Jack Brennan | |
---|---|
Brennan in April 1969
|
|
Birth name | John Vincent Brennan |
Nickname(s) | "Jack" |
Born |
Fall River, Massachusetts, U.S. |
August 16, 1937
Allegiance | United States of America |
Service/branch | United States Marine Corps |
Years of service | 1956-1975 |
Rank | Colonel |
Battles/wars | |
Awards |
John "Jack" Vincent Brennan (born August 16, 1937) is a retired United States Marine Corps officer and former political aide. He is best known as being U.S. President Richard Nixon's post-resignation chief of staff.
Brennan was born on August 16, 1937, in Fall River, Massachusetts, and attended Providence College, a Catholic college in Providence, Rhode Island, where he graduated in 1959. He served with the United States Marine Corps during the Vietnam War, where he earned a Bronze Star Medal and Purple Heart Medal at the Battle of Khe Sanh.
In 1969, then-Major Brennan was appointed as a Marine Corps Aide to President Nixon; during that time he rose to Colonel. During his time as Marine Corps Aide, Brennan accompanied Nixon on his historic trip to China in 1972, which opened up the country to the United States; he was the first Marine to set foot in the People's Republic of China, and he met Mao Zedong. He made a positive impression on Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev, who described Brennan as having "machismo." In addition, he met Pope Paul VI; he later said that, as a Catholic, it was a special honor for him. Brennan remained attached to Nixon during his resignation after the Watergate scandal in 1974; he was aboard the helicopter and airplane that flew the Nixon family back to their home state of California.