‘Web-feet’ of Lincoln and His Admirals

by Bill Doughty

Esteemed Lincoln historian (and Navy Reads contributor) Eric Foner said this about Craig L. Symonds’s “Lincoln and His Admirals”:  “Despite the numerous volumes on Lincoln and the land Civil War, this is the first full study of Lincoln's relationship to the war at sea, and it reveals him mastering the nuances of naval warfare.”

The War of 1812 has been called the second Revolutionary War and the real birth of the United States Navy; the Civil War was an internal revolutionary rebellion over slavery, in which the Union fought for a “new birth of freedom” for all. It was also a watershed event for the Navy.  By the end of the Civil War, the Navy proved its worth as a littoral and open-ocean force with global implications.

Symonds’s brilliant “Lincoln and his Admirals” shows strengths and weaknesses of military and political leaders, the Army-Navy relationship, and the president’s intense interest in the strategy and management of the Navy, through Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles.

Symonds explores the relationship of Admirals Farragut, Porter, DuPont, Dahlgren and Wilkes, not only with Welles and Lincoln but also with Generals Grant, McLernand and Halleck, among others.

Ego, politics and power are revealed behind the curtain of history.  Symonds shows how Lincoln sought to understand before being understood, as “a neutrally patient navigator.” “Lincoln remained a reluctant commander in chief, and once he had a command team in place that he trusted, he backed away,” Symonds writes.

Du Pont

“Lincoln and his Admirals” is a great read, showing the personalities of the leaders and containing fascinating side notes that go further behind the curtain.  These are just a few examples:  The interesting case of Cmdr. George Preble, grandson of Edward Preble, hero of the Barbary Wars; the vanity, weakness and overreaction of Rear Adm. Samuel Francis Du Pont (to a newspaper story written April 15, 1863); and the sweet-and-sour opposites of Lincoln, the forgiving, and Welles, the vengeful.

“Welles’s tendency to chastise, however, was as instructive as Lincoln’s to soothe,” Symonds writes.  Lincoln’s natural empathy and political skill helped him deal with a fiery cabinet and strong-willed military leaders.

Sometimes flawless, occasionally dysfunctional, the joint efforts of the Union Army and Navy were an important reason the North prevailed.  Lincoln could see the effectiveness of combined operations when there was a willingness to operate outside of narrow and arbitrary lines of authority.  He valued collaboration and cooperation, he encouraged innovation and new technology, and he rewarded aggressive, decisive action in battle.

Read “Lincoln and his Admirals” to understand not only the Navy’s achievements in saving the Union but also the strategies and tactics of good leaders who see bigger themes.

According to Symonds, Lincoln showed “determination to put the good of the country ahead of personal ambition.  He expected his admirals -- and his generals -- to tolerate inconvenience and disappointment for the good of the cause.  The broader goals of Union and victory were more important than anyone’s personal trials, including his own.”  Through it all he continued to support modernization of the Navy.

The Navy had 588 warships by the end of 1863, according to Symonds, with 75 of the ships armored and with more and bigger ironclads coming.  Some of the ironclads featured 11-inch and 15-inch guns.

Anticipating the arguments of Alfred Thayer Mahan a generation later, Lincoln wrote, “Our country has advantages superior to any other nation in our resources of iron and timber, with inexhaustible quantities of fuel in the immediate vicinity of both, and all available and in close proximity to navigable waters.”  Although “other governments have been making large expenditures ... with a view to attain naval supremacy,” it seemed likely to him that “this government is destined to occupy a leading position among maritime powers.  After he wrote this passage, however, he (or perhaps [Secretary of State] Seward) decided that the British might construe it as too direct a challenge to their maritime supremacy, and he deleted it, replacing it with a slightly less confrontational sentence: “The events of war give an increased interest and importance to the navy which will probably extend beyond the war itself.”

In the summer of 1863 Lincoln wrote this in a public letter to James C. Conkling, showing his appreciation for the Navy team: “Nor must Uncle Sam’s Web-feet be forgotten.  At all the watery margins they have been present.  Not only in the deep sea, the broad bay, and the rapid river, but also up the narrow bayou, and wherever the ground was a little damp, they have been, and made their tracks.”

