♪ (Daniel "Chappie" James Jr.)

This is my country, and I believe in her.

I believe in her wisdom to make the decisions and to choose the place and under what conditions I fight for her.

If she's got ills, I'll hold her hand until she can put 'em right.

But in the meantime, I'll protect her against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

Anybody who's going to go up against that has got to run over me, and I guarantee he's going to get a bloody nose.

♪ She's the greatest in the world.

♪ [slow jazz music] ♪ Narrator> General Daniel "Chappie" James Jr.

is one man who has earned his way to the very top of his profession, that of a four-star general in the United States Air Force.

He has achieved success despite more than usual odds.

He is a black man in what used to be a white man's profession.

♪ James> They say, "James, you're a black man, ♪ "You're a member of a minority," and I accept that, if somebody took the time to count.

I came out on the short end...no sweat.

♪ They said, "You should be dissatisfied here.

♪ "You're no citizen in this country.

You're a second-class citizen."

♪ I say, "Hell, I'm not disgusted!

"I'm a citizen of the United States of America, "and I'm no second-class citizen either, "and no man is here unless he thinks like one and reasons like one and performs like one!"

[applause] ♪ Narrator> Chappie James grew up in Pensacola, Florida, 1 of 17 children in his family.

He became a second lieutenant in the Army Air Corps in 1943.

He was one of the flight trainers at Tuskegee Institute, Alabama's segregated military pilot school, the first flying school to which blacks were admitted.

General James is a veteran fighter pilot.

He describes himself as highly patriotic.

He wears his patriotism like a badge.

He's proud of it.

He has a deep and abiding belief in this country and its security.

♪ [slow jazz music] He says, "That's where you've got to start, "with loving the place you live.

"If you do that, then you have "a natural, built-in desire to protect it.

"If you're going to go around shouting 'Freedom now,' you've got have a place to be free in."

General James feels the greatest need facing our nation today is unity.

He has said, "The greatest weapon we've got in our arsenal "is not a physical one.

"It's a psychological one, a weapon called unity.

"No would-be world conqueror is eager to attack a nation that's together."

As commander in chief for the NORAD/ADCOM defense system, General James is the man in charge of alerting the North American continent to any potential airborne attack that might invade the continent.

Gen.

James> I can't think of anything happier for me than when I was selected to take command of this great organization here, with the tremendous responsibilities therein.

So, the day that the chief of staff pinned my fourth star on and gave me command of North American Air Defense Command, I would have to rank it as the greatest event of my life.

We have a new research and development program on the stars, in that the first time they self-destruct, the first time you have a cost overrun.

[audience laughter] [applause] [applause] [applause] [applause] Thank you.

Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen.

I'm very pleased to see so many dear friends, so many people who came along the way with me.

I see many members of-- as we term ourselves now, refer to ourselves now-- the Tuskegee Airmen, who were part of the Tuskegee experience.

I see Chief Anderson out there and G. L. Washington, giants that started the whole thing.

I think about the many years, and I think about congressmen like Charles Diggs and Congressmen Metcalf and Rangel, and people who helped us all along the way, and of course my very good friend, Senator Barry Goldwater, who I spent, my wife and I spent some of the nicest years of our lives in his great state.

We substituted for each other on the speaking circuit a couple of times.

I also see out there my combat leader, one of the greatest combat leaders I've ever known in my life and my good friend, Robin Olds.

I see my family, and they stood with me all the time.

My lovely wife you see here too.

I can't single out everybody, and I don't want anybody to feel left out, because I'm pleased that all of you are here.

The most significant thing to most black folks here today is the fact that another barrier has fallen to show that we are getting there and to lend some comfort and to cease-- and determination, mainly, to some young kid on a hot sidewalk in a ghetto that he can get out of there the right way, because the doors of opportunity now are swinging wide.

Again, I can't mention everybody, but thanks a lot for being here, everybody.

We're going to go over and do what they call the change-of-command two-step, in just a few minutes and we'd like for everybody to join us over there.

Thank you again very much.

[applause] Speaker #1> After you, sir.

Gen.

James> It's an awesome responsibility, but I often get asked the question, "Does it scare me?"

Nothing scares a warrior.

We're prepared for it.

We know what our responsibilities are, and we're ready to carry them out.

I have a great respect for the office of the commander in chief of North American Air Defense Command.

