Gene R. LaRocque

Admiral La Rocque began his naval service in 1940 and was commissioned as Ensign early in 1941. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 he was serving on the USS MACDONOUGH there. Throughout the four years of World War II, Admiral La Rocque served aboard destroyers in the Pacific and participated in thirteen major naval battles for which he received several medals and citations. During his 31 years of active duty, Admiral La Rocque spent sixteen years at sea in important staff positions and in command of a variety of warships and Task Forces in the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean Areas. During his naval service ashore, Admiral La Rocque served in the Pentagon for seven years in strategic planning for the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Chief of Naval Operations. He is a graduate of the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. His last active duty post was as Director of the Inter-American Defense College in Washington, D.C. His strategic planning for the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Navy included plans for use of both conventional and nuclear weapons in limited and general nuclear war. For his work as a strategic planner in the Pentagon, he was award the Legion of Merit. He has received honorary doctorate degrees from Hanyang University, Seoul Korea and Haverford College. He founded and served as the Director of the Center for Defense Information for 21 years. He was the Executive Producer of CDI's weekly television program, "America's Defense Monitor." Admiral La Rocque has traveled to 105 countries including: Israel, Japan, North and South Korea, Sweden, the former Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, Hungary, the Netherlands, South Africa, Cuba, all of Central and South America, and other nations to analyze the military situation in the world. Admiral La Rocque wrote many magazine articles and edited the book Nuclear War in Europe and frequently contributes to the op-ed pages of newspapers throughout the U.S. He was a frequent guest on T.V. programs as a military analyst.