(CNO Adm. Greenert unveiled the latest iteration of the Navy’s Professional Reading Program at the Ford Center for Education and Leadership in front of a sculpture of 6,000 books about President Lincoln.  His program and list of books are focused on history, tradition, and leadership/management, tailored around his three tenets (warfighting first, operate forward, be ready)   We’ll continue to showcase the influence of Lincoln this year, along with books from and related to the CNO’s reading list.  In the previous blog post, Symonds shared a list of top five books with Navy Reads.)

Symonds: Novels, Narrative and Nature of War

(Professor, author and distinguished historian Craig Symonds, who is at work on his next book, took time to share a top five list of books with Navy Reads.  We featured his “The Battle of Midway” last year, a top ten recommendation from the Naval History and Heritage Command.  Also last year, Eric Foner, the esteemed Lincoln historian, recommended “Lincoln and His Admirals” by Craig Symonds, a book we look forward to reviewing in the weeks ahead. -- Bill Doughty)

By Craig Symonds

I suspect that many--maybe even all--of these will overlap suggestions by others, but here's a list of five:

C.S. Forester, “The Good Shepherd”

Covers a single day in the life of an escort commander during the Battle of the Atlantic.  It shows better than any other book I know the kind of unrelenting pressure that comes to bear on a commander in the midst of a prolonged crisis.  Though it is a novel, it is a true-to-life study by a man who spent time at sea on the Atlantic convoys and who is also one of the best wordsmiths in the English language.

C.S. Forester, “The General”

In this Forester novel, the main subject is an Army officer who, by virtue of circumstances and simple longevity, rises to command an Allied army on the Western Front in World War I.  The task is utterly beyond him, for he has failed to learn new solutions to new problems.  It is a cautionary tale for those who think they do not need to adapt and can simply apply old lessons to new problems.

Barbara Tuchman, “The Guns of August”

This is not a novel, but a narrative history of the circumstances that led the world into holocaust in 1914.  Tuchman shows how momentum and inertia stole the initiative away form the heads of government and the generals.  World War I did not need to happen at all, and wiser men might have prevented it.  This is another cautionary tale for decision makers at the highest level.

Michael Shaara, “The Killer Angels”

In this novel of the Battle of Gettysburg, the reader experiences the dilemmas of commanders at every level, from Lee and Mede (the army commanders) through various corps and division leaders down to regimental commanders, and in particular Joshua L. Chamberlain.  My students at the Naval Academy loved this novel and it helped them understand both the nature of 19th warfare and the burden of command.

and, less modestly,

Craig Symonds, “Decision at Sea”

This work shows how changing technology and changing culture affect the nature of war at sea from the Battle of the Capes in 1781 to Operation Praying Mantis in 1988.  From iron broadsides to missile warfare, many of the problems of command and control remain the same even if the technology has changed.  If there is a cautionary tale here, it is that wars often create their own momentum and that it is hubris to think that they can be completely controlled.

(A special thanks to Professor Symonds. We will go back in time 150 years with him soon when we review his “Lincoln and His Admirals.”)

Burma, Myanmar in Her Eyes: ‘Freedom From Fear’

by Bill Doughty

During Women’s History Month, in the weeks leading up to the Burmese New Year, and in light of new incidents of ethnic violence in that beautiful but torn country, it is timely to read the words of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

Aung San Suu Kyi is a pivotal figure, philosopher and heroic leader in Burma (now also known as Myanmar) who calls for “a genuine respect for freedom, peace and justice.”

Aung San (right) and family in 1947, with Suu Kyi is in front.

She is the daughter of Aung San, a former leader of the country’s independence movement against British colonialism.  Aung San first aligned with the Japanese just prior to WWII until he saw the fascism of Imperial Japan’s military and sided with the Allies.  He was assassinated by a rival in 1947 on the eve of the country’s independence but is remembered today as the father of modern Burma.  

