'The Water Kingdom: A Secret History of China'

Review by Bill Doughty

"There are two big problems with water in China today. There is not enough of it to go around, and it is often so foul that no one can use it anyway."

So says author Philip Ball in "The Water Kingdom: A Secret History of China" (University of Chicago Press, 2017).

What does this mean for China's future, and how will the Chinese people react?

Most of all, how could this happen in a country that has literally worshipped nature in general and water in particular?

Daoists respect the environment. Buddhists revere life. Followers of Confucius see the interconnectedness of ecology. Ancient Chinese wisdom says, "When water in uncontaminated, men's hearts are upright. When water is pure the people's hearts are at ease."

Ball shows the beautiful symmetry of the character for water, "shui."

He examines language as well as literature, politics and paintings over time, including in works by artists such as Ma Yuan, Shitao, Xia Gui, Fu Baoshi and Liu Wei. 

"The Water Kingdom" teaches readers about ancient stories of Chinese deities, goddesses and, yes, dragons. 

"Dragons are associated with water all over South East Asia. They were linked to rivers, to rain and to rainbows, which were sometimes depicted with a monstrous dragon's head at each end. Spring pools are often called dragon pools, and many have dragon temples on their shores: such veneration is respected. Dragons, like rivers, were also symbols of fertility, both for crops and for humans."

We get a deep dive into the meaning of water in China over the centuries – in mythology, in art, in survival and in military warfare. Water and naval battles played a pivotal role in the changing of dynasties, including for and against the Mongols, with Zheng/Koxinga, and against the British in the Opium Wars.

For military historians, this book examines the weapons/platforms, strategies/tactics, and people/waterways who waged naval warfare over time.

We see water's role, including as a weapon, not only in ancient times but also in World War II – including in the rise of the Communists as Mao and the People's Liberation Army fought the Western-backed Chiang Kai-shek and the Kuomintang nationalists.

This Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) image, acquired May 21, 2000, shows part of the Yangtze River in China, including the Wu Gorge, the middle of the three gorges. In this false-color image, red represents vegetated land surface and the light blue ribbon of pixels running left to right is the Yangtze River. Blue-green pixels show exposed land surfaces. The lift-out yellow box is the site of the Three Gorges Dam. DVIDS

But Communists under Mao Tse Tung saw nature as an enemy, according to Ball.

The Communists believed in taming and controlling nature rather than preserving it. "Man must use natural science to understand, conquer and change nature and thus attain freedom from nature," Mao said.

According to Ball, "The wanton environmental destruction of the Mao era was made all the worse by the urgency with which it was pursued."

 A burgeoning population, urbanization, industrialization – along with climate change – have only exacerbated the problems in China's lakes, rivers and streams.

"All of China's watersheds, and almost half of its water sources are now badly polluted by fertilizers, pesticides and heavy metals from mining and industry," according to Ball.

Lake Baiyandian is just one of the lakes getting smaller and becoming polluted:

ASTER 2002 images show dramatic flooding around Dongting Lake in Hunan province. DVIDS

"Baiyangidan, the shrinking great lake in Hebei, was once known as the Bright Pearl of northern China, a place of reeds and mist populated by mandarin ducks and wild geese. Its rich flora and fauna have provided a living for the local people, and its role in sustaining ecosystems and providing flood storage has won it the more prosaic title of the Kidney of North China. But thanks to an intake of toxins the region is now facing the prospect of kidney failure. Between 1988 and 1992, chemical and petrochemical plants and paper mills in the city of Baoding close to the lake shore discharged effluent into the waters, mixing with raw sewage from the city. Fish began to die off, and fishermen lost their livelihood. The lake water is now undrinkable."

So-called "techno fixes" such as the Grand Canal, South North Water Transfer Project and the Three Gorges Dam have had mixed results.

Dams can create their own problems, including devastating flooding. Lack of enforced regulation and an apparent ongoing lack of respect for nature is having a deadly effect, especially due to water pollution.

