'The Admiral'

Review by Bill Doughty

One hundred years ago, Sept. 1, 1919, Admiral Albert Gleaves, commander of the Asiatic Fleet, broke his flag as a four-star, full admiral. "Four days later we sailed," he writes in his memoirs. "I was glad to get to sea again and into the roaring northeast trade winds which soon blew all the dirt and much of shore out of the ship."



First published in 1934 and republished in 1985 (Hope Publishing House) with a foreword by Adm. James D. Watkins and preface by Vice Adm. William P. Lawrence, Gleaves's autobiography "The Admiral" is a portrayal of a seagoing life and a fascinating portrait of a Navy's transition from sail to coal to oil, from the War of 1812 and Civil War to World War I, and from war to global diplomacy.

During his career Gleaves served under admirals like Barker, Dewey, Coughlan and Walker, "men who had been tried in battle and had served under Farragut and Porter in the Civil War. Without exception they were typical of what is expected of the American sea officers. Even if not always correct in their judgments or methods, they were a fine lot of American gentlemen devoted to their profession, and not one who did not in himself set an example of honor, loyalty and patriotism. All were prime seamen too, adhering perhaps a little too much to the ideas of the sail period, which was natural, but boldly assuming the care and handling of huge modern steel ships, whether singly or in squadron."

"Of course, all these men were not of the same type of mind. Some were prosaic and cautious, strict in interpretation of the regulations, seeing nothing but the letter of the law and following it to the death. Others were a law unto themselves, believing the naval regulations to be intended as a guide for those who carried no light of their own, and more honored in the breach than in the observance. These used their own discretion, never requested instructions, acted on their own and let it go at that. The latter were the better all around officers, and made the better leaders."

Gleaves, who was commissioned an ensign in 1881, writes about the limits of coal consumption at sea, the importance of new "electrical officers" and the dangers of having to bring ice on board (which could mean a deadly typhoid outbreak).

These sentences about the old Navy can bring a smile: "While exercising spars and sails, our main topgallant mast was sprung." And, Admiral Davis "thought the navy was headed to hell ... there wasn't a sailor ... who knew the difference between a topgallant sheet and a topsail reef tackle!"

Old Salts of the Square Rigger Navy aboard USS Mohican in 1888 (Photo by Assistant Surgeon H.W. Whitaker, USN (Navy History and Heritage Command)

Gleaves gives an unvarnished view of enlisted sailors when he first served in the fleet, nearly a century before the modern, all-volunteer, integrated, professional force.

"The crew of the Hartford was a heterogeneous collection of various nationalities. This was usual for that period. Few Americans enlisted in the navy, and those who did were invariably beachcombers and the like. Often they were deserters from other ships who reenlisted under different names. North countrymen, Swedes and Norwegians predominated. They were known as 'square heads' – solid, heavy and dumb – but faithful and, as a rule, excellent seamen. Portugal furnished a large percentage of the stewards, while Norfolk and its vicinity contributed more than half of the colored servants. The worst elements in the ship's company were the degenerate Englishmen, for the most part deserters from their own navy or merchant service. They were known as 'limeys,' and were not liked either forward or aft. The best element beside the few old-timers was perhaps Irish – splendid sailors, hard-drinking and hard-fighting, but ready at all times to reef a topsail in a gale of wind, join a landing party or man a cutter in a rugged sea."

Frederick Douglass

In 1889 Gleaves married Evelina Heap, daughter of David Porter Heap who was nephew of Commodore David Porter "of USS Essex fame." They would have two daughters. 

Gleaves was a son of Tennessee who attended the Naval Academy just eight years after the end of the Civil War. He was born twelve years before nonwhite American males could vote (thanks to the 15th Amendment), and he was 62 years old – and six months from retirement – before ratification of the 19th Amendment acknowledged a woman's right to vote.

As a young officer Gleaves served aboard USS Dolphin, captained by future rear admiral Charles O'Neil, a survivor of the Cumberland's battle with the Merrimac. Their first cruise was a mission to pick up a distinguished American at Puerto Rico and take him on a tour of inspection around Haiti. The Navy provided escort to the new minister of Haiti: Frederick Douglass.

