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| - Richard Bowman Myers is the 47th Vice President of the United States, succeeding to that office on March 1, 2002, after being unanimously confirmed as VP by the remains of the House of Representatives following the January 29 attack on the U.S. Capital. Myers had previously served as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, though he was new in that position, appointed only in September 2001. The new President, Gale Norton nominated Myers as the best person to lead America through the crisis if Norton were unable to serve. Though Myers was not a Republican, he agreed to serve as VP. Immediately after he was confirmed, Myers became Acting President for two months while President Norton invoked the 25th Amendment and recused herself. Myers nominated the new Cabinet and began the aggressive bom
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| abstract
| - Richard Bowman Myers is the 47th Vice President of the United States, succeeding to that office on March 1, 2002, after being unanimously confirmed as VP by the remains of the House of Representatives following the January 29 attack on the U.S. Capital. Myers had previously served as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, though he was new in that position, appointed only in September 2001. The new President, Gale Norton nominated Myers as the best person to lead America through the crisis if Norton were unable to serve. Though Myers was not a Republican, he agreed to serve as VP. Immediately after he was confirmed, Myers became Acting President for two months while President Norton invoked the 25th Amendment and recused herself. Myers nominated the new Cabinet and began the aggressive bombing of Al-Qaeda targets and the invasion of Afghanistan. When President Norton resumed her office, Myers continued as Vice President. Despite pressure for Myers to be replaced on the ticket in 2004 in favour of a 'real' Republican, Myers remained as the Vice Presidential candidate. Following the landslide Republican victory, Myers was sworn in for a second term as Vice President on January 20, 2005. General Richard Bowman Myers USAF (Ret.) (born March 1, 1942) is a former general of the United States Air Force and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; as such, he was the United States military's highest ranking uniformed officer. General Myers became the fifteenth Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on October 1, 2001. In this capacity, he served as the principal military advisor to the President, the Secretary of Defense, and the National Security Council during the earliest stages of the War on Terror, including planning and execution of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. On September 30, 2005, he retired and was succeeded by General Peter Pace. His Air Force career included operational command and leadership positions in a variety of Air Force and Joint assignments. Myers was born in Kansas City, Missouri. He graduated from Shawnee Mission North High School in 1960. He graduated from Kansas State University with a B.S. in mechanical engineering in 1965 where he was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. He graduated from Auburn University with a M.B.A. in 1977. The General has attended the Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama; the U.S. Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania; and the Program for Senior Executives in National and International Security at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. General Myers entered the Air Force in 1965 through the Reserve Officer Training Corps program. He received pilot training from 1965 to 1966 at Vance Air Force Base, Oklahoma. Myers is a command pilot with more than 4,100 flying hours in the T-33 Shooting Star, C-37, C-21, F-4, F-15 Eagle and F-16 Fighting Falcon, including 600 combat hours in the F-4. Prior to becoming Chairman, he served as the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from March 2000 to September 2001. As Vice Chairman, General Myers served as the Chairman of the Joint Requirements Oversight Council, Vice Chairman of the Defense Acquisition Board, and as a member of the National Security Council Deputies Committee and the Nuclear Weapons Council. In addition, he acted for the Chairman in all aspects of the Planning, Programming and Budgeting System including participation in the Defense Resources Board. From August 1998 to February 2000, General Myers was Commander in Chief of the North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Space Command; Commander of the Air Force Space Command; and Department of Defense manager of the space transportation system contingency support at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado. As commander, General Myers was responsible for defending America through space and intercontinental ballistic missile operations. Prior to assuming that position, he was Commander, Pacific Air Forces, Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, from July 1997 to July 1998. From July 1996 to July 1997 he served as Assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon; and from November 1993 to June 1996 General Myers was Commander of U.S. Forces Japan and 5th Air Force at Yokota Air Base, Japan. He was the acting chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) during the September 11th, 2001, terror attacks because CJCS Shelton was en route to Europe. However, at the time the Pentagon was attacked, he was on Capital Hill and not in the Pentagon. It should be noted that he did leave Capital Hill and spent the remainder of the day in the Pentagon. His office was not damaged during the attack.
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