"All of China's waterways, and almost half of its water sources, are now badly polluted by fertilizers, pesticides and heavy metals from mining and industry. More than 300 million of its citizens live without access to safe drinking water. Even after treatment, 40 percent of the nation's water is fit only for industrial and agricultural use; a quarter of waste-treatment plants fail the quality controls. Regulation of chemical plants is very weak, and government agencies that nominally protect water quality in reality have very little power. Many of the wastewater treatment plants are ineffective; some stand idle. Thanks to contaminants such as arsenic, fluoride and toxins from untreated wastewater and leaching from landfills, a third of Chinese cities failed to meet drinking-water quality standards in 2006. Cancer rates are reported to be rising, and one leading researcher at the Chinese Academy of Science's cancer research institute says that this is because 'pollution of the environment, water and air is getting worse by the day.' Every year, it is estimated that water pollution in China produces 190 million casualties and around 60,000 fatalities."

Shitao, 1642-1707

According to Ball, China's waterways – through rivers, canals, irrigation projects, and other aspects of the hydraulic state also continue to "shape its political landscape."

The results of environmental degradation, particularly of sacred waterways, is resulting in public outcries and the rise of environmental activism. China has sanctioned and supported nongovernment organizations designed to relieve pressure and prevent mass protests. Referring to the Tiananmen revolt by students (30 years ago this month), Ball says, "There is nothing the Chinese government fears more than domestic unrest."

Will the people of China demand change?

"Some activists already sail close to the wind in their desire to see something resembling democracy emerge, in whatever form that might take – not so much because this is a fundamental right, but because it is the only way to achieve true harmony with the environment," Ball writes. He concludes, "The ancient, shared roots of both water philosophy and water management in China mean that this is an issue on which the country's leaders ignore the wishes of the people at their peril."

Power in a President's Words

Review by Bill Doughty

WWII heroes John F. Kennedy and Joseph P. Kennedy Jr.

The president didn't say this: "Words alone are not enough ... Where our strength and determination are clear, our words need merely to convey conviction, not belligerence. If we are strong, our strength will speak for itself. If we are weak, words will be of no help."

President John F. Kennedy was scheduled to share those thoughts in remarks in Dallas, Texas, Nov. 22, 1963, but a gunman cut him down. His killer may have silenced JFK's voice – but not his words.


Speechwriter Ted Sorensen reminds us of Kennedy's continuing "gifts of reason, intellect, and vitality" as well as his honesty, courage, eloquence in this inspiring collection:

"Let the Word Go Forth: The Speeches, Statements, and Writings of John F. Kennedy, 1947 to 1963," selected and with an introduction by Theodore C. Sorensen, Delacorte Press, 1988.

Character: In the book's introduction, Sorensen describes JFK with a quote by Lord Rosebery about the oratory of William Pitt: "It is not merely the thing that is said but the man who says it that counts, the character which breathes through the sentences."

A Navy veteran of World War II, like his brother Joe (who was killed in action in Europe), Kennedy's character was forged in service. JFK's words personified Navy core values of honor, courage and commitment.

He was able to balance being both serious and cool. And, he admitted to not being a perfect person or leader. Above all, he could connect with, inspire and unite people.

Sorensen selects some of Kennedy's speeches, statements and writings, primarily from his presidency, that show "John F. Kennedy at his wisest, warmest and wittiest." These excerpts are especially relevant today, more than fifty years later.


Honor

"...(O)ur nation is founded on the principle that observance of the law is the eternal safeguard of liberty and defiance of the law is the surest road to tyranny. The law which we obey includes the final rulings of the courts, as well as the enactments of our legislative bodies. Even among law-abiding men few laws are universally loved, but they are uniformly respected and not resisted. Americans are free, in short, to disagree with the law but not to disobey it. For in a government of laws and not of men, no man, however prominent or powerful, and no mob however unruly or boisterous, is entitled to defy a court of law. If this country should ever reach the point where any man or group of men by force or threat of force could long defy the commands of our court and our Constitution, then no law would stand free from doubt, no judge would be sure of his writ, and no citizen would be safe from his neighbors." – Televised address, Sept. 30, 1962

"If we are to be successful in the days to come ... then we need a government that is honest, a government that is efficient, a government that is dedicated, a government that is committed solely to the public interest." – Wittenberg College, Oct. 1, 1960

The president addresses the nation with honor and dignity.