"One day during the morning watch, while lying off Gonave, Mr. Douglass was talking to me on the quarterdeck about the future of the islands and said, 'As long as the natives have only to get their breakfast off the trees they will never work. Frederick Douglass was a most interesting person. He had belonged to Col. Edward Lloyd of the eastern shore of Maryland. When he was at the New York yard, waiting for the man-o'-war which was to take him to Hayti (sic), it was said the Colonel Lloyd's son, an ensign in another ship at the yard, called on his father's former slave and that Douglass said of this visit, he had received many honors in his life, but none had touched him so deeply as this attention shown by the son of his old master."

Gleaves recounts times spent with Assistant Secretary of the Navy and later President Theodore Roosevelt. In his career he deployed to the Falklands, Europe, Aden, Bombay (now Mumbai), Ceylon, Central America, Philippines, Formosa (now Taiwan), China, Japan, Russia and Hawaii.

He was in Hawaii aboard USS Boston shortly before the overthrow of the monarchy.



"The Sandwich, or Hawaiian, Islands, as they are now called, are strategically the most important outpost of the United States," Gleaves writes. "For years they were a tempting prize to the nations of the world, but all feared to take them. Every European nation knew that the rape of those islands would mean immediate restitution, or war, with the United States."

"On the 24th of August (1894) we arrived at Honolulu and moored inside the reef. The San Francisco, flagship of Adm. George Brown, was in port awaiting our arrival, and went to sea that afternoon. The admiral was very popular in the islands and had made several cruises there. He had brought the body of the late King Kalakaua back to Honolulu after his death in San Francisco ... When we had been in Honolulu for several days we were presented to Queen Liliuokalani at the palace. She was coldly polite and did not appear to be overjoyed to see either our minister, Mr. Stevens, or Captain Wiltse. The queen, a pureblooded native, had traveled in Europe and the United States and was a woman of the world. Evidently she sensed the approaching political storm which was inevitable and was about to blow her off her tinsel throne."

Gleaves was also a witness to history at the beginning of the Spanish-American War.

Torpedo boat USS Cushing

In fact, his next ship, the torpedo boat USS Cushing, would have been tied up to the ill-fated USS Maine in Havana Harbor if he hadn't been delayed by the death of his close friend Ens. Cabell Breckenridge on the eve of the explosion of the Maine and start of the war in April 1898. Breckenridge's replacement was Midshipman Henry Mustin.

Adm. Albert Gleaves

Gleaves provided critical communication, patrols, scouting and blockading during the short war, and was commended by Rear Adm. Charles D. Sigsbee for his assistance during "troubled times."

At the turn of the century Gleaves took command of USS Mayflower, "the vessel selected by President Roosevelt (T.R.) for his special use." It was considered a plum assignment and "a great prize in the Navy. I was lucky enough to be the first to get it."

He helped develop torpedoes for the Navy and commanded the North Dakota in the early part of the century. In 1914, Gleaves took command of USS Utah and in 1915 he was promoted to rear admiral.

German sailors of U-53 visit U.S. in 1917.

Admiral Mayo ordered the Distinguished Service Medal be presented to Gleaves for his actions as Commander, Destroyer Forces in 1917 calling for immediate readiness review of all destroyers and destroyer crews. After an interaction with German U-53 submarine sailors Gleaves recognized America's imminent involvement in the Great War.

He would achieve international fame for his service as Commander, Cruisers and Transport Force. According to Adm. Watkins, "That organization ferried approximately one million American soldiers to France. Remarkably, not a single soldier lost his life at sea during this demonstration of American sea power. Their unique story is a classic example of naval power projection."

Return of the Mayflower, as the United States Navy brings assistance to Europe in the First World War. (painting by Bernard F. Gribble)

In his memoirs, Adm. Gleaves calls it "the most important command I ever had." He pays tribute "to the men who carried me through so loyally." In the preface to his 1919 book, "The History of the Transport Service," Gleaves recognizes "the officers and men of the American Transports, and my admiration for their unsurpassed skill and endeavor in the performance of their duties. At sea for many years, these Master Mariners of the United States lived up to the highest traditions of the sea, and brought credit to their country."

