EIGHTH ARMY'S NEW COMMANDER

MAXWELL DAVENPORT TAYLOR, Lieutenant General, U.S.A.

Early Years: Born in 1901 in Keytesville, Mo. Went to the Junior College of Kansas City, then West Point, where he graduated in 1922 fourth in his class and was commissioned in the Corps of Engineers.

Prewar Career: Because of his talent for languages, the Army sent him to Paris to study French, then brought him back to West Point, where for five years he taught French and Spanish. Later spent nearly two years in Tokyo learning Japanese. Went through the Command and General Staff School and the Army War College. In 1942, as a colonel, he was assigned to help organize the Army's first airborne divisions, the 82nd and the 101st.

World War II: Commanded the 82nd Airborne's artillery in the Sicilian and Italian campaigns. In 1943, running risks which Eisenhower called "greater than I asked any other agent or emissary to undertake during the war," Taylor slipped through German lines into Rome for armistice negotiations with Italian Premier Pietro Badoglio. For 24 hours, wearing a U.S. uniform, he went about his mission in Rome under the noses of the Germans. Promoted to command of the 101st Airborne Division, he parachuted into the Cotentin Peninsula with his troops the night before Dday, thereby becoming the first U.S. general officer to fight France in World War II. Made his second combat jump with the 101st when it invaded Holland, where Taylor was wounded. Was back in Washington on a special mission when his 101st was surrounded at Bastogne. Flew back to Europe, then jeeped into Bastogne in time to lead the division through the last month of the Battle of the Bulge, but too late to receive the Nazi surrender ultimatum, which Acting Division Commander Tony McAuliffe answered with the word "Nuts." (Last week's Pentagon rumor: McAuliffe would fall heir to the job Taylor was vacating--Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations & Administration.)

Postwar: At 44, Taylor became superintendent of West Point, second youngest in the academy's history. (The youngest: Douglas MacArthur at 39.) Taylor broadened West Point's curriculum to include political science and economics, tried to de-emphasize football by abolishing the annual game with Notre Dame (see SPORT). In 1949 he became U.S. commander in Berlin and in 1951 came back to the Pentagon for service in the office of the Army Chief of Staff.

Off Duty: A handsome, square-jawed man whose black hair has begun to grey, Taylor (6 ft., 175 lbs.) has "a dislike of getting fat." To keep in trim he plays handball in winter and tennis in summer. A nonsmoker, he keeps social activities to a minimum, and drinks, according to one acquaintance, "as little as possible for a man of his rank." Married to Lydia Gardner Happer since 1925, he has two sons, John Maxwell, 22, a Government employee, and Thomas, 18.

On Duty: A demanding boss with great executive ability. Devoted to the paratroopers, he is sometimes called "Mr. Attack," but tempers his love of action with native caution. "I never do anything impromptu," says Taylor.

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