"The great enemy of the truth is very often not the deliberate, contrived, and dishonest – but the myth – persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic. Too often we hold fast to the clichés of our forbears. We subject all facts to a prefabricated set of interpretations. We enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought." – Yale University, June 11, 1962

"The prudent heir takes careful inventory of his legacies, and gives a faithful accounting to those whom he owes an obligation of trust." – State of the Union, Jan. 30, 1961

"[I]t is hardly an accident that Robert Frost coupled poetry and power, for he saw poetry as the means of saving power from itself. When power leads man toward arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the areas of man's concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of his existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses. For art establishes the basic human truth which must serve as the touchstone of our judgment. The artist, however faithful to his personal vision of reality, becomes the last champion of the individual mind and sensibility against an intrusive society and an officious state. The great artist is thus a solitary figure." – United States Senate, June 14, 1960

"Leaving Fear Astern." A Sailor jogs aboard USS Abraham Lincoln in 2008. (MC2 James Evans)

Courage

"We are not lulled by the momentary calm of the sea or the somewhat clearer skies above. We know the turbulence that lies below, and the storms that are beyond the horizon this year. But now the winds of change appear to be blowing more strongly than ever ... For 175 years we have sailed with those winds at our back, and with the tides of human freedom in our favor. We steer our ship with hope, as Thomas Jefferson said, 'leaving Fear astern.'" – State of the Union, Jan. 14, 1963

"First, were we truly men of courage – with the courage to stand up to one's enemies – and the courage to stand up, when necessary, to one's own associates – the courage to resist public pressure as well as private greed?
"Secondly, were we truly men of judgment – with perceptive judgment of the future as well as the past – of our own mistakes as well as the mistakes of others – with enough wisdom to know what we did not know, and enough candor to admit it?
"Third, were we truly men of integrity – men who never ran out of either the principles in which we believed or the people who believed in us – men whom neither financial gain nor political ambition could ever divert from the fulfillment of our sacred trust?
"Finally, were we truly men of dedication – with an honor mortgaged to no single individual or group, and compromised by no private obligation or aim, but devoted solely to serving the public good and the national interest?" – Massachusetts State Legislature, Jan. 9, 1961

President Kennedy meets with unidentified naval officers at the White House.

"The primary purpose of our arms is peace, not war – to make certain that they will never be used – to deter all wars, general or limited, nuclear or conventional, large or small – to convince all potential aggressors that any attack would be futile – to provide backing for diplomatic settlement of disputes – to insure the adequacy of our bargaining power for an end to the arms race. The basic problems facing the world today are not susceptible to a military solution."
"The elimination of waste, duplication, and outmoded or unjustifiable expenditure items from the defense budget is a long and arduous undertaking, resisted by special arguments and interests from economic, military, technical, and other special groups ... But hard decisions must be made. Unneeded facilities or projects must be phased out. The defense establishment must be lean and fit, efficient and effective, always adjusting to new opportunities and advances, and planning for the future. The national interest must be weighed against special or local interests; and it is the national interest that calls upon us to cut our losses and cut back those programs in which a very dim promise no longer justifies a large cost." – Special Message to Congress on Defense Policies and Principles, March 28, 1961

Commander in Chief Pres. Kennedy with Army Green Beret leaders.

"(We) have no greater asset than the willingness of a free and determined people, through its elected officials, to face all problems frankly and meet all dangers free from panic or fear." 
"The deadly arms race, and the huge resources it absorbs, have too long overshadowed all else we must do. We must prevent that arms race from spreading to new nations, to new nuclear powers, and to the reaches of outer space."
"We must sharpen our political and diplomatic tools – the means of cooperation and agreement on which an enforceable world order must ultimately rest." – State of the Union, Jan. 30, 1961

"The most effective means of upholding the law is not the State policeman or the marshals or the National Guard. It is you. It lies in your courage to accept those laws with which you disagree as well as those with which you agree." – 
Radio/TV remarks, Sept. 30, 1962

Dawn breaks over San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock USS Anchorage (LPD 23) Aug. 5, 2018 in the Pacific Ocean. (MC3 Ryan M. Breeden)

Commitment

From "The New Ocean of Space":

"Those who came before us made certain that this country rode the first waves of the industrial revolution, the first waves of modern invention, and the first wave of nuclear power; and this generation does not intend to founder in the backwash of the coming age of space. We mean to be a part of it—we mean to lead it. For the eyes of the world now look into space, to the moon and to the planets beyond, and we have vowed that we shall not see it governed by a hostile flag of conquest, but by a banner of freedom and peace. We have vowed that we shall not see space filled with weapons of mass destruction, but with instruments of knowledge and understanding.
"Yet the vows of this Nation can only be fulfilled if we in this Nation are first, and, therefore, we intend to be first. In short, our leadership in science and industry, our hopes for peace and security, our obligations to ourselves as well as others, all require us to make this effort, to solve these mysteries, to solve them for the good of all men, and to become the world's leading space-faring nation.

