Paul Ignatius
Paul Ignatius 
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 Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) Ray Mabus, left, shakes hands with former SECNAV Paul Ignatius | |
| Birth name | Paul Robert Ignatius |
| Birthplace | Glendale |
| Birth date | 11 November 1920 |
| Death date | 2025-11-06 |
| Death year | 2025 |
| Education | Harvard |
| Profession | Military |
| Positions | United States Secretary of the Navy |
| Languages | English |
| Ethnicities | Armenian |
| Dialects | Western Armenian |
| Ancestral villages | Ağın |
| Spouses | Nancy Ignatius |
| Children | David Ignatius, Sarah Ignatius, Adi Ignatius, Amy Ignatius |
Paul Robert Ignatius (November 11, 1920 – November 6, 2025) was an American government official and businessman who served as the 59th United States Secretary of the Navy between 1967 and 1969 during the Lyndon B. Johnson administration. He had previously been the United States Under Secretary of the Army in 1964. During his time as Navy Secretary, Ignatius was the highest-ranking Armenian American in the United States government.[1]
After government service, Ignatius served as president of The Washington Post newspaper and served as executive vice president of The Washington Post Company from 1969 until 1971. During his time with The Washington Post, Ignatius reluctantly oversaw the release of the Pentagon Papers, a decision that put him at odds with lead publisher Katharine Graham, who supported the release.[2]
Ignatius also served as president and CEO of Air Transport Association and was a member of the board of trustees of the George C. Marshall Foundation and the Logistics Management Institute.
Early life
Paul Robert Ignatius was born on November 11, 1920, in Glendale, California,[2] the son of Armenian parents who migrated to the United States, Elisa (née Jamgochian; Էլիզա Ջամգոչյան Իգնատոսյան) and Hovsep "Joseph" B. Ignatius (original last name – Ignatosian; հովսեյան իգնստոսյան).[3][4][5] Ignatius's ancestors came from the historic Armenian settlement of Ağın near Kharpert (present-day Elazığ, Turkey).[6]
Ignatius received his bachelor's degree from the University of Southern California (Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Kappa Tau) and his MBA degree from Harvard Business School.[3] During this time, he worked a temporary clerk at a U.S. Postal Office facility in Glendale.[1]
Ignatius served as a commissioned lieutenant in the U.S. Navy in World War II, principally as an aviation ordnance officer aboard escort aircraft carrier Template:USS in the Pacific.[7]
USS Paul Ignatius
Secretary of the Navy Celebrates Naming of USS Paul Ignatius
Story Number: NNS130611-19Release Date: 6/11/2013 5:12:00 PM A A A Email this story to a friend Print this story From Secretary of the Navy Public Affairs
WASHINGTON (NNS) -- Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus hosted a ceremony today to celebrate the recent announcement that the next Arleigh Burke class guided-missile destroyer will be named USS Paul Ignatius.
"The Ignatius will be in our fleet for three to four decades. It will sail virtually every ocean of the world," said Mabus. "It will be a reminder of the experience, and the wisdom of Paul Ignatius."
The ceremony was held in the Pentagon and attended by former Navy Secretary Paul Ignatius, his family and current and former civilian and uniformed naval officials and guests. In addition to Ignatius, five former Secretaries and acting Secretaries of the Navy were in attendance to commemorate the occasion.
"I was really quite overwhelmed when Secretary Mabus told me that this ship was going to be named in my honor," said Ignatius. "The Navy meant a lot to me in my life."
The future USS Paul Ignatius (DDG 117) will be the first naval ship to bear this name.
The Arleigh Burke class destroyer will be able to conduct a variety of operations, from peacetime presence and crisis management to sea control and power projection. It will be capable of fighting air, surface and subsurface battles simultaneously and will contain a myriad of offensive and defensive weapons designed to support maritime warfare.
USS Paul Ignatius will be 509 feet in length, have a waterline beam of 59 feet, displace approximately 9,496 tons, and make speed in excess of 30 knots. The construction will be led by Bath Iron Works, Huntington Ingalls Industries.
