U of A's Pryor Center Debuts Interview With Retired Four-Star General Clark

Wesley K. Clark during his run for the Democratic presidential nomination in the 2004 election.

Supreme Allied Commander Europe, Wesley K. Clark, speaking at his farewell ceremony after receiving NATO medals from Secretary General Lord Robertson.

The medals presented to Supreme Allied Commander Europe Wesley K. Clark, at his farewell ceremony.

Wesley K. Clark

Courtesy of the Pryor Center

A still frame taken from a 2022 Pryor Center interview with Wesley K. Clark.

The David and Barbara Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History in the U of A’s Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences is pleased to announce the public release of its Arkansas Memories interview with Wesley K. Clark. 

The full-length video, audio and transcript are available on the Pryor Center website.

Clark retired as a four-star general after 38 years in the United States Army, having served in his last assignments as Commander U.S. Southern Command and then as Commander U.S. European Command/Supreme Allied Commander Europe. 

“The Pryor Center was honored to have the opportunity to capture retired Gen. Wesley Clark’s extraordinary story,” said John C. Davis, executive director of the Pryor Center. “Clark was very gracious with his time, and we were able to cover many topics that we believe will be of interest to scholars and the general public – both today and into the future.”

A Little Rock native, Clark graduated first in his class at West Point and completed degrees in philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford University (B.A. and M.A.) as a Rhodes Scholar. 

Clark was the principal author of both the U.S. National Military Strategy and Joint Vision 2010, prescribing U.S. warfighting for full-spectrum dominance. He worked with Ambassador Richard Holbrooke in the Dayton Peace Process, where Clark helped write and negotiate significant portions of the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement. 

In his final assignment as Supreme Allied Commander Europe, Clark led NATO forces to victory in Operation Allied Force, a 78-day air campaign, backed by ground invasion planning and a diplomatic process, saving 1.5 million Albanians from ethnic cleansing. His military awards include the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Defense Distinguished Service Medal (five awards), Silver Star, Bronze Star and Purple Heart. 

In 2004, having moved back to Arkansas, Clark sought the Democratic nomination for president of the United States.

Clark is a businessman, educator, writer and commentator, and currently serves as chairman and CEO of Wesley K. Clark & Associates, a strategic consulting firm. In 2019, Clark founded Renew America Together, a nonprofit organization designed to promote and achieve greater common ground in America by reducing partisan division and gridlock.

The Arkansas Memories interview covers various parts of Clark’s family life, decorated career and commitment to public service, with a particular focus on his time in Arkansas. 

The interview with Clark was conducted over two days by former Pryor Center executive director William A. Schwab and current executive director John C. Davis.

About The David and Barbara Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History: The David and Barbara Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History is an oral history program with the mission to document the history of Arkansas through the collection of spoken memories and visual records, preserve the collection in perpetuity, and connect Arkansans and the world to the collection through the Internet, TV broadcasts, educational programs, and other means. The Pryor Center records audio and video interviews about Arkansas history and culture, collects other organizations’ recordings, organizes these recordings into an archive, and provides public access to the archive, primarily through the website at pryorcenter.uark.edu. The Pryor Center is the state’s only oral and visual history program with a statewide, seventy-five county mission to collect, preserve, and share audio and moving image recordings of Arkansas history.

About the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences: The Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences is the largest and most academically diverse unit on campus with three schools, 16 departments and 43 academic programs and research centers. The college provides the majority of the core curriculum for all University of Arkansas students.

About the University of Arkansas: As Arkansas' flagship institution, the U of A provides an internationally competitive education in more than 200 academic programs. Founded in 1871, the U of A contributes more than $2.2 billion to Arkansas’ economy through the teaching of new knowledge and skills, entrepreneurship and job development, discovery through research and creative activity while also providing training for professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the U of A among the few U.S. colleges and universities with the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the U of A among the top public universities in the nation. See how the U of A works to build a better world at Arkansas Research and Economic Development News.