JFK delivers his New Ocean of Space speech at Rice University, Sept. 12, 1962

"We set sail on this new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained, and new rights to be won, and they must be won and used for the progress of all people. For space science, like nuclear science and all technology, has no conscience of its own. Whether it will become a force for good or ill depends on man, and only if the United States occupies a position of pre-eminence can we help decide whether this new ocean will be a sea of peace or a new terrifying theater of war. I do not say that we should or will go unprotected against the hostile misuse of space any more than we go unprotected against the hostile use of land or sea, but I do say that space can be explored and mastered without feeding the fires of war, without repeating the mistakes that man has made in extending his writ around this globe of ours.
"There is no strife, no prejudice, no national conflict in outer space as yet. Its hazards are hostile to us all. Its conquest deserves the best of all mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation may never come again. But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas?
"We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win ..." – Rice University, Sept. 12, 1962

Kennedy proposes sweeping civil rights legislation to Congress in 1963.

"[T]he average American of Caucasian descent does not realize that it is he who is a member of a minority race – and a minority religion – and a minority political system – and that he is regarded with some suspicion, if not hostility, by most of (a) restless, envious, surging majority. The tide of human dignity is worldwide – and the eyes of that world are upon us. It is not enough to deplore violence in other lands. It is up to us to prove that our way – the way of peaceful change and democratic processes – can fulfill those goals better than any other system under the sun. It is up to us to rebuild our image abroad by rebuilding our image here at home." – NAACP Rally, July 10, 1962

"To our sister republics to the south, we have pledged a new alliance for progress – Alianza para el Progreso. Our goal is a free and prosperous Latin America, realizing for all its states and all its citizens a degree of economic and social progress that matches their historic contributions of culture, intellect and liberty. – Latin American Diplomatic Corps, March 13, 1961

"No one can doubt that cooperation in the pursuit of knowledge must lead to freedom of the mind and freedom of the soul." – University of California, Berkeley, March 23, 1962

The prospective aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy (CVN 79) is the second ship in the Gerald R. Ford class, the Navy's newest class of nuclear aircraft carriers. The ship's first steel was cut in Dec. 2010, and delivery to the Navy is scheduled no later than 2022. (U.S. Navy courtesy photo, DVIDS)

The Unfinished Agenda

A theme running through Kennedy's (and Sorensen's) words is unity, e pluribus unum: out of many, one.

"Let our patriotism be reflected in the creation of confidence in one another, rather than in crusades of suspicion. Let us prove we think our country great, by striving to make it greater. And, above all, let us remember, however serious the outlook, however harsh the task, the one great irreversible trend in the history of the world is on the side of liberty – and we, for all time to come, are on the same side." -- Remarks in L.A. Nov. 18, 1961

"The forces that unite are deeper than those that divide." – National Cultural Center, Nov. 29, 1962

Sorensen concludes this collection with a speech he calls "The Unfinished Agenda," Kennedy was to again call for unity and for all Americans to fight against "ignorance and misinformation" and the "voices preaching doctrines wholly unrelated to reality."

"We in this country, in this generation, are – by destiny rather than choice – the watchmen on the walls of world freedom. We ask, therefore, that we may be worthy of our power and responsibility, that we may exercise our strength with wisdom and restraint, and that we may achieve in our time an for all time the ancient vision of 'peace on earth, goodwill toward men.' That must always be our goal, and the righteousness of our cause must always underlie our strength." – Remarks prepared for delivery in Dallas (undelivered), Nov. 22, 1963.


BONUS – President Kennedy's Visit with U.S. Coast Guard :

Semper Paratus

Justice: Battle of Midway and the Constitution

Review by Bill Doughty

The Navy recruited one-day Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens when he was a senior at the University of Chicago. The well-read and academic Stevens agreed to learn codes and ciphers and become qualified to do cryptographic work for the Navy. That was in the summer of 1941.

Stevens on Oahu, his second duty location.

In early December the Navy notified him of his eligibility for a commission as an ensign. He reported to Great Lakes Naval Station for a physical on the eve of Imperial Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Dec. 7.

