Robert L. Schweitzer; Army, Pentagon Official Earned Many Honors

Robert L. Schweitzer, 72, retired Army lieutenant general who was an executive at the Pentagon and on the National Security Council. Schweitzer led troops in combat in the 1960s during six tours in Vietnam, where his assignments included that of deputy commander of a cavalry regiment. He earned the Distinguished Service Cross, two Distinguished Service Medals, three Silver Stars, two Legion of Merit awards and the Distinguished Flying Cross. He also held four Bronze Stars for valor, seven Purple Hearts, 21 Air Medals, two Army Commendation Medals, the Soldiers Medal and the Defense Superior Service Medal. During his 36-year Army career, Schweitzer held high strategic planning posts at the Pentagon and was policy branch chief at NATO headquarters under Army Gen. Alexander Haig. He served under Haig on the National Security Council when Henry Kissinger was the national security advisor. He served a second stint on the council during the Reagan administration in 1981, as defense group director and the council’s top military officer. But he was dismissed that October after giving a speech to the Assn. of the U.S. Army convention that administration officials said was “at some degree of variance” with President Ronald Reagan’s views. He chaired the Inter-American Defense Board from 1982 until retiring from the Army in 1987. A native of Chicago, Schweitzer earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland and master’s degrees from Georgetown University and the Army Command and Staff College. On Saturday in Washington, D.C., of cancer.