More information about the Arleigh Burke class destroyers is available online at http://www.navy.mil/navydata/fact_display.asp?cid=4200&tid=900&ct=4 .
GLENDALE - Former USSecretary of the Navy Paul R. Ignatius will give a pair of talks in Southern California on January 29 and 30, in connectionwith the publication of his memoir Now I Know in Part in a revised and expanded edition.
On January 29,Ignatius will speak at 2:30 p.m. at the Glendale Public Library, an eventsponsored by the USC Institute of Armenian Studies, theArarat-Eskijian Museum,and the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR). On January 30, 12:00 noon, NAASR and USC Institute of Armenian Studies willsponsor a talk by Paul Ignatius at USC, his Alma Mater, at the Colloquium in Armenian Studies, Von Kleinsmid Center (near Figueroa & Jefferson), room 156. Both events are free and open to the public.
Ignatius' Now I Know in Part, a substantially revised and expanded edition of a memoir that was first published privately in 2000, was issued in late 2011 by NAASR's Armenian Heritage Press. The book will be available for purchase and signing by the author at both events. A descendant of Armenian parents from the Kharpert region of Historic Armenia, Ignatius is a native of Glendale, Calif., and a USC graduate. He earnedan MBA from Harvard University after serving as a naval officer in World War II. He is also the author of On Board:My Life in the Navy, Government, and Business (Naval Institute Press,2006). Ignatius served foreight years in the presidential administrations of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, first as an Assistant Secretary of the Army, then as Under Secretary of the Army and Assistant Secretary of Defense, and finally in 1967 as Secretary of the Navy. Following his government service, he was president of the Washington Post for two years and president of the Air Transport Association for fifteen years. He is the recipient of the Army Distinguished Civilian Service Award, the Navy Distinguished Public Service Award, and the Department of Defense Distinguished Public Service Award.
In Now I Know in Part, Ignatius looks back on family history, childhood in Glendale,California (long before it had was home to a large Armenian community), colorful characters (both famous and obscure) and Hollywood brushes with greatness, military service during World War II, and more.
In the book's Foreword, Ignatius writes that `There is quite a lot in these stories about Armenia and my parents' Armenian friends. I never thought much about all this when I was growing up, probably because it would make me seem to be different from my school mates, and I wanted to be just like everyone else. Now I look with a different eye on my heritage. I have come to believe that I am a more interesting person, to myself and to others, because of this background.'
Also, he adds, he enjoyed telling `stories about the old days, about growing up in California with parents of Armenian heritage, and getting to know a lot of characters, mostly Armenian, who came to our house in Glendale. I would acquaint them with William Saroyan's Uncle Aram, who told jokes in crazy ethnic dialects, and with Levon Agha and Armenag Effendi Kurkjian, and how my brother and I did the wash in the old Maytag and invented silly languages in our shared bedroom before going to sleep.'
Chapters newly addedfor this second edition include reminiscences of Ignatius' former boss,Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara, during a difficult time in U.S. history, and two homecomings of a sort: oneto Hoover High School in Glendale and the other a visit to ancestral lands in Historic Armenia.
For more informationcontact NAASR at 617-489-1610 or hq@naasr.orgor visit NAASR at 395 Concord Avenue, Belmont, MA 02478.
References
Page is partially sourced from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Ignatius
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- ↑ "Paul Ignatius, Former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense, to Speak at Genocide Centennial Banquet". Massis Post. March 24, 2015. https://massispost.com/2015/03/paul-ignatius-former-u-s-assistant-secretary-of-defense-to-speak-at-genocide-centennial-banquet/. Retrieved November 6, 2025.
- ↑ "Ignatius, Paul R" (in en-US). https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/research/library/research-guides/modern-biographical-files-ndl/modern-bios-i/ignatius-paul-r.html. Retrieved December 19, 2022.