Aung San’s daughter, an Oxford-educated winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, continued her father’s push to democratic rule and freedom but was arrested, separated from her family and kept under house arrest for 15 of 21 years between 1989 and 2010.  Her selfless commitment, backed by the free world, led to elections and the beginning of a transition from military junta control to civilian government rule. Today, Aung San Suu Kyii  chairs Myanmar’s leading opposition party, the National League for Democracy.

“Freedom From Fear” was first published in 1991 and reissued in 1995, edited by Aung San Suu Kyi’s late husband, Dr. Michael Aris.  It is presented in three parts.

Part I, “The Inheritance,” focuses on her early writing, including a biography of her father and review of literature in the context of religion and politics.  The chapter “My Country and People” is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the ethnic diversity of Burma.  It provides the geography, history and sociology needed to explain the differences of Mon-Khmers, Tibeto-Burmans and Thai-Shans -- Chins, Kachins, Krens, Kayahs, Mons, Arakanese (Rakhines) and Shans; how these people were impacted by Indian, Chinese, Portuguese and British culture; and how the country has been influenced by religions such as natural spirit worship, Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Islam and others.

Although she doesn’t mention the immigrant ethnic Rohingya Muslims in her 1991 book, Aung San Suu Kyi recently called ethnic violence between Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in western and central Burma “a huge international tragedy.” She restated her desire to promote reconciliation after 200 people were killed and 100,000 were displaced from their homes in 2012.  This weekend, President Thein Sein declared a state of emergency in the Meikhtila region after ethnic/religious clashes killed at least 20 people.

Aung San Suu Kyi challenges people to rise above their superstitions, prejudices and, most of all, fears.

Part II, “The Struggle,” shows a chronological sequence of the movement toward democracy.

“The quest for democracy in Burma is the struggle of a people to live whole, meaningful lives as free and equal members of the world community.  It is part of the unceasing human endeavour to prove that the spirit of man can transcend the flaws of his own nature.”

Aung San Suu Kyi outlines her vision, objectives and strategy. The book’s namesake chapter, “Freedom from Fear,” calls for courage in the face of oppression:

“It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it. Most Burmese are familiar with the four a-gati, the four kinds of corruption. Chanda-gati, corruption induced by desire, is deviation from the right path in pursuit of bribes or for the sake of those one loves. Dosa-gati is taking the wrong path to spite those against whom one bears ill will, and moha-gati is aberration due to ignorance. But perhaps the worst of the four is bhaya-gati, for not only does bhaya, fear, stifle and slowly destroy all sense of right and wrong, it so often lies at the root of the other three kinds of corruption ... It would be difficult to dispel ignorance unless there is freedom to pursue the truth unfettered by fear.”

In a message that continues to resonate for developing free nations, Aung San Suu Kyi discusses how Germany and Japan became strong democratic states after the Second World War.  In the chapter, “The Need for Solidarity Among Ethnic Groups,” she writes, “We must all work together if we are to live together in unity and harmony.

Part III, “Appreciations,” offers reminiscences, observations and assessments by others.  

The 1995 edition, which includes forewards by Václav Havel and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, concludes with “The Spirit of Reconciliation,” Aung San Suu Kyi’s statement in 1995 after nearly six years of detention.  She writes, “I have always believed that the future stability and happiness of our nation depends entirely on the readiness of all parties to work towards reconciliation.”

In another book, 1996’s “Letters from Burma,” Aung San Suu Kyi waxes philosophically on life in her homeland.

Many of her letter-essays in “Letters from Burma,” which were published in Japan’s Mainichi Shinbun, culminate in moral reflections, such as this powerful observation:

“Unity in diversity has to be the principle of those who genuinely wish to build our country into a strong nation that allows a variety of races, languages, beliefs and cultures to flourish in peaceful and happy co-existence.  Only a government that tolerates opinions and attitudes different from its own will be able to create an environment where peoples of diverse traditions and aspirations can breathe freely in an atmosphere of mutual understanding and trust.”

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has a strong and inspiring voice, in many ways like that of Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., not only for women and men in her country but for people everywhere.

China and 'Best Case, Nuanced Scenario'

Review by Bill Doughty

“Monsoon” by Robert D. Kaplan provides a panoramic sweep of the Indian Ocean and its relevance to world commerce, with a special discussion of China, the United States Navy, and energy.

