Dorie Miller –– Looking Back

by Bill Doughty––

In the wake of news that the U.S. Navy is considering renaming the upcoming aircraft carrier CVN-81 from "USS Doris 'Dorie' Miller" to "USS Donald J. Trump," we looked back at our previous Navy Reads posts mentioning Miller, his heroism at Pearl Harbor, and his ongoing legacy.

Here are excerpts from those posts:

Courage of a King and a Miller –– JANUARY 20, 2020

In a review of Barbara Darling-Smith's "Courage" (University of Notre Dame Press, 2002), we focused on one of the Navy’s core values and necessary virtues. For example:

Dorie Miller showed “The virtues of an enlisted Sailor who assessed danger in the attack on Pearl Harbor and took matters into his own hands aboard USS West Virginia (BB 48). His heroism is remembered today as the Navy names a future aircraft carrier USS Doris Miller (CVN 81). Doris ‘Dorie’ Miller was killed at sea during World War II.”

His courageous virtues lived on to inspire others.

“After the war, Dorie Miller was a key influence to Americans who showed courage during the fight for Civil Rights Movement, a movement led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Examples of courage are not restricted to the battlefield.”

PEARL HARBOR (Jan. 20, 2020) The Honorable Eddie Bernice-Johnson, United States representative from the 30th district of Texas, left, speaks at the unveiling of the new Ford-class aircraft carrier USS Doris Miller (CVN 81) at a Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration event on Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam as Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas B. Modly look on. This will be the second ship named in honor of Miller, and the first aircraft carrier ever named for an African American and an enlisted Sailor. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication 2nd Class Justin R. Pacheco)

A Groundbreaking 'Double Victory' – NMAAHC –– FEBRUARY 12, 2020

Six years ago we reviewed NMAAHC founding director Lonnie Bunch III’s, "A Fool's Errand: Creating the National Museum of African American History and Culture in the Age of Bush, Obama, and Trump" (Smithsonian Books, 2019).

(U.S. Navy photo by Arif Patani)

The museum opened during President Trump’s first term with an exhibit featuring Dorie Miller’s heroism in WWII.

In his book Bunch “conveys humility about what the museum can mean for all Americans.”

"Museums alone cannot ease the tensions that come from the debates surrounding the fluidity of national identity in the twenty-first century," he writes. 

"... But museums can contribute to understanding by creating spaces where debates are spirited but reasoned. Where contemporary challenges are addressed through contextualization and education. Since its opening, NMAAHC has become a site where rational healing and reconciliation are possible.”

During a tour of the museum in 2017 with Director Bunch, President Trump paused at an exhibit showing the Dutch role in the transatlantic slave trade; Trump said to Bunch, “You know, they love me in the Netherlands.”

Visitors view an exhibit about the legacy of Mess Attendant Doris “Dorie” Miller at the Smithsonian NMAAHC, Nov. 1, 2016. Adm. Nimitz presented Miller with the Navy Cross for his extraordinary courage during the Dec. 7, 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. (U.S. Navy photo by Arif Patani)

Andrew Young ‘An Easy Burden’ –– OCTOBER 17, 2025

We started our post about Andrew Young with this: “He was a lieutenant to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In fact, he was by his side not only in life but also at King’s death at the hands of an assassin.”

Young lived a life of service, and he was deeply devoted to human rights.

He credited the military for its role historically to promote civil rights.

“Andrew Young shows how the American civil rights movement arose largely as a result of World War II and the resultant Marshall Plan. The military provided proof and a blueprint for the success of diversity, inclusion, meritocracy, and equality."

Young writes about former slave and abolitionist Frederick Douglass and the struggle to “redeem the soul of America.” He shows how Dorie Miller and other black heroes inspired change. Young writes:

“That soul we saw less in America's actions than in its ideals: freedom, equality, justice. While we endured segregation, we knew that America had shed the blood of hundreds of thousands of its sons and daughters in a war that ended slavery. We knew that America had risen up out of the depths of a Great Depression to defeat fascism. We had cheered the exploits of Dorie Miller and the Tuskegee Airmen and other colored soldiers who refused to let racial segregation prevent them from offering their lives for freedom and for America, and we were inspired by their example. Dorie Miller was told he could only be a cook's helper, but he dared to believe he could shoot down enemy aircraft [at Pearl Harbor]. The Tuskegee Airmen dared to believe black men could fly. 

