Jersey Boys

The news today of the passing of General Norman Schwarzkopf reminds us of a fact familiar to most of New Jersey’s law enforcement community, but less well known among the general public: General Schwarzkopf’s father, Colonel H. Norman Schwarzkopf, Sr., was the founder and first superintendent of the New Jersey State Police.

General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr.















Colonel H. Norman Schwarzkopf, Sr.












General Schwarzkopf was best known for his role in the original Gulf War, repelling Saddam Hussein’s forces from Kuwait in 1991. But at the time of General Schwarzkopf's birth in 1934, his father was leading the investigation into the kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh’s infant son, the infamous "Lindbergh Baby" case.

The Lindbergh case drew national attention, culminating in a raucous trial at the Hunterdon County Courthouse in Flemington and leading to the execution of Bruno Richard Hauptmann in 1936.

Both father and son Schwarzkopf were Jersey boys, the father having been born in Newark and the son in Trenton.