“Forty percent of seaborne crude oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz at one end of the ocean,” he writes, “and 50 percent of the world’s merchant fleet capacity is hosted at the Strait of Malacca, at the other end, making the Indian Ocean the globe’s busiest and most important interstate.”

Citing the International Energy Agency’s “World Energy Outlook 2007,” presented in Paris, Kaplan writes, “The world’s energy needs will rise by 50 percent by 2030, and almost half of the consumption will come from India and China.”  What are the political realities of growing economic stakes, finite energy resources and heightened nationalism in the face of globalization?

Kaplan’s observations conclude in a pivotal chapter, “China’s Two-Ocean Strategy?”

“[As] China rises economically and politically, taking advantage, in effect, of America’s military quagmire in Iraq and Afghanistan, a new and more complex order is gradually emerging in the maritime rimland of Eurasia, which includes not only the Indian Ocean but [also] the western Pacific.  What follows is an analysis of a U.S. Navy that has already reached the zenith of its dominance, faced with a rising Chinese maritime presence that, along with the rise of India, could over time herald the end of Western control over these waters.”

Kaplan evaluates the shrinking U.S. Navy -- from 6,700 ships at the end of World War II, 600 ships during the Cold War, to fewer than 280 ships today.

At the same time, “China yearns for an authentic blue water, or oceanic, navy...” in both the Indian and Pacific Oceans, Kaplan posits.  Add Japan, India and other Pacific nations to the mix and this will lead, he concludes, to an increasingly complex global power arrangement, one that is not bipolar or suicidal.  In fact, China already cooperates with other nations, including the United States in combatting a mutual enemy -- piracy.

Ship's Serviceman Seaman Qing Su, right, from New York, translates for a U.S-China combined visit, board, search and seizure (VBSS) team comprised of Sailors from the guided-missile destroyer USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG 81) and the Chinese People's Liberation Army (Navy) frigate Yi Yang (FF 548) during a bilateral counterpiracy exercise in the Gulf of Aden, Sept. 17, 2012. The focus of the exercise was American and Chinese naval cooperation in detecting, boarding, and searching suspected pirated vessels. (Photo by MC2 Aaron Chase)

Kaplan cites the cooperative strategies espoused by (now retired) Adm. Michael Mullen, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and former Chief of Naval Operations who, in 2007, said, “the economic tide of all nations rises not when the seas are controlled by one [nation] but rather when they are made safe and free for all.”

“Monsoon” is a key read on current CNO Adm. Jonathan Greenert’s Professional Reading Program list in the “Operate Forward” category.  

These past two blogposts only begin to scratch the surface of this great book.  “Monsoon” demanded two posts to showcase both its science and art.  This book is essential to understanding the sweeping history, present reality and potential future of the region.

As for the future, Kaplan writes, “Strong American-Chinese bilateral relations going forward is not only plausible, but might be the best-case scenario for the global system in the twenty-first century...”

“Therefore, the most likely scenario in my mind for relations with China is something quite nuanced: the United States will both compete and cooperate with China.  The American-Chinese rivalry of the future could give new meaning tot he word ‘subtlety,’ especially in its economic and diplomatic arrangements.  Yet, if this relationship has its hard edges, I expect one of those will be where the two countries’ navies interact: in the Greater Indian Ocean and western Pacific.”

Mutually Assured Destruction, with it’s apt acronym, created an uneasy and dangerous peace during the Cold War.  Today, the intertwined economic and energy dependency of the largest economies of the East and West may achieve a mutually assured peace.  Kaplan shows that readers and leaders on all sides need to understand how the winds are blowing across the Indian Ocean in order to fully see the big picture.

Chinese sailors render honors to Secretary of the Navy the Honorable Ray Mabus during a visit to the People's Liberation Army (Navy) hospital ship Peace Ark (866) Nov. 29, 2012. Mabus visited Ningbo, China to discuss the United States' new defense strategy, deepening military-to-military engagements, rebalancing toward the Pacific and fostering a positive, cooperative and comprehensive relationship with China. (U.S. Navy photo by MCC Sam Shavers)

Kaplan Paints in a Monsoon

by Bill Doughty

Robert Kaplan paints words from a palatte of nearly forgotten colors and memories.

