James Earl Rudder

Military career

After graduation from Texas A&M, Rudder had been commissioned a second lieutenant of infantry in the United States Organized Reserve Corps. After being called into active duty in 1941, Rudder took part in the D-Day landings as Commanding Officer of the United States Army's 2nd Ranger Battalion.

His U.S. Army Rangers stormed the beach at Pointe du Hoc, scaling 100-foot (30 meter) cliffs under enemy fire to reach and destroy German gun batteries. The battalion's casualty rate for this perilous mission was greater than 50 percent. Rudder himself was wounded twice during the course of the fighting. In spite of this, they dug in and fought off German counter-attacks for two days until relieved. He and his men helped to successfully establish a beachhead for the Allied forces. The siege was replicated in the 1962 epic film The Longest Day.

Seven months later, Rudder was assigned to command the 109th Infantry Regiment, which saw key service in the Battle of the Bulge. Rudder earned military honors including the Distinguished Service Cross, Legion of Merit, Silver Star, Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster, Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster, French Legion of Honor with Croix de Guerre and Palm, and Order of Leopold (Belgium) with Croix de Guerre and Palm. He was a full Colonel by the war's end and was promoted to Brigadier General of the United States Army Reserve in 1954 and Major General in 1957.

Political and academic career

Rudder served as mayor of his hometown of Brady, Texas for six years. In 1953, he became vice president of Brady Aviation Company. On January 1, 1955, he assumed the office of Texas Land Commissioner after James Bascom Giles abandoned the position. At that time the Veterans Land Program was under scrutiny for mismanagement and corruption. Rudder undertook the task of reforming policies, expediting land applications, and closely supervising proper accounting procedures. He also oversaw the proper leasing of state lands by employing more field inspectors for oil and gas sites and adding a seismic exploration staff. In addition, he improved working conditions for his staff and instigated a program to preserve the many deteriorating General Land Office documents.

Rudder won the 1956 state land commissioner election as a Democrat. He became vice president of Texas A&M University in 1958, its president in 1959, and president of the entire A&M System from 1965 until his death in 1970. In 1967 President Lyndon B. Johnson presented him with the Distinguished Service Medal, the country's highest peacetime service award. Since his death in 1970, an annual service has been held in Normandy, France, in his honour.

While president of Texas A&M, Rudder is credited for transforming it from a small, all-male land-grant college to the renowned university of today. Specifically, he made membership in the Corps of Cadets optional, allowed women to attend, and led efforts to integrate the campus. While the changes were hugely unpopular to the former students (it has been said only a president with Rudder's heroic military record could pull off such drastic changes), there is no doubt these changes freed Texas A&M to become the fourth largest university in the United States. There are many reminders of Rudder on campus, including Rudder Tower, next to the Memorial Student Center. A special training unit within the Corps of Cadets known as "Rudder's Rangers" is named in his honor. Cadets within the Corps of Cadets at A&M are expected to be able to recite an excerpt from the inscription on Rudder tower, a "Campusology" that reads:

Death

Rudder died on March 23, 1970 after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage.

Tributes

The Major General James E. Rudder Medal- Awarded annually by the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) to an Army Reserve Soldier- serving or retired- whose career in the Army Reserve exemplifies the example of the Army Reserve Citizen-Soldier modeled by General Rudder.