St. Nazaire Monument, France commemorating 1917 convo

President Franklin D. Roosevelt wrote, "Admiral Gleaves had already achieved distinction in the Navy before his eminent stature was further revealed by his service as commander of the cruiser and transport force during the World War. He organized the strategy of our transport service and completed the enormous task assigned to him without the loss of a single soldier. For this service he won the admiration of the world. His long naval career was characterized by great versatility and by the utmost tact and diplomacy in the discharge of the varied duties which fell to him to perform."

Gleaves was an intense reader and prolific writer.

Because he was a such a good writer and a great witness to history, it is rewarding to read his perspective from Vladivostok, Shanghai and Hong Kong – when Russia and China were allies or friends and Germany, Japan and Spain were, for a time, our enemies.

After diplomatic work in Russia, China and Japan, Gleaves lowered his admiral's flag for the last time, Feb. 4, 1921, and sailed for home via Vancouver and Seattle.

"My last cruise was ended," Gleaves writes at the end of his memoirs. "For me the lights had twinkled on the rocks for the last time."

Rear Admiral Albert Gleaves (at center, facing right), Commandant of the Boston Navy Yard, oversees the transfer of guns from USS Constitution to the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts, 1921. (NHHC)

Gleaves died January 6, 1937, a few days after his 79th birthday. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

His family helped launch his namesake USS Gleaves (DD-423) one month later. His granddaughters, Evelina Gleaves Van Metre and Clotilda Florence Cohen, assisted at the launching ceremony at Bath, Maine. (Clotilda died in 1996. Evelina died earlier this year and was interred last month, July 31, 2019, at Arlington.)

USS GLEAVES (DD-423) joint sponsors Evelina Gleaves Van Metre and Miss Clotilda Florence Cohen at launching of USS Gleaves (DDG-423). (NHHC)

Toni Morrison and War Against Error (and Fascism)

by Bill Doughty

Toni Morrison wrote:

"I think it is time for a modern War Against Error. A deliberately heightened battle against cultivated ignorance, enforced silence, and metastasizing lies. A wider war that is fought daily by human rights organizations in journals, reports, indexes, dangerous visits, and encounters with malign oppressive forces. A hugely funded and intensified battle of rescue from the violence that is swallowing the dispossessed." 

Those are Morrison's words in the essay "The War on Error," presented as a lecture in Edinburgh, Scotland, August 29, 2004, one year after the United States invaded Iraq in response to 9/11 – under the pretense that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.

Toni Morrison, 1931-2019 (Photo taken by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders)

Morrison's essay is one of 43 works published in "The Source of Self-Regard: Selected Essays, Speeches, and Meditations," Alfred A. Knopf, 2019.

The book includes both poignant reflections and occasional musings about people, art/literature, nature, history and race from the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature.

From another essay, "Racism and Fascism," published in The Nation in 1995 – nearly twenty-five years ago! Morrison writes about the warning signs and steps to fascism:

1. Construct an internal enemy, as both focus and diversion.
2. Isolate and demonize that enemy by unleashing and protecting the utterance of overt and coded name-calling and verbal abuse. Employ ad hominem attacks as legitimate charges against that enemy.
3. Enlist and create sources and distributors of information who are willing to reinforce the demonizing process because it is profitable, because it grants power and because it works.
4. Palisade all art forms; monitor, discredit or expel those that challenge or destabilize processes of demonization and deification.
5. Subvert and malign all representatives of and sympathizers with this constructed enemy.
6. Solicit, from among the enemy, collaborators who agree with and can sanitize the dispossession process.
7. Pathologize the enemy in scholarly and popular mediums; recycle, for example, scientific racism and the myths of racial superiority in order to naturalize the pathology.
8. Criminalize the enemy. Then prepare, budget for and rationalize the building of holding arenas for the enemy – especially its males and absolutely its children.
9. Reward mindlessness and apathy with monumentalized entertainments and with little pleasures, tiny seductions: a few minutes on television, a few lines in the press; a little pseudo-success; the illusion of power and influence; a little fun, a little style, a little consequence.
10. Maintain, at all costs, silence.

