Wesley Kanne Clark was born in Chicago, Illinois on December 23, 1944. When Wesley was 5 years old, his father, Benjamin Jacob Kanne, died at age 51. Not long after the death of Benjamin, Mrs. Clark moved to her hometown of Little Rock, Arkansas, where Wesley was brought up by his mother and stepfather, Victor Clark. It was in Little Rock that Wesley, who graduated first in his high school class, would eventually meet another "top of his class" student, his fellow Rhodes Scholar and future President of the United States, Bill Clinton. After his graduation from West Point and before beginning his studies at Oxford University, Wesley married Gertrude Kingston of Brooklyn, New York.

Wesley is a 1966 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, where he graduated first in his class. He holds a master's degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford University where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar (August 1966-August 1968). He is a graduate of the National War College, Command and General Staff College, Armor Officer Advanced and Basic Courses, and Ranger and Airborne schools. General Clark was a White House Fellow in 1975-1976 and served as a Special Assistant to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget. He has also served as an instructor and later Assistant Professor of Social Science at the United States Military Academy.

General Clark spent 5 years training leaders and soldiers at the National Training Center (NTC), Fort Irwin, California, and with the Battle Command Training Program (BCTP). As the Commander of National Training Center (October 1989-October 1991), General Clark helped train many of the forces that subsequently saw combat operations in Desert Storm. During this time period, he developed new training methodologies for Division and Corps level training, helping to train 13 Divisions, and he conducted the first ever Corps level BCTP training exercise. In his first assignment at the National Training Center, as Commander Operations Group (August 1984-January 1986), he revised the overall training program by improving scenarios, enhancing After Action Reports, and developing the first Brigade-level training exercise and the first heavy-light rotations.

Wesley is an Armor Officer who has commanded at every level from Company to Division. As the Commander 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas (August 1992-April 1994), he transitioned the Division into a rapidly deployable force and conducted three emergency deployments to Kuwait. During the Cold War, he commanded the 3rd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division (April 1986-March 1988), and the 1st Battalion, 77th Armor, 4th Infantry Division (February 1980-June 1982) at Fort Carson, Colorado. General Clark has also commanded three companies, to include a mechanized infantry company in combat in Vietnam.

Clark was Commander-in-Chief, United States Southern Command, Panama, from June 1996 to July 1997, where he commanded all U.S. forces and was responsible for the direction of most U.S. military activities and interests in Latin America and the Caribbean. His previous assignment was as the Director, Strategic Plans and Policy, J5, the Joint Staff (April 1994-June 1996) where he was the staff officer responsible for world-wide politico-military affairs and U.S. military strategic planning. He also led the military negotiations for the Bosnian Peace Accords at Dayton.

General Wesley K. Clark became the Supreme Allied Commander Europe on 11 July 1997. He was also the Commander-in-Chief, United States European Command.

In his 20's, while a young Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, Wesley found out that through his late father's ancestry, he is the grandson of a Ukrainian Jew who fled his native country to escape the anti-Semetic pogroms there a century ago. This of course came as a shock for the boy who had been raised a Southern Baptist in Arkansas. Over 30 years later, Wesley remains somewhat unwilling to discuss the subject of his ancestry, only sharing his discovery of his biological father's family and background with a few close friends and immediate family members. Because of his reluctance to speak publicly about his heritage, we at WesleyClark.us, respecting the General's right to privacy, won't devulge any more information either.

However, it is important to note that his heritage had a heavy impact on the way he performed his job in the last years of his military career as NATO Supreme Commander. Some of his relatives and friends say that General Clark was inspired by the story of his grandfather's persecution and escape from the Ukraine, and that his determination to defeat Milosevic was fed in part by his compassion for the victims of Serbian ethnic purges.

In 1999, after being abruptly relieved of his command right after his Kosovo victory, Clark returned home to Little Rock, Ark., and began work on his memoirs -- "Waging Modern War: Bosnia, Kosovo, and the Future of Combat."He also found work as the Managing Director-Merchant Banking for the Little Rock based Stephens Group at their Washington, D.C. location. Politically, his name was mentioned, then self-removed, as a possible Arkansas Senate candidate in 2002. But his subsequent trips to first-in-the-nation primary states Iowa and New Hampshire and his chats with key politicos such as Terry McAuliffe, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, keep Clark in the Democratic dark horse category -- even if he hasn't registered yet as a Democrat or Republican.

Recently, Wesley has been making himself a household name by appearing on CNN. The highly decorated Clark is one of the most ubiquitous experts explaining the war to TV viewers. He's a natural, "at his best when he's talking about the specifics of warfare," according to CNN's Tucker Carlson, co-host of "Crossfire." "Clark can talk in detail about military hardware, tell you that Scuds are 60 or 70 feet long, he knows about war."

And he's nimble with analogies; when asked why the U.S. military couldn't locate Scud missiles the Iraqis are said to have, Carlson recalls with appreciation, "He said it was 'like trying to find something on a carpet while looking through a straw.'"

Wesley and Gert have one son, Wesley Jr. who is a screenwriter in Los Angeles.