Paul Donal Harkins (15 May 1904-21 August 1984) was a US Army General who served as commander of the MACV in Vietnam from 1962 to 1964 during the Vietnam War.
Biography[]
Paul Donal Harkins was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1904, and he graduated from West Point in 1929 and served in the US Army cavalry. He became George S. Patton's Deputy Chief of Staff during World War II, serving with him from North Africa in 1942 until the end of the war in Germany in 1945. Harkins then served as Maxwell D. Taylor's Chief of Staff during the Korean War, was promoted to Lieutenant-General in January 1957, and commanded NATO's troops in Turkey. In 1962, he was promoted to General as commander of the MACV advisory group in Vietnam, and he was controversial for being optimistic about the Vietnam War, something which was criticized by Lieutenant Colonel John Paul Vann, especially after the Battle of Ap Bac. In 1964, he was replaced by William Westmoreland, and he retired to Dallas and became an accomplished painter. He died in 1984.