Morrison writes, "In 1995 racism may wear a new dress, buy a new pair of boots, but neither it nor its succubus twin fascism is new or can make anything new. It can only reproduce the environment that supports its own health: fear, denial and an atmosphere in which its victims have lost the will to fight."

Fascism can come from the left or right, liberal or conservative. "We must not be blindsided" by different labels for "domination agendas," Morrison writes, "because the genius of fascism is that any political structure can host the virus and virtually any developed country can become a suitable home." It's not about ideology, she contends, it's about power.

Signs of fascism as evidenced by the White Power movement and White Nationalism.

Can it happen here? Are we susceptible to what she calls "the forces interested in fascist solutions to national problems"? Do those forces try to make us see immigrants and nonwhites as the Other, worthy of contempt, fear and hate? Will we counter those forces with greater emphasis on education and critical thinking? That's at the heart of Morrison's works and a reasoned response to a "war on error." 

Here's something she wrote about migration, eight months after the attacks of 9/11 (from "The Foreigner's Home" – presented in the Alexander Lecture Series, University of Toronto, May 27, 2002): 

"The spectacle of mass movement draws attention inevitably to the borders, the porous places, the vulnerable points where the concept of home is seen as being menaced. by foreigners. Much of the alarm hovering at the borders, the gates, is stoked, it seems to me, by 1) both the threat and the promise of globalization; and 2) an uneasy relationship with our own foreignness, our own rapidly disintegrating sense of belonging."

President Obama presents Toni Morrison with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012.

After Morrison's death at 88 earlier this month, former president Barack Obama said, "Toni Morrison was a national treasure. Her writing was not just beautiful but meaningful — a challenge to our conscience and a call to greater empathy." 

He continued: "And so even as Michelle and I mourn her loss and send our warmest sympathies to her family and friends, we know that her stories—that our stories—will always be with us, and with those who come after, and on and on, for all time."

The former commander-in-chief began publishing his reading lists during his presidency and continues the tradition. On Aug. 15, Obama shared a list of recommended summer reading books, beginning with the works of Toni Morrison. 

"To start, you can't go wrong by reading or re-reading the collected works of Toni Morrison," he wrote. "'Beloved,' 'Song of Solomon,' 'The Bluest Eye,' 'Sula,' everything else — they're transcendent, all of them. You'll be glad you read them," Obama said.

Here are other books recommended by Obama this year:

"Lab Girl," by Hope Jahren"The Shallows," by Nicholas Carr"Inland," by Téa Obreht"American Spy," by Lauren Wilkinson"Wolf Hall," by Hilary Mantel"Exhalation," by Ted Chiang"Maid," by Stephanie Land"How to Read the Air" by Dinaw Mengest"Men Without Women" by Haruki Murakami"The Nickel Boys" by Colson Whitehead

CNO Richardson meets with future CNO Gilday in 2017.

Reading promotes critical thinking. And preventing another War on Error requires critical thinking. 

Tomorrow, Aug. 22, Adm. Mike Gilday is scheduled to become the new Chief of Naval Operations, as Adm. John Richardson steps down. During his tenure Richardson has championed reading and thinking. "Remember to never stop striving to expand your mind," he advised on the Navy Professional Reading Program site.

"Warfare is a violent, intellectual contest between thinking and adapting adversaries. The team that can think better and adapt faster will win," Richardson said, adding, "...we must do more to sharpen our thinking, learn the lessons from history, and expand our minds. It is our responsibility as leaders to continue to grow and to always question the status quo."

'Topgun': Pearl Harbor, Vietnam & F-35s

Review by Bill Doughty
This pioneer of modern naval fighter aviation is fearless in his recounting of experiences during the Vietnam War and Cold War – and in his views about the F-35 fighter jet.

USS Ranger renders honors to the USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor.

Dan Pedersen, founder of Topgun and a former CO of USS Ranger in the early 80s, writes with reverence about being a leader of Sailors coming into Pearl Harbor, January 1967, after combat in Vietnam. "Every skipper in the Navy knew this channel like his own hometown."

