Collins, J. Lawton (Joseph Lawton), 1896-1987

President Harry S. Truman in front of a train at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. Foreground, from left to right: Major General Edward E. MacMorland, Commander of Aberdeen; Major General Elbert L. Ford, Chief of Ordnance (behind MacMorland); Secretary of the Army Frank Pace; President Truman; General J. Lawton Collins, Chief of Staff; General Harry Vaughan (obscured by Collins). From: Harry H. Vaughan.

Portrait of General J. Lawton Collins; photograph is autographed to Col. Francis Williams.

Left to Right, leaving the White House following a meeting with President Truman are his top military and Defense Chiefs: General J. Lawton Collins, Army Chief of Staff; John Foster Dulles, Foreign Policy Adviser; Secretary of State Dean Acheson, and General Omar Bradley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The nation's top military leaders hold a weekend meeting in Newport, Rhode Island (see 2002-98). Pictured are three who attended the meeting (left to right): General Hoyt S. Vandenberg, Air Force Chief; Admiral Louis E. Denfield, Chief of Naval Operations; and General J. Lawton Collins, Army Chief of Staff. From: Pershing Touseley, Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Gen. Omar Bradley swears in his successor, Gen. J. Lawton Collins (right), as the new Army Chief of Staff. Among those present are L to R, second row: Deputy Secretary of Defense Stephen Early; Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg, Chief of Staff; Adm. Louis E. Denfeld, Chief of Naval Operations; Secretary of the Army Gordon Gray; Mrs. Collins.

Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson (left) swears in General Omar Bradley (right) as the first Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Among those present are left to right, background: Dan A. Dimball (partially obscured), Under Secretary of the Navy; W. Stuart Symington, Secretary of the Air Force; Gen. Lawton Collins, Vice Chief of Staff; General Hoyt Vandenberg, Chief of Staff; Mrs. Bradley; Gordon Gray, Secretary of the Army; Stephen Early, Deputy Secretary of Defense.

Members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff meet in their conference room at the Pentagon. Left to Right: General Omar N. Bradley, Chairman JCS; Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg, USAF; Gen. J. Lawton Collins, USA; and Adm. Forrest P. Sherman USN.

Army Chief of Staff J. Lawton Collins, appearing before a House Armed Services Committee, where he said an over zealous public relations officer "made a mistake" in putting a fancy cover on the official time table for "operation smack" but asserted the ill-fated assault was soundly conceived and fully justified. From: Beth Gore

Sketch of J. Lawton Collins drawn by Associated Press Newsfeatures artist H. E. Munhall. Army Chief of Staff J. Lawton Collins believes "the air has been cleared considerably" by the armed forces row. He qualifies as an expert in combat. He earned his reputation as "Lighting Joe" on two fronts in the last war. From: Beth Gore