Editing David C. Jones (section)

== Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff ==
[[Image:Carter Brezhnev sign SALT II.jpg|thumb|Chairman of The Joint Chiefs of Staff General David C. Jones (in Air Force uniform) accompanying President Jimmy Carter at the signing of the [[Strategic Arms Limitation Talks|SALT II]] treaty, 18 June 1979, in [[Vienna]].|alt=]]
[[File:Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General David C. Jones during a Press Briefing.jpg|left|thumb|Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General David C. Jones during a press briefing in [[The Pentagon]].|alt=]]

General David C. Jones was nominated by President [[Jimmy Carter]] to become [[Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff]] on 21 June 1978, replacing General [[George Scratchley Brown|George S. Brown]], who retired due to ill health.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Jones|first=David Charles|date=June 27, 2020|title=9th Chairman of The Joint Chiefs of Staff General David Charles Jones|url=https://www.jcs.mil/About/The-Joint-Staff/Chairman/General-David-Charles-Jones/ |publisher=www.jcs.mil}}</ref> General Jones became the only Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who was not a graduate from either a college or service academy.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Perry|first=Mark|title=Four Stars: The Inside Story of The Forty-Year Battle Between The Joint Chiefs of Staff and America's Civilian Leaders|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|date=March 1, 1989|isbn=978-0395429235}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> General Jones became the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during a period of increasing of the Soviet military arsenal and the emerging of [[Islamic terrorism|Muslim militias]] within the [[Persian Gulf|Persian Gulf region]] that was deemed as a threat within the Western world nations.<ref name=":0" /> General Jones also oversaw the increased funding for defense in response to the Soviet threat and due to the continuing Joint Chiefs of Staff advocacy of strategic force modernization.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" />

[[File:General David C. Jones Retirement Ceremony.jpg|thumb|Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General David C. Jones with [[Vice President of the United States|U.S. Vice President]] [[George H. W. Bush]] and [[United States Secretary of Defense|Secretary of Defense]] [[Caspar Weinberger]] at [[Andrews Air Force Base]].|alt=]]

Jones accompanied President [[Jimmy Carter]] to [[Vienna]], Austria, in June 1979 for the final stage of the [[Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty II]] negotiations with the [[USSR]]. When the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan raised fears that Soviet forces there might move into neighboring Iran, where an anti-Western militant [[Islamic]] regime had taken power in early 1979, Carter created a rapid deployment force for [[Southwest Asia]] to counter any such attempt in the region. Subsequently, at the direction of the secretary of defense, Jones oversaw planning for the transformation of the [[Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force|Rapid Defense Force]] into a regional unified command. The planning for what in 1983 became the [[United States Central Command]] (USCENTCOM) was essentially completed during his chairmanship. Jones also oversaw the planning for the rescue of the [[U.S. embassy]] personnel taken hostage in November 1979 by followers of the Iranian leader [[Ayatollah Khomeini]], and he survived the criticism for [[Operation Eagle Claw|that rescue mission's failure]].

=== Goldwater-Nichols Act ===
During his second term as chairman, Jones worked to make the chairman, rather than the corporate JCS, the principal military adviser to the president and the secretary of defense, arguing that such a change of the [[National Security Act of 1947|National Security Act]] would improve the quality and timeliness of military advice and the combined readiness and effectiveness of the nation's combat forces. Jones continued his efforts toward that goal after his retirement as chairman of the JCS and saw it come to fruition with the passage of the [[Goldwater-Nichols Act|Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act]] in 1986.

[[File:The Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1981.jpg|thumb|[[Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff]] General David C. Jones with the other members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at [[The Pentagon]] in 1981.|alt=]]
[[File:Chairman of The Joint Chiefs of Staff General David C. Jones Piloting a Lockheed VC-140B JetStar.jpg|thumb|Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General David C. Jones piloting a [[United States Air Force]] [[Lockheed JetStar|Lockheed VC-140B JetStar]].]]

Jones continued to serve as [[Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff]] during the first years of [[Presidency of Ronald Reagan|Ronald Reagan's Presidency]] in 1981.<ref name=":1" /> He retired from active-duty within the [[United States Air Force]] after his second term period as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff finished on June 18, 1982.<ref name=":0" /> In 1989 military history book ''Four Stars: The Inside Story of The Forty-Year Battle Between The Joint Chiefs of Staff and America's Civilian Leaders'', historian [[Mark Perry (author)|Mark Perry]] wrote that General David C. Jones had earned a reputation as "a good service manager" who "welcomed change" during his tenure as both [[Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force|U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff]] and [[Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff]].<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":1" />

Jones was awarded an [[honorary doctorate]] of humane letters degree from the [[University of Nebraska at Omaha]] in 1974, an honorary doctorate of laws degree from [[Louisiana Tech University]] in 1975, and an honorary doctorate of humane letters degree from [[Minot State University|Minot State College]] in 1979. Jones received the Golden Plate Award of the [[Academy of Achievement|American Academy of Achievement]] presented by Awards Council member [[Roger Staubach]] in 1979.<ref>{{cite web|title= Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement |website=www.achievement.org|publisher=[[American Academy of Achievement]]|url= https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#public-service}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title= Awards Banquet Draws 'Giants of Achievement' |date=June 24, 1979 |work= The Salt Lake Tribune|url= https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Salt-Lake-Tribune-June-24-1979.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title= Our History Photo: Steven P. Jobs, the 26-year-old co-founder and the board chairman of Apple Computer Company, with General David C. Jones, USAF, Golden Plate Awards Council co-chairman and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, at the American Academy of Achievement's 1982 Banquet of the Golden Plate in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Getty Images)|publisher= [[Academy of Achievement|American Academy of Achievement]]|url= https://achievement.org/our-history/}}</ref> Jones was the final Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to be decorated for service in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam.

Jones was a member of the [[Air Force Association]], the Falcon Foundation, the [[Council on Foreign Relations]], the [[Alfalfa Club]], the [[Bohemian Club]] and the [[The Family (Christian political organization)|Family]].<ref>Jeff Sharlet, ''The Family'' (Harper, 2008), p. 281</ref>