4. King, Fleet Admiral King, p. 636.
5. Ibid., p. 637.
6. Buell, Master of Sea Power, p. 508.
7. Ibid., pp. 509, 511–12.
8. For Nimitz’s role as CNO, see Steven T. Ross, “Chester William Nimitz,” in Love, Chiefs of Naval Operations, and Jeffrey G. Barlow, From Hot War to Cold: The U.S. Navy and National Security Affairs, 1945–1955 (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 2009). In Nimitz, Potter gives an anecdote-filled portrayal of the admiral’s retirement years based on interviews with Catherine Nimitz and family members, including “To me, he has” (p. 472).
9. Adams, Witness to Power, p. 307. Leahy repeatedly expressed his concerns over the Middle East; see, for example, WDL/Diary, October 10, November 5, and November 29, 1947, and the list of concerns in May 1948.
10. WDL/Diary, May 14, 1948.
11. WDL/Diary, inserts: Leahy to Truman, September 20, 1948, offering to resign immediately; Truman to Leahy, September 23, 1948, handwritten letter; Truman to Leahy, September 27, 1948, reiterating the sentiments of his handwritten letter (“My position and my feeling toward you has never changed and it never will”). When Leahy finally stepped down as chief of staff, the Washington Post called the move “a victory for civilian supremacy” and noted, “There is no need for the post in peacetime. That Mr. Truman kept Admiral Leahy at his side after he had exhausted Leahy’s rich store of information was merely a testament to Leahy’s companionability and to Mr. Truman’s loyalty” (Washington Post, March 29, 1949).
12. WDL/Diary, November 19, 1951, and December 18, 1952.
13. Adams, Witness to Power, p. 344.
14. Ibid., p. 346.
15. Roland N. Smoot, The Reminiscences of Vice Admiral Roland N. Smoot, U.S. Navy (Ret.) (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1972), p. 18.
16. New York Herald Tribune Book Review, March 19, 1950, p. 5. In his review of I Was There, Ferdinand Kuhn wrote, “Admiral Leahy was always something of a puzzle to the public in his White House days” (Washington Post, March 19, 1950).
17. Washington Post, May 7, 1955.
18. Miles, “American Strategy,” p. 9.
19. Leahy, I Was There, p. 104.
20. Ibid., p. 104.
21. Ibid., p. 224.
22. Love, “Ernest Joseph King,” in Chiefs of Naval Operations, p. 140.
23. E. B. Potter, Admiral Arleigh Burke: A Biography (New York: Random House, 1990), p. 260.
24. This Nimitz quote appears in many places, but it may have been first published in Boys’ Life, the magazine of the Boy Scouts, the month before his death (Chester W. Nimitz, “My Way of Life: The Navy,” as told to Andrew Hamilton, Boys’ Life, January 1966, p. 56).
25. Smoot, Reminiscences, p. 88.
26. William Gordon Beecher rose to vice admiral but was also a published songwriter of some note. This version of “Nimitz and Halsey and Me” is from Time, October 22, 1945, after Nimitz recited it at a welcome-home dinner at New York’s Waldorf-Astoria.
27. Potter, Halsey, p. 234.
28. Halsey, Admiral Halsey’s Story, pp. 278–79.
29. Wing to Leahy, January 27, 1953, WDL/NHHC, Reel 1.
30. Leahy to Wing, February 4, 1953, WDL/NHHC, Reel 1.
31. Leahy, Annapolis speech, March 18, 1934, WDL/NHHC, Reel 8.
Contents
Welcome
Dedication
List of Maps
Prologue: The Banks of the Severn
Saturday, December 6, 1941
Part One: Sailors, 1897–1918
1. Leahy: “The Judge”—Annapolis, Class of 1897
2. King: “Rey”—Annapolis, Class of 1901
3. Halsey: “Pudge”—Annapolis, Class of 1904
4. Nimitz: “Nim-i-tiz”—Annapolis, Class of 1905
5. First Commands
6. Dress Rehearsal
Part Two: Ships, 1918–1941
7. Battleships
8. Submarines
9. Aircraft Carriers
10. First Stars
11. Projecting Power
12. At War All but in Name
Part Three: Admirals, 1941–1945
13. Searching for Scapegoats and Heroes
14. Spread Thin
15. Deciding the Course
16. Fighting the Japanese—and MacArthur
17. From Casablanca to Teheran
18. Take Care, My Boy
19. Driving It Home
20. The Crippling Blow: Submarines or Airpower?
21. Halsey’s Luck
22. Two Typhoons and Five Stars
23. Interim President
24. Toward Tokyo Bay
25. Measures of Men
Photos
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Reading Group Guide
History’s Lesson: Sea Power Defines a Nation
One Veteran’s Story
In-the-Field Research
A Conversation with Walter Borneman
Questions and Topics for Discussion
Suggested Reading
Also by Walter R. Borneman
Praise for Walter R. Borneman’s The Admirals
Appendixes
A. Comparative Ranks of Commissioned Officers in U.S. Military Services
B. World War II–Era General Protocols for Naming U.S. Navy Ships
C. Comparative Tonnages and Armaments of Selected Ships
D. Chiefs of Naval Operations, 1915–1947
E. Commanders in Chief, U.S. Fleet, 1936–1945
F. World War II–Era U.S. Battleships
G. World War II–Era U.S. Aircraft Carriers (CV1–CV21)
H. Ships Named for the Fleet Admirals
I. Major World War II Conferences and Operations with Code Names
Newsletters
Bibliography
Notes
Copyright
Copyright
Copyright © 2012 by Walter R. Borneman
Reading group guide copyright © 2013 by Walter R. Borneman and Little, Brown and Company
“History’s Lesson: Sea Power Defines a Nation” originally appeared on Time.com.
Cover design by Ploy Siripant
Cover photograph by US Navy/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Cover copyright © 2013 Hachette Book Group, Inc.
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Maps by David Lambert
ISBN 978-0-316-20252-7
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