Stevens recounts his time in the Navy briefly in his wonderful memoir, "The Making of a Justice: Reflections on My First 94 Years" (Little, Brown and Company, 2019). His first assignment was at the Navy Department in the Munitions building on Constitution Avenue in Washington, D.C.

"My first two chores as an officer in the Navy assigned to 'Op-20-G' – the communications intelligence section of the service – required skills unrelated to my training. Encrypted messages that were exchanged between one communications intelligence unit and another – between station 'Hypo' at Pearl Harbor and station 'Negat' in Washington, for example – were classified 'ultra' rather than merely 'secret,' 'confidential,' or 'restricted.' The originator of such a message typed the plain text into a cypher machine that created five-letter blocks of scrambled letters. The addressee, using a comparable machine, typed out the scrambled text to convert it back into plain language. When I arrived in Washington, the navy allowed only commissioned officers to decrypt 'ultra' messages. Though I had become a pretty good typist while working at the (student newspaper, Chicago Daily) Maroon, neither I nor any of the other commissioned officers doing that work could type as well as most of the enlisted men. The navy eventually permitted qualified typists to decrypt 'ultra' messages."

As a junior ensign, Stevens was assigned duties as typist and burn bag guard, armed with a .45-caliber handgun, before being assigned to the communications section to begin work in the traffic analysis section.

As a traffic analyst trainee, Stevens became familiar with kana in the Japanese language and was able to understand the transmission of messages from kana to Morse code.

His description, though brief, of how Japanese naval messages, sent in "JN-25" code, were studied and deciphered will be interesting to today's Navy cyber warriors. Stevens describes how cryptoanalysts hunted the identity ("call signs") of the senders and recipients of Japanese radio transmissions.



'Decisive" BOM & Duty in Hawaii

"In late May 1942, the cryptographers, language officers, and traffic analysts in the Fleet Radio Unit at Pearl Harbor (FRUPAC) had learned enough about Japanese naval communications to predict that a major assault on one of our Pacific outposts designated as 'AZ' was about to occur. They suspected, but were not certain, that AZ was Midway Island. Knowing that the Japanese were monitoring our naval communications, they arranged for an exchange of plain-language messages commenting on a supposed accident that had produced a serious water shortage on Midway Island; those messages produced a comment in the enemy's communications that confirmed our suspicions. As a result of that ruse, combined with the earlier intelligence obtained from decrypted JN-25 messages, Admiral Chester Nimitz's forces were prepared for the Japanese attack on June 6 and ultimately prevailed in what many experts have concluded was the decisive battle in our war with Japan."

Stevens is quick to say he had no direct role in "that historic triumph," however his next assignment – to Oahu – would take him to the heart of where the Battle of Midway was planned and launched.

"When I arrived in Pearl Harbor, FRUPAC was located in an unmarked area in the basement of a building near the headquarters of the Fourteenth Naval District. I was first assigned space in a house a short distance from the end of one of the runways at Hickam Field, and shortly thereafter I moved into the BOQ (bachelor officers' quarters) located near the main gate of the naval yard ... A few weeks after my arrival at Pearl, the name of the combat intelligence unit was changed from 'FRUPAC' to 'JICPOA' (Joint Intelligence Communications Pacific Ocean Area) and its location was moved from the navy yard to Makalapa, near Admiral Nimitz's headquarters."

Stevens served for 30 months in Hawaii and became one of a handful of watch officers who had the responsibility for reviewing all intercepted enemy radio traffic and writing a summary for Adm. Edward Layton, Chief Intelligence Officer of the Pacific Fleet once every 24 hours.

He remembers receiving "startling advice" to be on the lookout for one of the Imperial Japanese Navy's battleships – "I think it was the Musashi" – possibly headed to Truk, then a key naval base. The warning turned out to be a false alarm due to a garbled version of a call sign – a mistake due to operator error.

"In my later career as a judge," Stevens writes, "I have recalled that incident over and over again when confronted with the question whether a legislature actually intended a statute to have the meaning that its plain language seemed to convey. Legislatures, like radio operators, occasionally make mistakes."