In “Monsoon” -- a top pick on the CNO’s Professional Reading Program, Kaplan literally (and littorally) travels the breadth of the Indian Ocean and, like an artist, reveals the people, places and history of the dynamic and vital IO Rim.

His words evoke sights, smells, tastes, dimensions and sensations for the reader.

Case in point:

“A few minutes from the Shah Jahan Mosque is the necropolis on Makli Hill: tombs from the Samma, Arghun, Tarkhan, and Mughal periods, made of sandstone and glazed bricks.  These, too, were dynasties with both Turkic and Mongol blood.  And yet the tombs remind one of so many similar buildings in India, demonstrating that what we think of as Indian is itself a mélange of Near Eastern cultures.  Everywhere there are brick plinths, rectangular pillars, imposing ramparts, and cracked bulbous domes.  The buckling, glazed brick is peeled away in layers, like old mascara, with faint touches of milky blue.  These lonely monuments appear to soar into the clouds, each occupying its own little hill.  Some, with their intricate fretwork, have an almost Byzantine stateliness.  Others bear the proportions and complexity of the pharaonic buildings at Karnak.  All stand in majestic separation from one another amid a destitute wasteland, with garbage everywhere, like at so many historical and cultural sites in Pakistan. It is as though in the last sixty years -- unlike during the dynastic centuries recounted by these tombs -- there has been no state here; nothing but marauders.”

This is beautifully constructed prose, and there is a lot of it.  Kaplan’s words frame the abstract into the tangible and help us understand people and situations in Oman, Baluchistan, Bangladesh, several regions of India, Burma, Sri Lanka and Zanzibar and along the Indus River. 

Camões

Several diverse and sometimes unexpected themes link his narrative.  These include the voyages of Zheng He and Vasco de Gama; the poem “The Lusiads”  (“Os Lusíadas”) by Luís Vaz de Camões; environmental and seismic issues, including climate change, tsunami; the influence of world religions; and, of course, the drift of monsoon seasons and winds.

“The southwest monsoon that arrives in the Bay of Bengal in early summer provides a new dimension to rain.  This is the time of tropical cyclones, and it is as though the ocean was continually emptying itself upon you.  For days at a time, the sky is a low, claustrophobic vault of angry clouds.  Absent sunlight, the landscape -- however intrinsically rich in color, with mountains of hibiscus and bright orange mangoes, and the flowing saris of women -- becomes scrubbed over in a grainy mist.  Mud is the primary color, but it is not depressing.  It is the coolness that you notice first, not the leaden darkness.  You are filled with energy.  No longer are your clothes dissolving in sweat or your knees hollow from the heat.  No longer is the air something thick and oppressive that your body needs to push against.”

Kaplan notes that a million ships pass through the Indian Ocean straits each year.  Countries like India and China are building more ships, competing for resources and influence as they develop various cooperative relationships.

Kaplan’s canvas is wide.  He combines long and deep descriptions with sudden flashes of pinpoint insights expressed in just one or two sentences.  Some examples:

• “The Indian Ocean is small in a cultural sense but too vast even in the jet age for one power to gain real sway over it.”

• “History is as much a series of accidents and ruined schemes as of great plans.”

• “The Indus signals the western edge of the Subcontinent, from where its political unity was frequently breached by invaders coming out of the plateau and deserts of Afghanistan, Iran, and Baluchistan.  It is thus a lesson in the feebleness of borders.”

• Regarding India’s democratic spirit: “A spirit that is truly breathtaking in terms of what it can overcome. That is india’s ultimate strength.”

• “Strategic, romantic, and a moral catastrophe, Burma is a place that tends to consume people.”

• “The future of American power is related directly to how it communicates its concern about issues like climate change to Bangladeshis and others.”

Jakarta, Indonesia

As a book of thoughtful influence and reflection, “Monsoon” is an important read on the two-year anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake/tsunami March 11 and U.S. Navy’s humanitarian response.  Next year will be the ten-year anniversary of the Indian Ocean Tsunami which slammed Indonesia at the end of 2004.  The U.S. Navy’s humanitarian response was a milestone cultural and historical event that, according to Kaplan, made a difference for the littoral nations throughout the region.