"Ahead and off to port, USS Arizona lay in her grave. Above the national memorial, her flag flew proudly, the Stars and Stripes full in the wind. Beneath it lay the remains of more than a thousand Sailors, killed on the first day of war on December 7, 1941, a full generation earlier. The USS Arizona Memorial is the closest thing to a shrine that the Navy has, this side of John Paul Jones's crypt at the Naval Academy. Ever since that day of infamy, it has been tradition to render honors to those Sailors whenever a warship arrives in Pearl Harbor. A flight-deck parade was the order of the day. A voice came over the ship's loudspeaker, 'Attention on deck, hand salute!' As one, the crew of the Enterprise touched our foreheads with our right hands and held position. I'd done this before aboard the Hancock, but it was different now, and everyone could feel it. Some of my shipmates held back tears in their eyes. After three years of war, we knew the cost. All those men, entombed in that shattered hull. Airpower did this."

"Topgun: An American Story" (Hachette Books, 2019) offers a personal and heartfelt assessment of what it takes to be a good naval aviator and leader – the wisdom of empowering and trusting young people, pushing machines and innovation to the limit, and developing strong strategies and tactics before going to war. 

Pederson calls it as he sees it when it comes to Vietnam: "In the 1960s, America fought in Vietnam with the wrong planes, unreliable weapons, bad tactics, and the wrong senior civilian leadership."
He focuses blame for the tragedy of the Vietnam War on President Johnson's administration via the Pentagon, especially on Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, who micromanaged combat operations.

"Destroying the targets given to us by the Pentagon seemed to make no difference in the war to the south. The losses mounted, and the MiGs started seeking us out. The North Vietnamese possessed a small but well-trained air force, proxied by their Chinese and Soviet allies. As good as it was, they were not in the same league as the Soviet Air Force, so it sent shock waves through the Navy when the North Vietnamese pilots started shooting us down. During the Korean War, the North Korean Air Force was virtually wiped out in the opening months. A decade later, the Vietnamese MiGs gave us a real fight. They shot down one of ours for every two MiGs that we claimed. We considered the loss rate intolerable, given our long history of deeply one-sided kill ratios. In World War II, U.S. naval aviators crushed the Japanese in the central Pacific on the way to Tokyo, with Hellcat pilots, who scored three-fourths of the Navy's air-to-air victories, posting a kill ratio on the order of nineteen to one. In Vietnam, we simply were not allowed to win, so the Navy bureaucracy did what bureaucracies do best: It continued on course. Micromanaged from Washington, D.C., we made the same mistakes month after month. It nearly crippled U.S. naval aviation."

President Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara at a cabinet meeting, February 7, 1968. In the wake of the Tet Offensive, the Johnson administration began to question its strategy in Vietnam. (National Archives, Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library and Museum)

Pedersen notes that when LBJ authorized airstrikes against Communist targets in August 1964, the first U.S. naval aviator to be shot down was Everett Alvarez, the son of Mexican immigrants, who endured eight years of torture by the North Vietnamese as a POW.

USS Durham Sailors rescue Vietnamese refugees in the South China Sea, 1975. (National Archives)

If Alvarez represents one bookend of U.S. naval aviation in Vietnam, several other events can serve as bookends more than a decade later.

Pedersen describes flights to and from USS Coral Sea to guard an evacuation armada and flights from USS Midway to the U.S. Embassy in Saigon. He gives a front-row-seat report about the recovery of the Mayaguez from Cambodian Khmer Rouge. And, he reveals his role as the CO of Ranger in the rescue of Vietnamese "boat people" in 1981. Each event became deeply personal.

Pedersen became lifetime friends with some of the Vietnamese refugees. "It was impossible not to be affected by their ordeal, and by what they had risked everything for – the same things that drove generations to American shores." Most of the 138 men, women and children would migrate to the West Coast of the United States. One of the migrants, who was 13 at the time of the rescue, named his son "Dan" in honor of Pedersen.


"For naval aviation, the problem of Vietnam never seemed to go away," Pedersen writes.