Throughout this book we read the carefully considered words and meanings chosen by Justice Stevens throughout his career. We see the importance of definitions, meanings, intent and the need for precision when interpreting and applying the wisdom of the founders as outlined in the Constitution – balancing original intent with "evolving standards of decency." He reminds us of groundbreaking changes in society since the birth of the nation, back when the federal government sanctioned institutionalized slavery, disenfranchisement of Native Americans and anti-suffrage for women.

Stevens was on one of his 24-hour duty watches in Hawaii when he received the message confirming the success of an operation to target, intercept and kill Admiral Yamamoto, who was flying from Rabaul to an airfield on Bougainville. Yamamoto was the architect of the attack on Oahu that started the war in the Pacific and brought the United States into World War II.

Nimitz and Yamamoto

"I remember being somewhat troubled by the punitive motivation for the operation, but I also recognized that it had achieved a significant strategic benefit by terminating the most competent officer in the Japanese navy," Stevens writes.

After Yamamoto's death, the Japanese began to encode call signs. But, Stevens and "an exceptionally talented enlisted man" named Stanley Moe worked to decipher familiar call signs and figure out the "quite simple" pattern of kana that were changed each day. "The new system required more paperwork for us ... but otherwise did not impair our traffic analysis."

Read "The Making of a Justice" to see:

• how he inadvertently interrupted Admiral Nimitz's target practice, almost becoming the target himself; 
• how he met another future Supreme Court Justice (and NFL star) Byron White, a fellow Sailor who "saved the lives of sailors buried under debris" after a kamikaze attack on USS Bunker Hill in May 1945; and
• how he experienced and appreciated his time in Hawaii, including bodysurfing at Makapu'u and visits to Kauai, Maui and the Big Island of Hawaii.

Rare and endangered Silverswords in bloom on Haleakula.

"On Maui we drove to the parking area near the Kilauea (Haleakula?) volcano. We walked to a spot where we had an excellent view of the crater. The view was memorable, but less so than our decision not to investigate the area identified by a sign pointing to an uphill path containing the words 'silver' and 'swords.' Not until after we had returned to Oahu and Walt (Hopkins) satisfied his curiosity by a visit to the Honolulu public library did we learn that silverswords are beautiful flowers that grow only on that volcano and, more importantly, although they rarely bloom, they probably were in full bloom when we decided to terminate our sightseeing that afternoon. Over the years that incident has been a frequent reminder of the importance of deliberation before refusing to take advantage of once-in-a-lifetime opportunities."

After learning that an Army plane dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima and another on Nagasaki a few days later, resulting in Imperial Japan's surrender soon after, Stevens was pragmatic in his assessment.

"Tragic as those events were for the residents of those two cities, I was then convinced (and have remained convinced ever since) that that method of bringing the war to its inevitable end saved many, many more lives – of American soldiers as well as Japanese soldiers and civilians – than the number of victims of those two bombings. An invasion of Japan would have caused hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of casualties."

Monumental Meaning of Patriotism

"The Making of a Justice" includes the text of a speech Stevens gave in 2010 on the tenth anniversary of the establishment of the National Japanese American Memorial Foundation. The speech starts on page 522 of the hardbound edition, and it deserves to be read for what it says about tolerance, patriotism and core values.

Stevens, front and center, with Veterans and hosts to commemorate the NJAM Foundation.

In his speech he recounts his visit to Pearl Harbor in 1994, his first visit there since the war.

"Admiral Retz took me on a tour of the harbor on his barge, pointing out changes that had occurred in the past 50 years. The most memorable and moving event during that tour was our approach to the Arizona Memorial – which spans the USS Arizona and the over a thousand American Sailors [and Marines] still entombed in the sunken battleship. As we approached the Arizona I could plainly see that the dozens of visitors on board that day were Japanese tourists. My first reaction to that sight was more emotional than you might expect from a senior citizen. Several thoughts flashed through my mind: 'Those people don't really belong here. We won the war, they lost it. We shouldn't allow them to celebrate their attack on Pearl Harbor even it if was one of their greatest victories.' But then I realized that those visitors must also have been experiencing a number of mixed and conflicting emotions. Perhaps a few did remember Pearl Harbor with pride. Some of them may even have been descendants of pilots who participated in the attack. Others may have remembered relatives that died or were wounded during the war. Still others may merely have reflected about how horrible all wars are to all who participate in them and the costs that they impose on civilians as well as soldiers. Most significantly, I realized that I was drawing inferences about every member of that tourist group that did not necessarily apply to any single one of them..."

