“A competent leader can get efficient service from poor troops while … an incapable leader can demoralize the best of troops.”

John Pershing (1860 to 1948)

John J. Pershing, in full John Joseph Pershing, byname Black Jack, was a US Army general who commanded the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) in Europe during World War I.On 01 September 1919, he was given the rank of General of the Armies of the United States.

Pershing’s nickname, “Black Jack,” derived from his service with a black regiment early in his career, had come to signify his stern bearing and rigid discipline.

Eschewing politics, Pershing remained in the army, serving as chief of staff from 1921 until his retirement three years later. Pershing’s memoirs were published as My Experiences in the World War, 2 vol. (1931).