"I found through my Navy career that some men revel in the challenge and rush of  combat. That pace off Vietnam? It was their hunting ground. Me, I never got to that point. Combat was a responsibility, even a sacred duty. That moment as we passed the Arizona was a reminder of that legacy and the connection we combat pilots shared in it. I took it very seriously, of course, but I never liked it. Those men I would never see again, those families I would see to soon again – they were the cost of that adrenaline rush others craved. That was a burden I couldn't carry and love at the same time."

Also deeply personal for the author is the future for naval aviators. He says the F-14 Tomcats and A-6 Intruders were fine aircraft, and their loss to the military in 2006 was the result of the actions by one of McNamara's successors, then-SECDEF Dick Cheney.

"Focused on acquiring the Tomcat's replacement, the F-18 Hornet, and the A-12 Avenger II stealth bomber, an upgrade for the A-6 Intruder, the Navy decided there wasn't enough money to keep the Tomcats flying. It didn't help the old bird's cause that the secretary of defense, Dick Cheney, seemed to have it in for New York's congressional delegation. Grumman Aircraft was located on Long Island. As the Pentagon's axe fell, it was a sad case of the new and the expensive driving out the affordable and the reliable. When Secretary Cheney ended the lives of those two iconic Grumman carrier planes, the Intruder and the Tomcat, the future got a whole lot more costly."

Pedersen notes that American F-14s are now being flown by Iran, which began acquiring them from the United States in 1976, when Washington and Tehran were on friendly terms. "The Iranians are having a laugh, I'm sure, still flying one of the best fighter aircraft ever built to serve the U.S. Navy."

Is Pedersen an old-fashioned luddite or a voice of wisdom? He used the tools of air combat to meld art and science and create top-notch Topgun warriors; and at 83 years old at the time he wrote this book, he offers sage advice to those who will listen.

He describes with stark honesty the creation of the "fifth-generation" Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, 27 years in development and "the most expensive weapons system in history ... figuring to exceed a trillion dollars." He describes problems with the tail hook, oxygen system for the pilot, and the "super-sophisticated helmet, noting that pilots call it "'the penguin.' It flies like one."

"No one agency can fix this problem. Not the Navy of the other services, not the defense contractors, and not Congress. Each of these has powerful incentives to avoid doing the right thing. The lucrative subcontracts associated with the F-35 are spread strategically across most every congressional district in America. With so many House members having a stake in the program, it is assured to have broad-based political support, regardless of its actual capabilities or costs. So when a defense contractor proposes a new feature for the new aircraft, even if it's not one that the Navy's frontline squadrons want or need, there's nobody on hand to say no. Why would some rear admiral at the Pentagon stand in the way of a 'yes' vote for the Navy's appropriations in the House of Representatives by turning down the unwanted bells and whistles? A lot of those admirals, you know, have golden parachutes waiting for them after they retire – a well-paying job as an executive vice president at that one-and-the-same company. Should he risk the windfall by asking questions?"

F-35

If the question is "what's the alternative?" Pedersen has a suggestion: "simpler is better." Imagine: "A basic hot rod, a single-seater akin to the old F-5. Light, maneuverable, and compact – hard to see in a fight. I'd want it cheap, easy to mass-produce and replace should we start taking losses in combat over time."

Pedersen, naval aviator and leader of warriors.

In "Topgun" (the book is inspired by a request from Jim Hornfischer, president of Hornfischer Literary Management for the 50th anniversary of the Navy Fighter Weapons School) Pedersen describes action during Israel's Yom Kippur War – and Topgun's role in "averting...Armageddon" – and tensions at Gonzo Station in the Persian Gulf facing threats from Iranians in the 1980s.

Will we learn the lessons of the past?
"Something is rotten in Washington," he writes, "and one day, sadly, we will lose a war because of it. Maybe that tragic result will serve to wake up our political and defense establishments and give them the courage to begin removing the rot. "Victory in World War II and the Cold War – as well as the tragedy of the Vietnam War – should inform our decisions.