Stevens said a central message conveyed by both the National Japanese American Memorial and the USS Arizona Memorial is to "beware of stereotypical conclusions about groups of people we don't know very well."

The view of the USS Arizona Memorial from below. (NPS)

"The Japanese tourists were not responsible for what some of their countrymen did decades ago..." Stevens ties his initial reaction to seeing Japanese visitors aboard the USS Arizona Memorial to some Americans' reaction to the building of an Islamic Center in New York City near the location of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He notes, "terrorists like those who killed over 3,000 Americans – including Catholics, Jews, Protestants, atheists and some of the 600,000 Muslims who live in New York – have also killed many more Muslims who disagree with their radical views in other parts of the world."

He notes that many Muslims who escape groups like the Taliban come to America to try to avoid religious persecution and intolerance.

In his speech Stevens salutes the Americans of Japanese Ancestry who fought in World War II, including the "military bravery and unselfish service. "The predominantly Japanese-American 442nd Infantry Combat Team, for instance, became the most decorated regiment, for its size and length of service, in the history of the United States Armed Forces. Its members earned over 9,000 Purple Hearts."

Finally, Stevens noted another message of the Japanese American Memorial, one he called "a monument to stupidity": the "unnecessary internment of literally thousands of loyal American citizens for the duration of the war." He notes that 40 years after FDR's regretted decision, President Ronald Reagan and the U.S. Congress offered a formal apology to those Americans who were "deprived of their liberty without due process."

"Our Constitution protects every one of us from being found guilty of wrongdoing based on the conduct of our associates. Guilt by association is unfair. The monument teaches us that it is also profoundly unwise to draw inferences based on a person's membership in any association or group without first learning something about the group. Its message is a powerful reminder of the fact that ignorance – that is to say, fear of the unknown – is the source of most invidious prejudice."

Stevens meets Pat Summitt and Bob Dylan, also recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

President Barack Obama awarded Stevens the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012. Among the recipients were singer-songwriter Bob Dylan and basketball coach Pat Summitt as well as several other renowned Americans.

At the same ceremony, Obama awarded the medal to Gordon Hirabayashi, one of several Americans of Japanese Ancestry to defy the executive order for involuntary incarceration. He, as well as Fred Korematsu and Minoru Yasui, took his case all the way to the Supreme Court where he was defeated.

Hirabayashi

(Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson wrote in his dissent in Korematsu v. United States: "If the people ever let command of the war power fall into irresponsible and unscrupulous hands, the courts wield no power equal to its restraint. The chief restraint upon those who command the physical forces of the country, in the future as in the past, must be their responsibility to the political judgments of their contemporaries and to the moral judgments of history.")

Obama repeated Hirabayashi's quote in his commendation: "It takes a crisis to tell us that unless citizens are willing to stand up for the [Constitution], it's not worth the paper it's written on." (Stevens says in error that there were no internment camps in Hawaii, but the Honouliuli Internment Camp near Pearl Harbor imprisoned as many as 4,000 people.)

Another distinguished recipient of the medal at the same ceremony was Senator John Glenn, a former Marine and Naval Aviator/Astronaut and the first American to orbit the Earth (in 1962).

Stevens said he appreciated Obama's kind remarks about him at the medal presentation ceremony, but even more than those words, he treasures the words of President Gerald Ford, a fellow World War II Navy Veteran, who nominated Stevens to the Supreme Court in 1975.

President Ford and Chief Justice Warren Burger pose with John Paul Stevens, who was sworn in as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, Dec. 19, 1975. Ford nominated Stevens, of the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, Chicago, to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice William O. Douglas. 

Ford wrote in 2005 about Stevens: "I am prepared to allow history's judgment of my term in office to rest (if necessary, exclusively) on my nomination thirty years ago of Justice John Paul Stevens to the U.S. Supreme Court. I endorse his constitutional views on the secular character of the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause, on securing procedural safeguards in criminal cases and on the Constitution's broad grant of regulatory authority to Congress."

This review barely scratches the surface of "The Making of a Justice," which could easily be called, "The Making of Justice." Although I've focused on the Navy-oriented biography covered in this review, most of this book is devoted to Stevens's perspective on cases, laws, decisions and dissents in the pursuit of an ethical democracy with roots deep in the Constitution. This is a study of critical thinking and core values at their best.