in November 1979 by followers of the Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini, and he survived the criticism for that rescue mission's failure. Goldwater-Nichols Act During his second term as chairman, Jones worked to make the chairman, rather than the corporate JCS, the principal military adviser to the president and the secretary of defense, arguing that such a change of the National Security Act would improve the quality and timeliness of military advice and the combined readiness and effectiveness of the nation's combat forces. Jones continued his efforts toward that goal after his retirement as chairman of the JCS and saw it come to fruition with the passage of the Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act in 1986. Jones continued to serve as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the first years of Ronald Reagan's Presidency in 1981. He retired from active-duty within the United States Air Force after his second term period as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff finished on June 18, 1982. In 1989 military history book Four Stars: The Inside Story of The Forty-Year Battle Between The Joint Chiefs of Staff and America's Civilian Leaders, historian Mark Perry wrote that General David C. Jones had earned a reputation as "a good service manager" who "welcomed change" during his tenure as both U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Jones was awarded an honorary doctorate of humane letters degree from the University of Nebraska at Omaha in 1974, an honorary doctorate of laws degree from Louisiana Tech University in 1975, and an honorary doctorate of humane letters degree from Minot State College in 1979. Jones received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement presented by Awards Council member Roger Staubach in 1979. Jones was the final Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to be decorated for service in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. Jones was a member of the Air Force Association, the Falcon Foundation, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Alfalfa Club, the Bohemian Club and the Family. Personal life and death In 1942, he married Lois Tarbell (1921–2009). They had three children, two daughters Susan and Kathy; and a son, David Curtis. Jones died August 10, 2013, at a military retirement community in Potomac Falls, Virginia at age 92. He had Parkinson's disease. Jones was buried in Arlington National Cemetery on October