“Monsoon: the Indian Ocean and the Future of American Power” is presented in three parts, with the third predominantly focused on China and filled with naval power insights -- from Alfred Thayer Mahan in the late 1800s to current scholars from the U.S. Naval War College today, including James R. Holmes and Toshi Yoshihara.

Robert D. Kaplan

Kaplan’s analysis in Chapter 15 -- “China’s Two-Ocean Strategy?” -- is especially important to the U.S. Navy especially since Kaplan presciently touches on budgetary challenges, which he wrote two years before the threat of the Sequester, starting to bite this month. 

Respected thinkers Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore and Pankaj Mishra of India and Great Britain (author of the insightful “From the Ruins of Empire: The Intellectuals who Remade Asia”), both referenced in Monsoon, warn Americans about seeing Asia (and China, in particular) through an American prism that assumes people in the region want to be just like us.  Many people in and around the Indian Ocean hunger for freedom and democracy, but we would be best served if we see their region through their eyes.  Kaplan helps make that happen.  He helps us see the big picture.

A Long Arc Toward Justice

by Bill Doughty

Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles was one of the first people to learn about President Lincoln's commitment to free enslaved human beings in the South.  Lincoln confided in Welles and Secretary of State William Seward on July 13, 1862, according to Seward’s diary, that emancipation was part of a military strategy.

Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles, center, at Lincoln's right hand.

Was Lincoln motivated by morality or practicality -- or both?

A new book by John Burt, “Lincoln’s Tragic Pragmatism,” joins over 16,000 titles published to date about the 16th president and explores the question. 

Regarding Lincoln's practical motivation, Burt writes:

“He explained to Welles that emancipation ‘was a military necessity absolutely essential to the salvation of the Union, that we must free the slaves or be ourselves subdued.’ Such an act would, at the least, weaken the power of the Confederacy, since it used its slaves to do such things as dig intrenchments or move supplies, jobs which otherwise would have to be performed by white soldiers. He further noted that the border states would do nothing, left to themselves, and could only be persuaded to free their slaves if the slaves were freed in the Confederacy first.”

Burt’s book was showcased this week on one of America’s best radio shows,  Tom Ashbrook’s On Point, and is available as a podcast. The acclaimed new book examines Lincoln’s philosophy and approach to democracy.  Listen to the discussion here.

Ashbrook opens his podcast with a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: “The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.”

He quotes a passage from Burt:

“Lincoln provides a model for moral agency in a complex world in which one must make one’s way among various half-understood alternatives, none of which leaves ones hands clean.”

Burt discusses conflicting beliefs and values, the tension between democracy and morality, and the fundamental principles of persuasion.

He tells Ashbrook, “My conscience commands me, but it has to persuade you.  And, indeed, if I don’t persuade you and compel you, then I’m not behaving in a democratic way either.  It may be a high-minded tyranny, but it’s still a tyranny.  I have an obligation to get you to accept defeat on things that matter to you highly.”

The On Point conversation brings out contemporary parallels -- from Martin Luther King’s strategy in the 1960s to current challenges of the ongoing Continuing Resolution and impending Sequestration in 2013.  In considering Lincoln, the lessons in leadership, compromise and warfare -- concessions without “fatal sacrifices” -- are striking.

Another one of the 16,000+ Lincoln titles (used as a backdrop by CNO Adm. Greenert to announce his revamped Professional Reading Program) is Ronald C. White, Jr.’s “The Eloquent President.”  White examines some of the president’s greatest speeches, addresses and public letters between 1861 and 1865, pulling them apart and looking at the poetry, cadences and conviction inside.

Like Burt, White also describes the role of Welles and Seward as Lincoln’s close confidants on the issue of emancipation.

Welles wrote detailed entries in his diary and recounted Lincoln’s growing belief in “Divine Will.” According to Welles, Lincoln saw victory in the Battle of Antietam as an indication that “God had decided this question in favor of the slaves.”