♪ ♪ We have what we call the fail-safe system.

First of all we at NORAD don't make that decision.

We just warn them.

We're in the warning room.

We can see everything that comes off the ground in any country that might handle us.

We know everything that's in space, that might harm us.

And so what we do is notify the command authorities... Here they'll come and they'll be here at such-and-such a time, and this is where it's going to land.

And then the president of the United States The authority to commit nuclear arms rests with the President of the United States of America.

♪ A constant educational process for me to keep advised on my systems and to make sure that they're working, but I can handle it.

>> I'm Major Cato Reaves.

My present job is aide to General James, who is commander in chief of the North American Air Defense Command and Aerospace Defense Command.

General James is a fascinating human being, and working for him is an exciting challenge.

It started, I guess, back in '64 when I first saw General James.

I don't know if, at the time, I met him personally, but I was going through the airport program as a back seater, I was flying the backseat of an airplane.

General James came in, and the giant figure showed up and everybody was sitting in the back of the auditorium.

This was the first time that I realized that he didn't like anybody to sit in the back of anything.

He said, "I got a lot of guys "trying to fly the front seat of an airplane I can't understand why you're "in the back of the auditorium.

If you want to be a fighter pilot, then you ought to move up."

So, I didn't know whether I was afraid not to move or scared to move up but I moved up... Anyway, at least so I could see him and hear him.

Well that was my first encounter.

At the time, I took a long shot.

I said, "Well, general, if you ever need an aide, keep me in mind... I'm a volunteer."

So last year, as I was in Washington working on a management improvement group, General James called me.

He said, "I've been selected for my fourth star.

I'm going to Air Defense command, NORAD... out in Colorado Springs.

You're going to be my aide."

And here's what you're going to do.

For the next 10 minutes, I didn't say anything... I just listened.

Speaker #2> Sir, at Commander's Call we were shown this film on how Russia outnumbered us on certain types of planes.

Speaker #3> He's very interested in young people in America, not necessarily here at NORAD or any command itself.

But what he has done, he established a position with a three-striper, Butowsky, who reports directly to him through our senior advisor, but what he wants is a link between the young people and the chief.

He wants to be able to relate to them through some individual directly without having them go through the chain of command.

If the problem is bad enough.

He does want them to try the chain of command, utilize all avenues necessary but when all else fails, there is somebody can reach him directly, and he's that interested.

As big as he is and as gruesome as he sometimes comes across, he's a very warm individual, and I think those that know him, know him best as the individual that's warm.

He's a warrior because he believes in America.

He's a patriot.

He loves America, and he will fight for America.

Anybody that's listened to his speeches can attest to that.

He loves America, he's willing to die for America, and that is the General James that I know.

He's very warm.

Narrator> He is known best for his speeches on Americanism and patriotism, some of which have been read into the Congressional Record.

He delivered many of these speeches when he served in the Pentagon for three years as assistant secretary of defense for public affairs.

He crisscrossed the country trying to convince young people that equal opportunity is a reality in the Armed Forces.

Awarded the George Washington Freedom Foundation medal in 1967 and again in 1969, he received the Arnold Air Society's Eugene Zuckert Award in 1970 for outstanding contributions to Air Force professionalism.

Gen.

James> There was another writer many years or centuries before that, Prince Machiavelli, who wrote on war and the art of warfare, and he said, "In conflict, one must never remain neutral "but must be prepared to take a stand.

"Otherwise the victor will count you among the vanquished, and the vanquished will not find room for you in his cave."

Well, I'm not taking out any reservations in a dad-burned cave!

I'm a warrior, and I'm very proud of that fact.

I make no excuses for that.

But we don't practice our skills in a vacuum, and we don't like to have to practice our skills to the ultimate.

Nobody dislikes war worse than warriors, because we're the ones that get shot at and often don't get back home to enjoy the hard-won peace, and many come back through the horrors of prison camps, never known to those who run away and hide.

We must have the will, and the enemy must perceive that will.

It does no good to walk softly and carry the big stick if you're not willing to hit somebody with it if all else fails.

And he's got to jolly well know that so that he doesn't launch the first attack.

We are warriors.

We are proud of our profession.

We hope and pray to our God that we never have to practice it again, but again I say, let any would-be aggressor know, as that flag 200 years ago said, don't tread on us, because fight we must and fight we jolly well shall.

