Character, Service, and the American Experiment: A Conversation with General James Mattis and David M. Rubenstein

General, United States Marine Corps (Ret) & 26th Secretary of Defense

Secretary Mattis was raised in southeastern Washington and enlisted in the Marine Corps Platoon Leader’s Course in 1969 while attending Central Washington State College. He earned a bachelor’s degree in 1971 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant.

During his more than four decades in uniform, he commanded Marines at all levels, from a 40-man infantry platoon to a 42,000-man Marine Expeditionary Force. He led an infantry battalion in the liberation of Kuwait; a naval task force in Afghanistan after the 9/11 terrorist attack in 2001; 1st Marine Division in the initial attack and the following stability operations in Iraq in 2003 and 2004; and subsequently led all U.S. Marine Forces in the Middle East as Commander of I Marine Expeditionary Force and Marine Forces Central Command.

During his non-combat assignments he served on recruiting duty; as the Battalion Officer at the Naval Academy Preparatory School; Executive Secretary to the Secretary of Defense; Director of Marine Corps Manpower Plans & Policy; Senior Military Assistant to the Deputy Secretary of Defense; and Commanding General of the Marine Corps Combat Development Command. 

In joint assignments he commanded U.S. Joint Forces Command; NATO’s Supreme Allied Command for Transformation; and U.S. Central Command. At U.S. Central Command he directed military operations of more than 250,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen, Coast Guardsmen, Marines, and allied forces in combat across the Middle East. 

Retiring in 2013, he was a Davies Family Distinguished Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. Subsequently he served as the 26th Secretary of Defense from January 2017 through December 2018. His eligibility for this position was contingent upon a congressional waiver, as amendments to the National Security Act prohibited active duty commissioned officers from serving as defense secretary for a period of seven years after service. The only previous waiver granted was for the appointment of George C. Marshall in 1950. 

Currently General Mattis continues his work at the Hoover Institution.

David M. Rubenstein is an investor, philanthropist, interviewer, author, and historian. He is Co-Founder and Co-Chairman of The Carlyle Group, one of the world’s largest and most successful private investment firms. Established in 1987, Carlyle now manages $477 billion from 27 offices around the world. 

Mr. Rubenstein is a Baltimore native and is the Chairman, CEO, and principal owner of Major League Baseball’s Baltimore Orioles. 

A recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Mr. Rubenstein is Chairman of the Boards of the Council on Foreign Relations, the National Gallery of Art, the Economic Club of Washington, and the University of Chicago; a Trustee of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, the Institute for Advanced Study, the Brookings Institution, and the World Economic Forum; an Emeritus Trustee of Johns Hopkins Medicine; and a Director of Moderna, Inc. and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, among other board seats. 

Mr. Rubenstein is a leader in the area of Patriotic Philanthropy, having made transformative gifts for the restoration or repair of the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, Monticello, Montpelier, Mount Vernon, Arlington House, Iwo Jima Memorial, the Kennedy Center, the Smithsonian, the National Archives, the National Zoo, the Library of Congress, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Mr. Rubenstein has also provided to the U.S. government long-term loans of his rare copies of the Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Emancipation Proclamation, the 13th Amendment, the first map of the U.S. (Abel Buell map), and the first book printed in the U.S. (Bay Psalm Book). 

Mr. Rubenstein is an original signer of The Giving Pledge; the host of The David Rubenstein Show, Bloomberg Wealth with David Rubenstein, Longevity with David Rubenstein, and Iconic America: Our Symbols and Stories with David Rubenstein; and the author of The American Story, How to Lead, The American Experiment, How to Invest, and The Highest Calling.