We were thought to be naive, but in truth we were visionary. We dared to believe that America could be healed of the gangrene of racism. We saw America as we could become, not just as we were.”

Andrew Young celebrates black history with First Army, Fort Gillem, Georgia, in 2009 (Gayle Johnson, Public Affairs Office)

Stavridis on Crucial Crucible of Decision –– NOVEMBER 1, 2022

Four years ago, we reviewed one of our favorite authors, and one of his books of inspiration for warfighters.

“Admiral James Stavridis (USN, Ret.) offers key lessons for Sailors and Marines in ‘To Risk It All: Nine Conflicts and the Crucible of Decision’ (Penguin Press, 2022). Most of the stories will be familiar to readers of Stavridis or his recommended reading list

Our main focus the time was on Captain Brett Crozier, the heroic Navy Captain who was scapegoated for failures to address the dangers of COVID, early in the pandemic.

Stavridis’s book also explores weighty decisions made by Capt. John Paul Jones, Lt. Stephen Decatur, Rear Adm. David Farragut, Commodore George Dewey, Cook Third Class Doris “Dorie” Miller, Adm. William “Bull” Halsey, Lt. Cdr. Lloyd M. Bucher, Rear Adm. Michelle Howard, and Cdr. Ernest Evans.

“Each story methodically evaluates the circumstances, personnel, and ramifications of decisions made in moments of often extreme stress, with lives on the line, and when there appears to be no perfect response.”

Stavridis writes with his usual panache and passion. His book is accessible to any deckplate Sailor or rifleman Marine, who will be inspired by the courage and grit of Dorie Miller at Pearl Harbor. 

Frederick Douglass Speaks to Us in 2023: Part 4, Unity –– FEBRUARY 24, 2023

A “statesman” is defined as “a wise, skilled, and respected political leader who guides a government and works for the public good instead of seeking personal power.”

Frederick Douglass, an unofficial advisor to President Abraham Lincoln, was himself one of our nation's greatest statesmen.

In “Douglass: Speeches & Writings” by Frederick Douglass (edited by David W. Blight, Library of America, 2022), the statesman examines American ideals, leaders, and the reality of caste over the concept of “race.”

In our Navy Reads post we mention the future USS Doris Miller (CVN 81) –– the first aircraft carrier named for an enlisted Sailor and the first named for an African American –– is expected to be launched “90 years after Miller’s heroic action at Pearl Harbor.”

We write, “Two hundred years prior to CVN 81’s expected launch, Frederick Douglass was still enslaved in Maryland but would soon escape in 1838 to the North in a sailor’s uniform.”

The Nimitz We Need Now –– MAY 14, 2023

We always admire the works of Clyde Symonds, author of “Nimitz at War: Command Leadership from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay” (Oxford University Press, 2022).

In this great biography, “We get a gripping recounting of the intelligence preparations, training challenges, command tensions, and communications frustrations in the early 1940s. We read about Nimitz’s quiet 'anxiety' in the lead-up to the Battle of Midway, for example, where Nimitz decided to trust Rochefort’s intelligence and ambush the then-powerful Imperial Japanese Navy. ‘It is difficult in hindsight to appreciation the boldness of that decision,’ Symonds writes."

Nimitz was the right leader at the right time. He was able to do good planning, build trust with people, and care for and about the Sailors and Marines he sent into harm’s way.

“Of course, like all humans, Nimitz was not a perfect person. Symonds calls the Texas hill country admiral ‘a product of his time and his culture’ in that he avoided African American service members (with the notable exception of Messman Doris ‘Dorie’ Miller, to whom Nimitz presented the Navy Cross for December 7 heroism). In 1943 there were no black officers in the Navy. And Nimitz also wanted no part in having women service members on his staff, disallowing WAVES from serving in the Pacific.”

Nimitz hailed from Fredericksburg, Texas. Miller was born in Waco, Texas, and enlisted in the Navy in Dallas in 1939. Nimitz presented his fellow Texan with the Navy Cross in 1942.

Miller receives the Navy Cross from Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, at an awards ceremony held on the flight deck of USS Enterprise (CV-6) at Pearl Harbor, 27 May 1942. The medal was awarded for heroism on board USS West Virginia (BB-48) during the Pearl Harbor Attack, 7 December 1941. (U.S. Navy)

Yesterday, the Waco FOX News affiliate FOX-44 reported on the public backlash against stripping Miller’s name from CVN-81 and replacing it with Trump’s name. “U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, a retired Navy captain [and Navy fighter pilot and astronaut], said Miller’s name should remain on the aircraft carrier and argued that his actions at Pearl Harbor warrant the honor,” FOX-44 reported.