CAPT Pedersen

There's much more packed into this well-written, fascinating book. Why did Topgun aviators visit Area 51? How does it feel in the cockpit of an F-4 or a Soviet MiG (like "flying an anvil")? What happens when you have to make an emergency ejection? How tense was it going through the Strait of Malacca? What does Pedersen think about the Topgun movie(s)? What happened inside the Cubi Point Officers Club in Subic Bay? What message did USS Ranger send to the "Red Chinese" about Taiwan? And what tragedy took place after his ship left Hong Kong in 1981?

This book is a must-read for anyone interested in the first centennial of naval aviation. Without revealing too many details, it's also a love story and a look at the sacrifices warriors make in the name of duty and the love of service. "For us, flying always came first."

A pilot performs preflight checks on an F/A-18C Hornet aboard USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in the Pacific Ocean, July 31, 2016. (MC3 Alexander Delgado)

CNO Gilday / 'Love Your Enemies'

Review by Bill Doughty

Then-VADM Mike Gilday listens to Sailors at NIOC in 2017. Photo by MC2 Robert A. Hartland.

I happened to be reading "Love Your Enemies" by Arthur C. Brooks on July 31, the day Navy's new Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. Michael Gilday, had his hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee. There's an unintended connection.

Brooks focuses on leadership and offers practical, heartfelt leadership advice.

For example: A good leader is "a greater force for good." "There is no inconsistency between kindness and effective winning leadership."

Brooks notes that authoritative leadership is not the same as authoritarian leadership. "Authoritative leaders ... are visionaries who set a course for an institution and inspire each member to take responsibility for getting to the final destination." 

That's Gilday's reputation – a visionary who employs kindness and strength, as revealed in a great Navy Times profile of the new CNO, the first to be so deep-selected for the position since Adm. Elmo Zumwalt.

In "Love Your Enemies: How Decent People Can Save America from the Culture of Contempt" (Broadside Books, HarperCollins, 2019) Brooks elaborates about a winning leadership style, as exemplified by Martin Luther King Jr., noting "prideful anger is the opposite of strength." 

"While coercive leaders drive people away by belittling and blaming, authoritative leaders garner their support by offering their encouragement and trust. They foster a culture that affirms each team member's importance to the work being done, and in doing so, convince individuals to invest deeply in the long-term prosperity of the organization. The aspirational approach of authoritative leaders produces the kind of success that builds on itself over time. While authoritative leaders promote their own overarching vision, they are not authoritarian. They do not suppress dissent, instead granting employees the freedom to disagree and solve problems on their own. The operational freedom granted by authoritative leaders promotes the individual creativity, accountability, and initiative that is essential to the success of any business. Authoritative leaders inspire a can-do spirit and enthusiasm for an organization's work because they ensure that no one feels muzzled or left behind. By letting every person know how her role helps accomplish the organization's mission, an authoritative leader empowers and motivates employees to become creative problem solvers."

FORT GEORGE G. MEADE, Md. (December 12, 2017) – Vice Adm. Mike Gilday, commander U.S. Fleet Cyber Command/U.S. 10th Fleet (FCC/C10F), meets with meets with Command Master Chief Dee Allen and assistant chiefs of staff during a regularly scheduled morning brief. U.S. Fleet Cyber Command serves as the Navy component command to U.S. Strategic Command and U.S. Cyber Command.(U.S. Navy photo by MC1 Samuel Souvannason)

CNO Gilday's empathy, commitment and character comes through in his testimony to Congress. Here are some examples of his words, as relates to people and ethos:

"Most Americans associate the strength of the Navy with gray-hulled ships at sea. But the true sources of our naval power are the people and loved ones who support them ... Like countless military families around the world, my family's love, their resourcefulness, and their support have made my naval service possible. I owe everything to them..." "I am committed to the fact that we need to treat people with dignity and respect, that behavior like, whether it's physical violence or whether it's sexual assault, has no place in the Navy, that racism has no place in the Navy, that domestic violence has no place in the Navy, that we have to be an organization that recognizes people's gender and treats them fairly as well as their sexual preference. So, my commitment to this committee is that I will try to set the best example that I can at the top, and I will lean on our flag officers, our commanders and in particular our chief petty officers to ensure that this ethos is something we bring to work every day and something that we live on and off the job..." "Ethics is a particularly important point for me and that begins at the top with my leadership and extends through all the flag officers as well as our commanders and right down through the chief petty officers who I consider a critical link to ensure that every day we go to work, we bring our values with us to work. It's especially important in combat that those values be maintained for all of the reasons that we understand so well. I commit to getting a better understanding of the issues, to holding people accountable, if an where they need to be held accountable, to getting after the root causes and ensure that if there is a problem with the culture of the community that that's addressed very quickly and very firmly."