Now, everything is not all right.

This is no Valhalla here, and no place else on earth is, and I'm not willing to reap my rewards right now upstairs because I'm still enjoying it too much down here.

But I want to keep it peaceful and secure.

And we must make sure that we understand that there is still progress to be made.

Though doors of opportunity are popping open every day for everybody regardless of race, creed, or sex, you must be willing.

The young people must be willing to make sacrifices to prepare themselves to take advantage of that.

Another bit of philosophy from my mother, long ago, she said, "Don't stand there "banging at that door of opportunity, yelling, 'Let me in!

Let me in!

Let me in!'

"and all of a sudden somebody snatches the door open "and you say, 'Wait a minute I've got to go get my bags.'

"You stand there armed with your bags of knowledge, "and your bags of intelligence, your bags of drive, "and your bags of patriotism, "and your bags of love of God and country.

When they crack that door open, step in and take charge."

And that's possible, my young friends.

So be ready when the great day comes.

because it's coming faster and faster because we are all making it possible.

You can contribute to that all-deliberate speed for justice and equality for all of the citizens in this country.

You see.

And what makes that so important is the crux of my whole talk, because the greatest weapon that we have in our arsenal is not a physical weapon, and it needs an update, and it has to be constantly modernized.

The name of the weapon, which is a psychological one, not a physical one, is called unity.

Narrator> General James welcomes the opportunity of talking with young people.

These young staffers from the Blue Ridge YMCA staff in Black Mountain, North Carolina, were delighted to rap with him on a visit there.

Gen James>...hit the hard questions, everything you want to ask, and we'll try to handle them if we can.

I'd like it to be as little structured as we possibly can.

What we're here to do is exchange information, really, and I'm very pleased to be here with you.

So who wants to lead out?

Speaker #4> General, do you feel that today's youth are less informed than, say, those of the '60s?

Gen.

James> I think they're more informed.

There's absolutely no doubt in my mind about that.

I'm happy about that.

The best defense against communism or any system that is contrary to ours and threatens our own national security is to learn as much as you can about it.

This is the best deterrent against being so uninformed, that young people like yourselves who are going to have to take the reigns of government in your hands-- and some of you are going to be walking those halls of Congress and making those tough decisions.

Then, it is important that you know all of the factors bearing on the problem so you can make the best decision that you possibly can.

Speaker #5> General James, I have read that you advocate working through the system to change the things in America that are unjust.

However, I recall the civil disobedience of Thoreau and also the nonviolent direct action of Martin Luther King.

These men both disobeyed unjust laws in order to change these laws.

Do you think such action is still necessary today?

Gen.

James> Times have changed.

There were times when we had to get people's attention.

We have passed the civil rights revolution, I like to call it, that came on during the '60s where they broke down the segregation in the schools At least, they made it against the law.

You must remember that the rights of one group of people end where the rights of another people begin.

So you can, under the civil disobedience act and theory and this sort of thing, you can abridge the rights of other citizens.

I say that, that isn't necessary right now.

I say that the laws are responsive to the needs of the people today.

Speaker #6> Currently, how many generals are black in the United States Armed Forces, and does this number represent the number of truly qualified blacks?

Does it represent an attempt at tokenism or does it represent prejudice toward promotion of blacks?

Gen James> That comes at a heading... I'm glad you asked me that.

My mother had a saying along time ago.

She said, "There are two Negroes we can do without."

They used to call us Negroes... we're black now.

She said, "There are two we can do without... "that first one and the only one.

The first one to do this and the only one to do that.

She said, "I'm looking forward to the day so many black people "will be doing so many things that are noteworthy that it will no longer be newsworthy."

But we're getting that way in the military especially these days and we have broken down the institutionalized racism in the service The thing that limited young people, from being young men and women, and other minorities from being able to qualify for higher positions because they were restricted systematically from going to the academies, from going to the senior service schools.

And so, generals aren't born... they're made, and they have to go through various stages of qualification.

Tokenism, heck no... we don't make any general that isn't prepared for it, that isn't trained for it.

That isn't fully qualified.

In fact it kind of frosts me sometimes, when somebody asks me, "Do you think you were made general as a token?"

That wipes out all, with one question, the blood, sweat, and tears that it took me to get here.

