Sylvanus Thayer Award

Last updated

The Sylvanus Thayer Award is an honor given annually by the United States Military Academy at West Point to an individual whose character and accomplishments exemplifies the motto of West Point. The award is named after the "Father of the Military Academy", Colonel Sylvanus Thayer. The awardee is selected by, and the award is endowed by, a committee formed from the West Point Association of Graduates. It has been awarded annually since 1958 and is the closest recognition West Point has to granting an honorary degree.

Contents

Official description of the award

Since 1958, the West Point Association of Graduates has presented the SYLVANUS THAYER AWARD to an outstanding citizen of the United States whose service and accomplishments in the national interest exemplify personal devotion to the ideals expressed in the West Point motto: DUTY, HONOR, COUNTRY.

The recipient of the Sylvanus Thayer Award receives a medal with a bust in profile of Thayer on one side, with the inscription: "The Sylvanus Thayer Medal Awarded by the Association of Graduates, United States Military Academy, for Outstanding Service to the Nation." The reverse side carries the coat of arms of the Military Academy and the words "West Point" and "Duty, Honor, Country". Around the edge of the medal are inscribed the name of the recipient and the year of presentation. In addition to receiving the medal, the recipient's portrait and name are inscribed on a memorial in the Thayer Award Room in Taylor Hall, [1] the headquarters building of West Point.

Criteria

Active-duty and retired American military servicemen or women are eligible for the award, but the majority are civilians who contributed to the US Government, the US Armed Forces, US national security or diplomacy, US civil rights or the enduring support of veterans in a positive way. The recipient must be a US Citizen, must not be a United States Military Academy graduate, and must receive the award in person during a ceremony with the entire Corps of Cadets. Early in its existence, three West Point graduates received the award - Dwight Eisenhower, Douglas MacArthur, and Omar Bradley - but graduates are no longer eligible. One United States Naval Academy graduate, Ross Perot, has received the award.

Recipients

The following is the list of the award's recipients: [2]

Notes

  1. ↑ The 2002 award was "dedicated to...all of the men and women who have served in the U.S. Army...in the history of the United States."

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Military Academy</span> U.S. Armys service academy in West Point, New York

The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a fort, since it sits on strategic high ground overlooking the Hudson River 50 miles (80 km) north of New York City. It is the oldest of the five American service academies and educates cadets for commissioning into the United States Army.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cyrus Vance</span> American lawyer and government official (1917–2002)

Cyrus Roberts Vance Sr. was an American lawyer and United States Secretary of State under President Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1980. Prior to serving in that position, he was the United States Deputy Secretary of Defense in the Johnson administration. During the Kennedy administration he was Secretary of the Army and General Counsel of the Department of Defense.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Dole</span> American politician and writer (born 1936)

Mary Elizabeth Alexander Dole is an American attorney, author, and politician who served as a United States Senator from North Carolina from 2003 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, she previously served in five presidential administrations, including as U.S. Secretary of Transportation under President Ronald Reagan from 1983 to 1987 and as U.S. Secretary of Labor under Reagan's successor, George H. W. Bush, from 1989 until 1990. Dole then left government to serve as president of the American Red Cross from 1991 to 1999; she departed from that position to seek the Republican nomination in the 2000 presidential election but eventually withdrew from the race.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Anderson (Civil War)</span> American Civil War Union Army officer (1805–1871)

Robert Anderson was a United States Army officer during the American Civil War. He was the Union commander in the first battle of the American Civil War at Fort Sumter in April 1861 when the Confederates bombarded the fort and forced its surrender to start the war. Anderson was celebrated as a hero in the North and promoted to brigadier general and given command of Union forces in Kentucky. He was removed late in 1861 and reassigned to Rhode Island, before retiring from military service in 1863.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thayer School of Engineering</span> Dartmouth College

Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth is the engineering school of Dartmouth College, an Ivy League research university, located in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Located in a three-building complex along the Connecticut River on Dartmouth's campus, Dartmouth Engineering offers undergraduate, master's, and doctoral degrees in engineering sciences, and has partnerships with other liberal arts colleges throughout the US to offer dual degrees. The school was established in 1867 with funds from Dartmouth alumnus Sylvanus Thayer, also known for his work in establishing the engineering curriculum at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gary Sinise</span> American actor

Gary Alan Sinise is an American actor. Among other awards, he has won a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Tony Award, and four Screen Actors Guild Awards. He has also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and was nominated for an Academy Award. Sinise has also received numerous awards and honors for his extensive humanitarian work and involvement with charitable organizations. He is a supporter of various veterans' organizations and founded the Lt. Dan Band, which plays at military bases around the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gordon R. Sullivan</span>

Gordon Russell Sullivan is a retired United States Army general, who served as the 32nd Chief of Staff of the Army and as a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Sullivan also served as acting Secretary of the Army.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sylvanus Thayer</span> United States Army general

Colonel and Brevet Brigadier General Sylvanus Thayer also known as the "Father of the Military Academy", was an early superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point and an early advocate of engineering education in the United States.

The Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States (MOLLUS), or simply the Loyal Legion is a United States patriotic order organized on April 15, 1865, by three veteran officers of the U.S. Army. The original membership was composed of commissioned officers of the Army, U.S. Navy, or U.S. Marine Corps who served during the American Civil War, or who had served and thereafter been commissioned and who thereby "had aided in maintaining the honor, integrity, and supremacy of the national movement" during the Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thayer Academy</span> Private school in Braintree, Massachusetts, United States

Thayer Academy (TA) is a private, co-educational, college-preparatory day school located in Braintree, Massachusetts, United States. The academy, conceived in 1871 at the bequest of General Sylvanus Thayer, known as the father of the United States Military Academy at West Point, and founder of the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College, was established in 1877. Thayer annually enrolls approximately 470 students in the Upper School and an additional 220 students in the Middle School. The 34-acre (14 ha) campus is situated in the heart of Braintree and consists of eight buildings and 54 classrooms. Students are drawn primarily from Boston's MetroWest and South Shore communities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Point Cemetery</span> US Military Academy cemetery

West Point Cemetery is a historic cemetery on the grounds of the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York. It overlooks the Hudson River, and served as a burial ground for Revolutionary War soldiers and early West Point inhabitants long before 1817, when it was officially designated as a military cemetery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Superintendent of the United States Military Academy</span> United States Army general

The Superintendent of the United States Military Academy is the academy's commanding officer. This position is roughly equivalent to the chancellor or president of an American civilian university. The officer appointed is, by tradition, a graduate of the United States Military Academy, commonly known as "West Point". However, this is not an official requirement for the position.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert M. Kimmitt</span> American politician

Robert Michael Kimmitt was United States Deputy Secretary of the Treasury under President George W. Bush. He was nominated by President Bush on June 29, 2005. The United States Senate unanimously confirmed him on July 29, 2005, and he was sworn into office on August 16, 2005. Kimmitt served through the end of the Bush administration, leaving office on January 20, 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thayer Hotel</span>

The Thayer Hotel is a 151-room "Historic Hotel of America" property located 50 miles north of New York City on the banks of the Hudson River at 674 Thayer Road in West Point, New York on the campus of the United States Military Academy. It is named after Sylvanus Thayer, West Point class of 1808, the "father of the Military Academy." It replaced the West Point Hotel in 1926.

The history of the United States Military Academy can be traced to fortifications constructed on the West Point of the Hudson River during the American Revolutionary War in 1778. Following the war, President Thomas Jefferson signed legislation establishing the United States Military Academy (USMA) on the site in 1802. In 1817 the academy was transformed by the appointment of Sylvanus Thayer who drastically reformed the curriculum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James B. Thayer</span> United States Army general

James Burdette Thayer was an American brigadier general who served on active duty during World War II. On May 4, 1945, Thayer and his platoon discovered and liberated 15,000 people held at a concentration camp near Wels, Austria. Following the war, he continued his service in the United States Army Reserve. In his civilian life, Thayer founded a successful business supply company in Beaverton, Oregon. He was later appointed Oregon's civilian aide to the Secretary of the Army and then re-activated as commander of the Oregon State Defense Force. The Oregon Military Museum at Camp Withycombe is named in his honor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ty Seidule</span> American historian and former army officer

James Tyrus Seidule is a retired United States Army brigadier general, the former head of the history department at the United States Military Academy, the first professor emeritus of history at West Point, and the inaugural Joshua Chamberlain Fellow at Hamilton College. Seidule is also the Presidential Advisor to The National WWII Museum in New Orleans and a fellow at New America. In February 2021, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin appointed Seidule as one of four representatives of the US Department of Defense to the Commission on the Naming of Items of the Department of Defense that Commemorate the Confederate States of America or Any Person Who Served Voluntarily with the Confederate States of America, including US Army installations named for Confederate soldiers.

References

  1. ↑ "Google Maps". Google Maps.
  2. ↑ List of recipients, West Point Association of Graduates
  3. ↑ The American Soldier, West Point Association of Graduates
  4. ↑ Rice receives Thayer Award at U.S. Military Academy, USA Today , October 6, 2014
  5. ↑ "Gary Sinise to receive West Point's Thayer Award". 12 June 2015.
  6. ↑ "West Point Association of Graduates". www.westpointaog.org.
  7. ↑ "West Point Association of Graduates". www.westpointaog.org. Retrieved 2018-10-19.
  8. ↑ "West Point Association of Graduates". www.westpointaog.org. Retrieved 2019-10-16.
  9. ↑ Hassler, Becky (October 1, 2020). "Career Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker Receives Thayer Award".
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.