General Rogard



"That's lovely, Kent. But let me try to explain how this works... If you told me you'd found, say, a giant footprint, I might send over an expert to make a plaster cast of it. Hell, you get me a photograph of this thing, I could probably get some troops over there! But you tell me you've got a "feeling"?"

- General Rogard to Kent Mansley

General Rogard is the military leader of the army in the 1999 animated film, The Iron Giant.

He is voiced by the late John Mahoney.

Biography
General Shannon Rogard never tolerates Kent Mansley's paranoia, initially disbelieving the latter's claim of a "giant metal monster" in Rockwell, Maine, and even accuses him of blowing millions of Uncle Sam's Dollars Out Of [His Butt]; "YOU REALIZE HOW MUCH HARDWARE I'VE THREW OUT HERE! YOU JUST BLEW MILLIONS OF UNCLE SAM'S DOLLARS OUT OF YOUR BUTT!" The Angry General said this because of Kent Mansley wasting both his time and the Government's money for a worthless trip to the town.

However, Rogard finally learns the real truth about the giant after seeing him walk into town with Hogarth Hughes alive in his hands, and Kent Mansley takes the opportunity to take care of the Giant himself in order to try and save himself from going to prison by swiping the communicator from the General and telling the soldier on the other end of the line to launch the missile, at the Giant's current position, which is right where he and everyone else is standing. Kent lied to the General that the The Iron Giant had killed Hogarth and is attacking the town. After the Giant's defense mechanism was activated by the gunfire, Mansley convinces Rogard to authorize a nuclear missile launch to destroy the Giant, but when the Giant calms itself and shows a very much alive Hogarth to everyone to prove that's it's not a threat, Rogard orders his men to stand down. Rogard is then about to abort the missile launch, but Mansley (still believing that the Giant is a threat) orders the launch anyway, causing the angry general to remind Mansley that the missile is targeted to the Giant's current position, meaning that not only will the Giant be destroyed, but also the entire town of Rockwell. Despite realizing this, Mansley refuses to face the consequences of his actions and tries to drive away, but the Giant stops him, allowing Rogard to have his soldiers arrest Mansley for his crimes. Rogard later acknowledges the Giant's sacrifice and tells the army to go home, knowing its not worth the trouble.

Months later, in the spring of 1958, the General, having returned to work in Washington, D.C., personally sends Hogarth a package containing the only part recovered from the Giant, as he believes Hogarth should have it in honor of the Giant's own sacrifice for the town.

Quotes
"Damn it, Mansley. You call me at home for this?"

"You realize how much hardware I've brought out here?! You just blew millions of Uncle Sam's dollars out of your butt!"

"Sweet mother of God."

"All battleships fire at the robot! Now! Now, damn it, now!"

"You scare me Manlsey. You want us to bomb ourselves in order to kill it?"

"That missile is targeted to the Giant's current position! Where's the Giant, Mansley?!"

"There's no way to survive this, you idiot!"

[Mansley: You mean, we're all going to...] "To die, Mansley, for our country."

"Let's go home."

"Where's the giant, Mansley?!"

"Are you mad, Mansley?"

Trivia

 * Despite being referred to as a general, Rogard holds the rank of a three star lieutenant general in the army (LTG).
 * The pistol General Rogard uses against the Iron Giant is a M1911A1 pistol.
 * Jack Nicholson, Josh Brolin, Kirk Douglas, Jeffrey Tambor and R. Lee Ermey were all considered for the role of General Rogard before John Mahoney was cast.