[1][2] West was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where he became an Eagle Scout with Bronze Palms, and attended Atkins High School (where his parents were teachers), graduating as valedictorian[2][3] in June 1960.

[3] After completing law school and clerking for federal District Judge Harold R. Tyler Jr.,[4] West entered the United States Army.

[5] He subsequently practiced law at the firm of Covington & Burling before being appointed an associate deputy attorney general in the administration of President Gerald Ford.

[5] West returned to private practice in 1981 with the firm of Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler and later worked as senior vice president for government relations of the Northrop Corporation until he became a member of the Clinton administration.

[7] In 1996, as Secretary of the Army, West earned the Grand-Officer of the Order of Military Merit by the Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso.

[1] West and former Chief of Naval Operations retired admiral Vernon Clark led the Defense Department's investigation into the Fort Hood massacre, issuing a report in January 2010.