SOLD OUT | An Evening with General Jim Mattis, USMC (Ret)

Jim Mattis
General, United States Marine Corps (Ret) & 26th Secretary of Defense

Secretary Mattis was raised in southeastern Washington and enlisted in the Marine Corps Platoon Leader’s Course in 1969 while attending Central Washington State College. He earned a bachelor’s degree in 1971 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant.

During his more than four decades in uniform, he commanded Marines at all levels, from a 40-man infantry platoon to a 42,000-man Marine Expeditionary Force. He led an infantry battalion in the liberation of Kuwait; a naval task force in Afghanistan after the 9/11 terrorist attack in 2001; 1st Marine Division in the initial attack and the following stability operations in Iraq in 2003 and 2004; and subsequently led all U.S. Marine Forces in the Middle East as Commander of I Marine Expeditionary Force and Marine Forces Central Command.

During his non-combat assignments he served on recruiting duty; as the Battalion Officer at the Naval Academy Preparatory School; Executive Secretary to the Secretary of Defense; Director of Marine Corps Manpower Plans & Policy; Senior Military Assistant to the Deputy Secretary of Defense; and Commanding General of the Marine Corps Combat Development Command.

In joint assignments he commanded U.S. Joint Forces Command; NATO’s Supreme Allied Command for Transformation; and U.S. Central Command. At U.S. Central Command he directed military operations of more than 250,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen, Coast Guardsmen, Marines, and allied forces in combat across the Middle East.

Retiring in 2013, he was a Davies Family Distinguished Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. Subsequently he served as the 26th Secretary of Defense from January 2017 through December 2018. His eligibility for this position was contingent upon a congressional waiver, as amendments to the National Security Act prohibited active duty commissioned officers from serving as defense secretary for a period of seven years after service. The only previous waiver granted was for the appointment of George C. Marshall in 1950.

Currently General Mattis continues his work at the Hoover Institution.

Event Information

All proceeds support MSU Denver’s Institute for Public Service

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