The Final Inheritance
The chapter explores General John Shalikashvili’s retirement. After overviewing his continued efforts to help maintain military readiness, care for servicemembers and their families, and improve international security policy, particularly through work with William Perry’s Preventive Defense Project, the chapter highlights how the opportunity to give a speech in support of Senator John Kerry’s nomination as the Democratic presidential candidate was an opportunity to thrust Shalikashvili back onto the national stage. The chapter also details a series of heart-related problems that plagued him in retirement, including one stroke that crippled him in 2004 and the final one that eventually took his life in 2011. The chapter explains the family legacy of heart issues that troubled both sides of his family tree, and details how this “last inheritance” did much to strip away the aspects of family inheritance—self control, diplomacy, and intellect—that helped him achieve his American dream.