Otto L. Nelson Jr.
Otto L. Nelson Jr. (November 2, 1902 – June 25, 1985) was a United States Army officer and later an executive at New York Life Insurance Company. Born in Omaha, Nebraska to Swedish immigrant parents, he graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1924 and was commissioned in the Infantry. He earned an MA from Columbia University in 1932 and a PhD from Harvard University in 1939, after completing the Command and General Staff College in 1938. Nelson taught history and economics at West Point from 1929 to 1935 and again from 1938 to 1941. During World War II he served on the Army General Staff and helped reorganize the Army's command structure at the war's start and end; he wrote about these reorganizations in National Security and the General Staff (1946). He held the rank of major general from November 13, 1944 to May 31, 1946. After his army career, he worked for New York Life Insurance Company and later lived in Alexandria, Virginia. He died in New Rochelle, New York, at age 82 while competing in a golf tournament, and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 00:58 (CET).