No, I made general because I am damn good.

♪ [marching band striking up] Narrator> And many others wholeheartedly agree.

His office walls are filled with tributes.

Composers have paid tribute to him in original contributions, such as the "Chappie James March."

♪ ♪ ♪ General Daniel James Jr., patriot, airman, devoted American, whose example of service to America provides the inspiration for attainment of the American dream.

His perseverance and dedication prove that success is a journey, not a destination.

♪ [brass and percussion music] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Professionalism is a word that eludes precise definition.

Its meaning is felt more than stated, and sometimes the word is best defined by example.

General Daniel "Chappie" James, fighter pilot with a magnificent record, public speaker, eloquent spokesman for the American dream we so rarely achieve.

Chappie James provides an incomparable example of what is meant by the word professionalism.

♪ ♪ General James is a powerful man.

He is articulate, well-read, an intense competitor, a dynamic personality, has an outstanding combat record in three wars, and is highly motivated.

♪ [ceremony audience applauding] Through the wisdom of his parents-- his mother, the late Lillie Anna James, in particular-- Chappie, whose nickname is a hand-me-down from his older brother, kept his feet philosophically on the ground.

Gen.

James> The most significant influence on my life from a single person came from my mother because my mother, like most mothers in those times of modest means, spent more time with the children while the man of the family was off working.

You spent a great deal of time with your mother.

That was even more true with me because my mother was a teacher.

My mother had a great commitment to excellence, and she taught it to us early.

She spoke about the power of excellence.

She said that it's the greatest staple on earth, and it's in demand throughout the world, and nobody questions its color, so you should strive to perfect your power of excellence, using whatever tools are available to you, getting the best out of it so that you'll be able to compete in that rural market.

Use that power of excellence to vault yourself to the top of your chosen field, no matter what it might be.

You'll find that you can do more from on top with authority to solve the ills that affect the world and our people, than you can under the bottom with a brick, or harsh words.

She said, "Don't get so busy practicing your right to dissent that you forget your responsibility to contribute."

You'll prosper in proportion as you contribute to this great country of ours.

This country, can not, not like any country as big and as powerful as ours, cannot afford the evils of bigotry and the disrespect for human dignity that went on.

It was so flagrant in the past.

Don't get me wrong again... some of it is still here.

We've still got practicing bigots in this country who make a great profession of being bigots, and they've got a lot of friends.

So until we can decrease those numbers, until we can decrease the popularity of bigotry, then we haven't finished the job.

Who can do that better than anybody else?

These same young people that you're talking about.

They can decrease the adversity among their peer group in trying to make sure that they judge their peers only on their power of excellence and their willingness to display it.

So I think the best way to overcome adversity is to become an opponent of adversity through trying to personally see to it yourself that you are not a part of the problem rather than contributing to the solution.

There are so many people take that out of context when I use that sometimes in talks to young people around the country.

They try to say that I'm saying that everything is all right within the system.

Just the opposite... everything is not all right.

It never has been, and it'll probably be a long time before it really is.

But we must work towards that Valhalla when everything is all right.

To keep the spirits of the young people up and to keep them participating, I encourage them to continue to assess the progress, how far we've come from the days... when things were very segregated and very unequal, to the point right now where there's great promise in the future for doors of opportunity springing open.

We still have another mile to run in that race for total equality, but we've got a better track surface to run it on now I'm just trying to get young people to stay in the race.

My mother taught excellence.

She taught contribute.

She taught perform, perform, excel, excel.

Nothing can help to boost you to the top more than those kinds of principles.

And she just emphasized them over and over, and it became a way of life with us.

[airplane engine whirring] [airplane engine whirring] ♪ [dramatic orchestral music] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Reader> "Oh!

I have slipped the surly bonds of earth "and danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings.

♪ "Sunward I've climbed "and joined the tumbling mirth of sun-split clouds "and done a hundred things you have not dreamed of... "wheeled and soared and swung high in the sunlit silence.

"Hov'ring there, I've chased the shouting wind along "and flung my eager craft through footless halls of air.

"Up...up the long, delirious, burning blue, "I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace "where never lark nor even eagle flew ♪ "and, while with silent lifting mind "I've trod the high untrespassed sanctity of space, "put out my hand and touched the face of God."

♪ ♪