In "The Eloquent President," White writes:

“What was most remarkable, in an atmosphere charged with religious fervor and hyperpatriotism, was Lincoln’s new belief that God’s purposes may not be able to be identified by either side.  What sets him apart, in this musing, from his contemporaries in both North and South was his absence of pretension.”

White puts Lincoln’s passionate and compelling speeches under a magnifying glass, peeling off words and phrases and examining the inspiration, techniques and underlying morality of the president’s rhetoric.

He considers the Annual Message to Congress, delivered Dec. 1, 1862, as  “Lincoln’s finest message to Congress.” In that address, Lincoln calls for a “plain, peaceful, generous, just” way to save the Union.

Lincoln’s conclusion includes the phrase “fiery trial”:

“Fellow-citizens, we can not escape history. We of this Congress and this Administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance or insignificance can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the latest generation. We say we are for the Union. The world will not forget that we say this. We know how to save the Union. The world knows we do know how to save it. We, even we here, hold the power and bear the responsibility. In giving freedom to the slave we assure freedom to the free--honorable alike in what we give and what we preserve. We shall nobly save or meanly lose the last best hope of earth. Other means may succeed; this could not fail. The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just -- a way which if followed the world will forever applaud and God must forever bless.”

White concludes, “His words transcended the limitations of the event.  He used this occasion not simply to report to Congress but to mobilize public opinion. He offered a powerful appeal to history but also invited Americans to think in the future tense.  Lincoln’s message represented a breadth of conception and height of imagination in his expanding rhetorical arsenal.”

Lincoln balanced the highest ideals of morality with a tough, clear-eyed practical approach to achieve compromise and cooperation.  Using the art of the long view, he kept his commitment to the arc of the moral universe that would lead to justice for future generations.

Abraham Lincoln’s ‘Found Haiku’

by Bill Doughty

Haiku: Insights distilled to three lines of 5, 7 and 5 syllables only.

Originally from Japan and traditionally nature based, haiku are poems that can bring out subtle but deep insights in a few words.  Sometimes, haiku can be found in other people’s words.  The ‘found haiku’ on this page come from the published works of President Abraham Lincoln.  These are his words:

with other pillars

hewn from the solid quarry

of sober reason

(Speech before the Young Men’s Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois, Jan. 27, 1837)

his ruling passion --

a love of liberty and

right, unselfishly

(Eulogy of Henry Clay, July 16, 1852)

steadily as man’s

march to the grave, we have been

giving up the old

(Speech at Peoria, Illinois on Kansas-Nebraska Act, Oct. 16, 1854)

We live in the midst

of alarms, anxiety

beclouds the future

(Speech before the first Republican State Convention of Illinois, May 29, 1856)

In my opinion...

a house divided against

itself cannot stand

(Speech before the first Republican State Convention of Illinois, June 17, 1858)

that if a man says

he knows a thing, then he must

show how he knows it

(Speech at first Lincoln-Douglas debate, Aug. 21, 1858)

Let us have faith that

right makes might; and in that faith

...dare to do our duty

(Speech at New Haven, Connecticut, March 6, 1860)

touched, as surely

they will be, by the better

angels of our nature

(First Inaugural Address, Mar. 4, 1861)

Let us proceed in

the great task which events have

devolved upon us

(First Annual Message to Congress, Dec. 3, 1861)

Slavery is the

root of the rebellion...

it’s sine qua non

(Reply to a committee from Chicago religious denominations, Sept. 13, 1862)

The subject is on

my mind, by day and night, more

than any other

(Reply to a committee from Chicago religious denominations, Sept. 13, 1862)

Sorrow comes to all

and to the young it comes with

bittered agony

(Letter to Fanny McCullough, Dec. 23, 1862)

Peace does not appear

so distant as it did. I

hope it will come soon

(Letter to James C. Conkling, Aug. 26, 1863)

with malice toward none,

with charity for all, with

firmness in the right

(Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865)

We shall sooner have

the fowl by hatching the egg

than by smashing it

(“On Reconstruction,” his last public address, April 11, 1865)

President Lincoln, 1864

Lincoln was a master of prose whose writing feels like poetry.  His Gettysburg Address and his inaugural addresses are some of the finest examples of writing in American History.  As we reflect on the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, Navy Reads will continue to periodically feature works by and about our 16th President. As we end wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, deal with perils of a continuing resolution and sequestration, and even contemplate asteroids and meteors in 2013, Lincoln’s words offer inspiration, perspective and hope.

