civil Operations and Revolutionary Development Support
CORDS was a pacification program of the United States military in the Vietnam War.- Development of the Program :...
.
Biography
Born in ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois but raised in Saint Louis, Komer graduated from Harvard University, served in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and joined the Central Intelligence Agency
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
in its infancy in 1947.
Komer served on the staff of the National Security Council
United States National Security Council
The White House National Security Council in the United States is the principal forum used by the President of the United States for considering national security and foreign policy matters with his senior national security advisors and Cabinet officials and is part of the Executive Office of the...
, which was led by McGeorge Bundy
McGeorge Bundy
McGeorge "Mac" Bundy was United States National Security Advisor to Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson from 1961 through 1966, and president of the Ford Foundation from 1966 through 1979...
. After Bundy's departure, Komer briefly succeeded Bundy as interim National Security Advisor
National Security Advisor (United States)
The Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, commonly referred to as the National Security Advisor , serves as the chief advisor to the President of the United States on national security issues...
, before he was assigned to the Vietnam pacification campaign.
While in Vietnam, Komer was to head up the Phoenix program
Phoenix Program
The Phoenix Program |phoenix]]) was a controversial counterinsurgency program designed, coordinated, and executed by the United States Central Intelligence Agency , United States special operations forces, and the Republic of Vietnam's security apparatus during the Vietnam War that operated...
, a CIA-inspired operation which Komer later testified resulted in 20,587 deaths. Noam Chomsky
Noam Chomsky
Avram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and activist. He is an Institute Professor and Professor in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT, where he has worked for over 50 years. Chomsky has been described as the "father of modern linguistics" and...
argues that the Phoenix program's death toll should be estimated at 60,000 dead during the Komer period. Chomsky also considers Komer a legendary "Cold Warrior," of "a particularly vicious stripe."
Komer also had a hand in South Vietnam's Strategic Hamlet Program
Strategic Hamlet Program
The Strategic Hamlet Program was a plan by the governments of South Vietnam and the United States during the Vietnam War to combat the Communist insurgency by means of population transfer.In 1961, U.S...
, a program of forced resettlement of peasants into what some claimed to have amounted to concentration camps.
As the first civilian head of the "new model" pacification in Vietnam, beginning in 1966, Komer believed that "sustained local security" was the first and primary objective. Though he initially reported directly to President Lyndon B. Johnson, he was happy to fit his program under the structure of the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam
Military Assistance Command, Vietnam
The U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, MACV, , was the United States' unified command structure for all of its military forces in South Vietnam during the Vietnam War.-History:...
(MACV), then headed by U.S. Army General William Westmoreland
William Westmoreland
William Childs Westmoreland was a United States Army General, who commanded US military operations in the Vietnam War at its peak , during the Tet Offensive. He adopted a strategy of attrition against the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam and the North Vietnamese Army. He later served as...
, because he felt the military was less bureaucratic and more action-oriented than civilian agencies, and also it had most of the resources, whether U.S. or Vietnamese.
In a revealing discussion with military historians, Komer said: "Everybody and nobody" was responsible for counter-insurgency against the communist Vietcong guerrillas. He said it "fell between stools which accounted for the prolonged failure to push things on a large scale even though many correctly analyzed the need."
Following his Vietnam service, he served as ambassador
Ambassador
An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....
to Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, in the Rand Corporation, and in the Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
administration as the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy
Under Secretary of Defense for Policy
The Under Secretary of Defense for Policy is a high level civilian official in the United States Department of Defense. The Under Secretary of Defense for Policy is the principal staff assistant and adviser to both the Secretary of Defense and the Deputy Secretary of Defense for all matters...
.
On December 23, 1967, he was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom
Presidential Medal of Freedom
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is an award bestowed by the President of the United States and is—along with thecomparable Congressional Gold Medal bestowed by an act of U.S. Congress—the highest civilian award in the United States...
by President Lyndon Johnson.
In 1968, when Komer was named ambassador to Turkey
United States Ambassador to Turkey
The United States of America has maintained many high level contacts with Turkey since the nineteenth century.-Chargé d'Affaires:*George W. Erving *David Porter -Minister Resident:*David Porter *Dabney Smith Carr...
, he was succeeded by William E. Colby, who later became head of the CIA.
Ambassador Komer has left a special mark in Turkish history: on January 6, 1969, at the beginning of his tenure as the US ambassador to Turkey, his car was set on fire in Middle East Technical University
Metu
Metu is a market town in southwestern Ethiopia. Located in the Illubabor Zone of the Oromia Region along the Sor River, this town has a latitude and longitude of and an altitude of 1605 meters...
by a group of students who then formed the core of the Marxist-Leninist movement in Turkey under the banner of Dev Genç. Komer was visiting the campus at the invitation of university president Kemal Kurdas
Kemal Kurdas
Kemal Kurdas was Turkish Minister of Finance, the IMF’s adviser to Latin American governments and deputy head of the Turkish Treasury. But those jobs were just a small part of a long career. He went on to develop Middle East Technical University, build a distinctive campus for it and create a...
, who relied on American donors to finance the building of the modern campus.
Speculation goes that the student group included Sinan Cemgil :tr:Sinan Cemgil, Hüseyin İnan :tr:Hüseyin İnan, Mustafa Taylan Özgür, Yusuf Aslan :tr:Yusuf Aslan, Seçkin İnceefe, Halil Çelimli, Tuncay Çelen, Sabit Big, and that the car was torched by Hüseyin İnan, and that the scarf used to set the car on fire belonged to Sinan Cemgil.
This attack on Komer's car, often referred to as the "Komer incident", is an integral part of an era in Turkish social history.