Watch Gilday's testimony to see how he addresses issues like near-peer competitors, particularly China and Russia; emerging technology; Navy SEALs; Persian Gulf tensions; PCU Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) and PCU Columbia (SSBN-826); shipyard maintenance and capacity; and the USS Fitzgerald (DDG-62) and USS John S. McCain (DDG-56) tragedies at sea.

Gilday's humility and qualities as a strong, authoritative leader shine through. By the way, his late father enlisted in the Navy right out of high school. Gilday grew up in a Navy family.

In "Love your Enemies," Brooks writes, "The ideal leaders today – whom we need more urgently than at any time in my life – are 'bridgers,' men and women dedicated to a radical embrace of diversity."



Brooks, author of "The Conservative Heart," defines contempt (anger mixed with disgust) and shows how contempt on both sides of the political spectrum poisons dialog and understanding. Key signs of authoritarian leadership are lack of empathy and seeing others as less than human.

Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and Rwanda provide examples: Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels compared Jews to rats. Joseph Stalin dehumanized Kulaks, calling them "vermin" before taking their land, separating their families, rounding them up and systematically exterminating them. Hutus referred to Tutsis as cockroaches before killing children, women and men in the Rwandan genocide and carnage.

Surrounded by "yes-people," authoritarian leaders foster complacency and mediocrity as they cause hurt and pain through their contempt.

Brooks's solution to countering and defeating contempt comes from teachings in the Bible, Bhagavad Gita and especially Buddhism, as in the advice of the Dalai Lama: "practice warmheartedness." By listening and NOT showing contempt for the other, "people can become not just warriors for their point of view but healers in their communities." 

From the Dhammapada teaching of the Buddha, "the master says":

Conquer anger through gentleness,

unkindness through kindness,

greed through generosity,

and falsehoods by truth

Contempt, Brooks says, is no match for love.

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (June 6, 2019) Senior Chief Logistics Specialist Chiwanna Rogers, from Jacksonville, Florida, assigned to USS Gerald R. Ford’s (CVN 78) supply department, receives her senior chief cover from Master Chief Avionics Technician Tinesha Troupe during a frocking ceremony.( U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Brett Walker/Released)

Read this book and "you will see why the current model of contemptuous leadership is a losing proposition in the long run, as well as why better, not less, disagreement holds the key to greater harmony." Celebrate and surround yourself with different opinions and points of view while maintaining core values in order to succeed as a leader.

"Disagreement is good because competition is good. Competition lies behind democracy in politics, and markets in the economy. Markets and democracy are the two things that have made the United States into the most successful country in history, attracting the world's strivers, giving most readers of this book a good life, and creating a model for people all over the world. In politics and economics, competition – bounded by rule of law and morality – brings excellence."

Brooks uses examples including debates on gun safety, abortion and capitalism. He advises breaking out of "confirmation bias" silos and taking a leave of absence from social media. He also asks everyone to swear off anonymous behavior on the internet. And he calls for "harmonious cooperation" over contemptuous competition.
During the prospective CNO's testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee, Gilday said:

"Both Sailors and Navy Civilians remain our competitive advantage. We owe them principled leadership, transparent and accountable processes, and efficient resources to do their jobs effectively ... I am truly honored to be part of the greatest navy in the world and, if confirmed, I will work closely with this committee and this Congress as we prepare to meet the challenges ahead."

The United States Senate unanimously (and harmoniously) confirmed Gilday's promotion to his fourth star and appointment as Chief of Naval Operations.