Richard Armitage (naval officer)
| Richard Armitage | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| United States Deputy Secretary of State | |
|
In office March 26, 2001 – February 23, 2005 |
|
| President | George W. Bush |
| Preceded by | Strobe Talbott |
| Succeeded by | Robert Zoellick |
| Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs | |
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In office April 2, 1983 – June 5, 1989 Acting: April 2, 1983 – June 5, 1983 |
|
| President |
Ronald Reagan George H. W. Bush |
| Preceded by | Bing West |
| Succeeded by | Harry Rowen |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Richard Lee Armitage April 26, 1945 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Laura Alice Samford |
| Children | 8 |
| Alma mater | United States Naval Academy (BS) |
Richard Lee Armitage (born April 26, 1945) is an American former naval officer who served three combat tours of duty in the Vietnam War as an advisor in contexts of riverine warfare. This experience and his acquired fluency in Vietnamese made him useful to the foreign service community of the government after the war. A Republican, he was appointed the 13th United States Deputy Secretary of State at the State Department, serving from 2001 to 2005 under George W. Bush. His promising State Department career came to an abrupt end due to a security leak scandal magnified by the press. He has acknowledged that he publicly released the information that Valerie Plame Wilson worked for the CIA, triggering the Plame affair. His defense that it was inadvertent during an interrogational press interview was accepted. After leaving the government service Armitage joined the international efforts of the private sector, where he has achieved some success.
Armitage was born in Boston, the son of Ruth H. Armitage and Leo Holmes. He graduated from St. Pius X Catholic High School, in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1963. In 1967 he graduated from the United States Naval Academy. New graduates from there who enter the Navy, as opposed to the Marine Corps, are given the rank of ensign.
He served on a destroyer stationed off the coast of Vietnam during the Vietnam War before volunteering to serve what would eventually become three combat tours with the riverine/advisory forces for the Republic of Vietnam Navy. According to Captain Kiem Do, a Republic of Vietnam Navy officer who served with him in Vietnam, Armitage "seemed drawn like a 'moth to flame' to the hotspots of the naval war: bedding down on the ground with Vietnamese commandos, sharing their rations and hot sauce, telling jokes in flawless Vietnamese". Instead of a uniform, Armitage often dressed in native garb. He adopted a Vietnamese pseudonym, "Tran Phu", based on an arbitrary, but personally relevant translation of his real name.
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