In a social media post, Kelly wrote that Miller's Pearl Harbor bravery is legendary and argued the ship "shouldn't be renamed at all, let alone for Donald Trump, who has denigrated servicemembers like Dorie Miller who have paid the ultimate price.” During the Vietnam War, Trump famously avoided the draft and military service with five deferments, including one for bone spurs.

The Navy has not yet made a final decision about renaming the Gerald Ford Class aircraft carrier (CVN-81).

A Republican View of Autocracy –– Pt. III

Review by Bill Doughty––

As the saying goes, “fear is a powerful motivator.” A survey of 11,000 U.S. federal workers shows they are terrified of mass firings, political coercion, job insecurity, and retaliation for reporting wrongdoing or voicing opposition. This week’s Supreme Court ruling that gives the president more power to fire federal employees just adds to the angst.

The rise in fear (and decline in morale) follows recent executive orders stripping protections from thousands of senior civil servants. A 2025 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS) reveals a striking contrast from 2024’s FEVS.

According to University of Michigan Economics Professor Justin Wolpers, an OPM survey of federal workers reveals a sharp increase in fear and chaos, a decline in morale, and an rise in costs to American taxpayers. Yet, members of the Civil Service are still dedicated to public service, Wolpers reports.

No doubt fearing the results of a similar survey this year, OPM canceled the 2026 FEVS and is instead changing future survey questions to purportedly focus on performance.

Meanwhile, President Trump and Secretary of Defense Hegseth –– fearful of differences of opinion or inconvenient facts –– have fired inspectors general, JAGs, and senior leaders who fail loyalty tests.

Fear is used as a motivator by both Democrats and Republicans, as explained by Republican strategist Stuart Stevens in his landmark book “The Conspiracy to End America: Five Ways My Old Party Is Driving Democracy Away” (Twelve, Hachette Book Group, 2023).

“All political parties use fear of an opponent to unify supporters, and they always have. When Democrats attack Republicans by saying Medicare cuts will effectively roll old ladies in wheelchairs off cliffs, that's fear. When Nixon ran on his infamous law-and-order platform in 1968, it was very much a strategy based on fear. What is different about the current Republican Party is that fear is its organizing principle, both internally and externally. The party drives support through fear and enforces discipline on the elected officials through fear.

January 6, 2021, was the defining moment of today's Republican Party. Fear drove the mob to the Capitol –– and the mob was called to action by a fearful leader. They were afraid of the choice 81 million Americans had made about who would be their next president, and they were fearful that their coalition consisted of 85 percent white voters was not big enough to win in 2020 America. They were terrified of what an inclusive, multicultural America could do to their status and superiority.”

One wonders if fear (of looking weak? of more Epstein revelations?) drove Trump to conduct a war of choice with Iran –– and then if fear of an economic catastrophe (“the late, great Herbert Hoover”) drove him to end the war with concessions to Iran: lifting sanctions, ending the naval blockade, allowing development of ballistic missiles, offering up to $300 billion to assist with Iran's postwar reconstruction, and more.

President Putin used fear as a reason to Russians for his unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. Putin lied that democratic Ukraine was a nest of Nazis. Putin, in fact, fears the influence of free NATO democratic nations on his power as an autocrat, propped up by wealthy oligarchs.

Stevens makes the point that Russian oligarchs actually fear Putin, while U.S. politicians fear American billionaires (and now a trillionaire!).

“When Vladimir Putin decided to invade a neighboring country, dooming hundreds of thousands of Russians and Ukrainians in a war of genocide, it was his decision alone. Western Russian observers speculated that Russian oligarchs might be able to press Putin to end the war. But it never happened. These men—and they are all men—who possess enormous money, influence, and power nonetheless wake up and fall asleep terrified of a single short former KGB agent who drove a St. Petersburg taxi in the 1990s. They know for a fact that a jail cell, an open window, or a slow death by poison is the fate of those who dare not obey the Russian czar.