The haiku in this Navy Reads post were "found" by Bill Doughty from works published in “The Essential Abraham Lincoln,” from the Library of Freedom, published by Gramercy Books, distributed by Outlet Book Company, Inc., a Random House company. The works are from Lincoln’s original papers, collected in The Complete Works of Abraham Lincoln (twelve volumes, 1905), edited by John G. Nicolay and John Hay, and prepared with the cooperation of Robert Todd Lincoln, the president’s son.

For Navy Leaders, Readers - ‘On Writing Well’

Review by Bill Doughty

Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence and the phrase “All men are created equal,” reportedly said this about writing: “The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.”

William Zinsser would agree.

Zinsser’s “On Writing Well” shows how to achieve good nonfiction writing by removing clutter and striving for unity. “Unity is the anchor of good writing,” he said.

Also, good writing comes from clarity, simplicity, brevity and humanity, according to Zinsser, who provides plenty of examples by writers and thinkers -- Lewis Thomas, H. L. Mencken, James Baldwin, Diane Ackerman, Woody Allen and many others.

JFK's PT-109 essay, June 17, 1944

Excerpts by these writers show that principles like brevity and simplicity don’t have to result in colorless prose.   New Yorker magazine is brought up continually as a good source for great writing -- prose and poetry, nonfiction and storytelling.  Zinsser, himself, has written for New Yorker throughout his career.

In "On Writing Well" Zinsser writes about the art of choosing the right nouns, verbs and images to communicate effectively.

“This is a book about decisions -- the countless successive decisions that go into every act of writing,” he writes.  That includes choosing how to organize the sentences, paragraphs and entire piece to achieve that all-important unity.

“All your clear and pleasing sentences will fall apart if you don’t keep remembering that writing is linear and sequential, that logic is the glue that holds it together, that tension must be maintained from one sentence to the next and from one paragraph to the next and from one section to the next...”

Salt caravan in Timbuktu.  (file photo)

In a chapter called “A Writer’s Decisions,” Zinsser dissects his own long travel article, “The News from Timbuktu.” He takes the reader to Mali, Africa to witness a rare salt caravan from across the Sahara, where nervous camels walk in undulating unison carrying huge slabs of salt “like dirty white marble.”  Throughout the chapter, the author explains why he chose images, themes and even particular words.

Writing with brevity doesn’t negate eloquence.  Like Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln believed in choosing words that conveyed deep meaning.

Zinsser briefly examines Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address (the speech at the conclusion of the Spielberg movie, “Lincoln,” starring Daniel Day-Lewis).

Lincoln gave his address March 4, 1865 near the end of the Civil War as slavery was being abolished.  His address concludes with words of transcendence: “With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan—to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations.”

Lincoln reads with son Tad. (Photo from National Archives)

Zinsser says the speech “affects me more than any other American document” because “Lincoln tapped some of Western man’s oldest teachings about slavery, clemency and judgment.”

“On Writing Well” is recommended for anyone who writes.  That includes every Navy leader.  I first heard about this book as a recommendation by Navy’s Chief of Information, Rear Adm. John Kirby, who shared his list of essential 15 books last year.  Kirby’s list was picked up and posted on ForeignPolicy.com by Tom Ricks, author of “The Gamble” and “The Generals.”

Kirby’s diverse list includes works by Ernie Pyle, Mark Twain and John F. Kennedy.  It also features books about Lincoln, North Pacific history, and a collection of poems by Kipling, Emerson and others.  Kirby’s list starts with Zinsser’s “definitive book” and includes Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Stride Toward Freedom,” reviewed last month on Navy Reads.

King, Lincoln and Jefferson loved books.  They were great readers, thinkers and writers.  They could create works with clarity, cadence, humanity, etc.  And they had something to say about unity -- in and through their writing.

Posted on NFL Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 3, 2013.