Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign is vetting retired Navy Admiral James Stavridis as a potential vice presidential running mate, a source with knowledge of the process told Reuters on Tuesday.
Stavridis is dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University near Boston and a former supreme allied commander of NATO.
“Admiral Stavridis is one of the finest military officers of his generation,” Michele Flournoy, a former under secretary at the U.S. Department of Defense, told Reuters in a statement.
“He is a person of great ability and integrity, and an exceptional leader. He has the talents, experience, judgment and temperament to serve the American people at the highest levels of our government.”
The Clinton campaign declined to comment on the vetting of Stavridis. Stavridis likewise declined to comment on the process.
James Stavridis is of Pontus Greek descent and was born in Florida in 1955.
Stavridis served as the commander, U.S. Southern Command (2006 to 2009) and commander, U.S. European Command and NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe (2009 to 2013), the first Navy officer to have held these positions.
His 2008 book, Destroyer Captain: Lessons of a First Command, goes into more detail about his Greek refugee origins. He wrote:
‘In the early 1920’s, my grandfather, a short, stocky Greek schoolteacher named Dimitrios Stavridis, was expelled from Turkey as part of ‘ethnic cleansing’ (read pogrom) directed against Greeks living in the remains of the Ottoman Empire. He barely escaped with his life in a small boat crossing the Aegean Sea to Athens and thence to Ellis Island. His brother was not so lucky and was killed by the Turks as part of the violence directed at the Greek minority.’
Stavridis and Clinton worked closely together when he was at NATO and she led the U.S. State Department during Democratic President Barack Obama’s first term.
Stavridis would bring military heft to Clinton’s presidential ticket.
If the story is true and Hillary Clinton wins the ticket to the White House, James Stavridis could be the second Vice President of the United States, who is of Greek descent.
The first was Spiro Agnew who served as the 39th Vice President of the United States from 1969 to 1973, under President Richard Nixon.
PS and if the Greek government passes the law allowing diaspora Greeks to vote, Stavridis may have a chance to cast his vote for Syriza…
vote? really? he only knows the words ‘papou’ ‘yiayia’ and ‘opa’…
there is a FB group called Hellenic Geneology – I am constantly gobsmacked by the ill informed and very right wing posts by greek-americans on this forum…ellas, ellinwn, xristianwn style!
costa
Most “hyphenated Americans” have a very distorted idea of “The Old Country”. A Greek Orthodox priest friend used to call the trips to Greece he led for his parishioners “Shock Therapy”.
As a Greek who met Greek-Americans in the US, I can attest to the fact that this was a different, yet strangely similar to what you describe, kind of “Shock Theory.” All I can say is that there is more than an ocean separating these two Greeces…
Language tests before granting voting rights?
at least I know form UK, its expats cannot vote if longer than 15 years outside UK
Reminds me of a “war story” about another amazing Greek-American military officer, Lieutenant General Gus Pagonis. I served in General Schwarzkopf’s headquarters during the buildup of Operation Desert Storm. One day, he announces to his staff, “Tell the Army I want Gus Pagonis to be my logistics chief. He’s of Greek descent, and logistics are in his DNA. Any people who can keep hundreds of islands supplied for centuries must have logistics in their DNA.” Well, Stormin Norman got Pagonis, Pagonis was the first officer to arrive in Saudi, and his logistical work was nothing short of genius.
War criminals all of them
This will be pointed out much louder by Turkey after he pissed her off, the next Pontos Genocide Remembrance Day will come and it’s smart to invite him early enough; he could also travel to more commemorating places like Moscow to give it more publicity or may be help Berlin to join to remember…