In the American political system, on the other hand, it's the politician who wakes up and goes to bed fearing the very wealthy. For all the never-ending talk of campaign finance reform, the billionaire class has designed perfectly legal methods to exert tremendous influence over the democratic process. In theory, this is a power that is ideologically neutral, available to liberal billionaires like George Soros and libertarian conservatives like the Koch brothers. The same is also theoretically true of the First Amendment. Notionally, a powerful far-left television network –– one operating with the same disregard for ethical journalism that epitomizes Fox News ––could emerge and successfully compete with Fox News. But it has never happened and there is no reason to believe it will. So it is with campaign finance. The wealthy on the right have proven to be more effective exerting their influence than those on the center-left.”

Before mega-donors dominated election campaigns Stuart Stevens served well-known Republicans such as Massachusetts Governor William Weld, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge, and several U.S. Senators; he also led  Mitt Romney’s campaign for president.

“For most of the years that I worked in campaigns, the popular belief that politicians sell their votes never struck me as accurate,” Stevens observes. “The corruption of money in the American political system is not so much the corruption of individual politicians but the corruption of the entire electoral process.”

And fear motivates the ultra-rich on the Right who are afraid of losing some of their wealth and power as well as what Steven calls a “demographic apocalypse confronting Republicans.” Young voters and people of color are turning away from the GOP, which fears "replacement."

“At the heart of the Republican Party’s coordinated, dedicated, and patient efforts to change the legal parameters of how American democracy functions is the deep fear that the party is doomed,” Stevens writes.

“If you believe that America was chosen by God to be a white, Christian nation, then the looming specter of a minority-majority America demands action.”

“It's obvious why Republicans have consistently pressed to make it harder to register and more difficult to vote. In 2015, when Donald Trump began openly to challenge the legitimacy of any election he didn't win, he was building on the well-seasoned doubts of election integrity Republicans have used for decades to justify their highly focused efforts to curate the electorate. The "Big Lie" was simply an amplification of the time-tested voter-fraud lie.

Both parties are constantly engaged in efforts to change voting laws. The difference is that Democrats consistently try to broaden voter participation, while Republicans attempt to shrink it.”

One side fears losing power and privilege; the other side fears losing freedom, democracy and the rights guaranteed in the Constitution.

That last fear is not unfounded. Consider Trump’s 2022 “Truth Social” comment related to losing in 2020. He said election fraud allows "allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.”

President “Teddy” Roosevelt feared something that makes Trump’s visit to the opening of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library yesterday more than ironic.

Trump arrived with his sons in a Boeing 747-8 that was a gift by government of Qatar but that cost taxpayers at least $400 million to retrofit. The visit came on the day a financial disclosure report revealed that Trump generated more than $2.2 billion in his first year in office, mostly from cryptocurrency and stock investments of corporations he promoted. (His sons and other family members are making millions in government connected businesses.)

What Teddy Roosevelt openly feared was grift, corporate influence, and “corruption of the electorate.” His concerns were deeply rooted in the history of the founding of the United States even before July 4, 1776.

Stevens writes:

“In April 1699, the Virginia General Assembly passed a law prohibiting a candidate ‘or any persons on their behalf’ from giving voters ‘money, meat, drink, entertainment, or provision or … any present, gift, reward, or entertainment, etc. in order to be elected.’ Two centuries later, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt devoted whole sections of his 1904 and 1905 State of the Union speeches to calls for campaign-finance reform. ‘There is no enemy of free government more dangerous and none so insidious as the corruption of the electorate,’ he told Congress in 1904. A year later, he called for the banning of contributions by corporations and their directors, reforms that have never been universally enacted in American elections: ‘All contributions by corporations to any political committee or for any political purpose should be forbidden by law,’ Roosevelt contended.”

“Of all forms of tyranny, the least attractive and the most vulgar is the tyranny of mere wealth, the tyranny of a plutocracy,” Roosevelt warned in his 1913 autobiography.

Roosevelt welcomed “muckraker” journalists to uncover corporate misdeeds. He used federal prosecutors and wide-ranging regulatory legislation to fight corruption, filing 40 antitrust lawsuits and breaking up monopolies.

TR was a proud Republican in the mold of Abraham Lincoln (born in 1858, just three years before the start of the Civil War and Lincoln’s preservation of the Union.)

Fear is a powerful motivator. But it is also a catalyst for change.

Stevens concludes with a challenge: “It is up to each of us to save the America we love. We are our own last best hope. No one is coming to save us. We are our own destiny.”