Growing Rift or Arc of Justice: The Indictment

By Bill Doughty––

This summer’s “must-read” is not a book. It’s a legal document. It’s brief. It has a compelling plot. It’s freely available. It’s illustrated. And it evokes strong emotions.

It is the indictment of former President Donald J. Trump and his Navy culinary specialist veteran valet, former Senior Chief Petty Officer Waltine Nauta.

Among the emotions likely to be brought forth are alarm, anger and profound sadness. Anyone interested in having an informed opinion about the issue as well as anyone interested in the Constitution and rule of law will want to read the allegations.

The indictment alleges that Trump and Nauta conspired to take, conceal, and lie about classified documents, including military and intelligence secrets. According to the indictment:

“The classified documents Trump stored in his boxes included information regarding defense and weapons capabilities of both the United States and foreign countries; United States nuclear programs; potential vulnerabilities of the United States and its allies to military attack; and plans for possible retaliation in response to a foreign attack. The unauthorized disclosure of these classified documents could put at risk the national security of the United States, foreign relations, the safety of the United States military, and human sources and the continued viability of sensitive intelligence collection methods.”

Sources of evidence in the indictment are Trump and Nauta, themselves, often in their own words. Nauta unintentionally provided the photos, text messages, and other information which contradicted his sworn statements to investigators. Among Nauta's photos are images of dozens of boxes stacked in a store room, on an open stage, and in a bathroom. Trump’s own words, caught on tape or by his attorney, are also part of the evidence.

Of the 37 counts of crimes, 31 pertain to the willful retention of national defense information; the remaining six relate to alleged conspiracy, obstruction and false statements by Trump and Nauta.

The indictment was unsealed and published by the Department of Justice.

In announcing the indictment, DOJ Special Counsel Jack Smith said:

“The men and women of the United States intelligence community and our Armed Forces dedicate their lives to protecting our nation and its people.

"Our laws that protect national defense information are critical to the safety and security of the United States and they must be enforced.

"Violations of those laws put our country at risk.

"Adherence to the rule of law is a bedrock principle of the Department of Justice, and our nation's commitment to the rule of law sets an example for the world.

"We have one set of laws in this country, and they apply to everyone. Applying those laws, collecting facts, that's what determines the outcome of an investigation. Nothing more, nothing less.”

Smith noted, "It's very important for me to note that the defendants in this case must be presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.”

This year’s top summer read is not a book, though there are many great books out there. This summer’s must-read is this historic and Constitutionally important indictment that, depending on the reader’s perspective, will either widen a growing rift or bring us back to justice, principled ethos, and accountability.

December Remember: PAOs & Doggone Luntz

The day’s keynote guest speaker did something awful.

It happened at the May 2010 Navy Public Affairs Symposium in Baltimore, Md. The speaker was GOP pollster Frank Luntz. He bounced around the room in red-white-and-blue sneakers, arms waving, voice rising, making incendiary insinuations and politically incorrect remarks as he showed PowerPoint slides.

Attendees at the May 2010 Baltimore PAO Symposium hear a panel discussion. (SN Marty Carey)

Of course, his prickly comments and attempts at jokes were his First Amendment right ––– and typical Luntz schtick.

But then he went too far. On the screen he showed a picture of the first woman speaker of the house, Representative Nancy Pelosi. It was a photo –– he said –– of Pelosi "after plastic surgery" to her face. Then he showed a “before” photo. It was a picture of a dog.

A nervous murmur rippled through the crowd of military and civilian public affairs officers and mass communication specialists.

We were in Baltimore. Nancy Pelosi’s hometown, where her father, Thomas D’Alesandro Jr., had served as mayor after serving in Congress for five terms. Speaker of the House Pelosi was in her fourth year in her leadership role, second in line to Commander in Chief Barack Obama after Vice President Joe Biden.

Just a few years earlier, Pelosi had spent the early part of her time as Speaker in direct opposition to President George H. W. Bush and his war in Iraq, which she contended began on a lie about weapons of mass destruction. She said Bush’s war killed thousands of Americans and tens of thousands of Iraqis and negatively impacted the necessary war in Afghanistan and the hunt for Osama bin Laden. She had also vociferously opposed Bush’s move to privatize social security, and she fought for expanded affordable health care. Republican politicians and advisors unleashed their vitriol on her and, forgive the bad pun, really “dogged her out.”

Luntz

In making the jab ridiculing Pelosi’s appearance, Luntz, who has worked on behalf of Newt Gingrich, Pat Buchanon, Ross Perot, Ted Cruz, and other Right Wing politicians, as well as the former Washington Redskins, must have thought he’d receive a friendly reception in a conservative-leaning military audience. Personally, I thought he just embarrassed himself.

And –– his low-blow joke made him sound like a hypocrite.

After all, in his entertaining book “What Americans Really Want … Really: The Truth About Our Hopes, Dreams, and Fears” (Hyperion, 2009), published the year before the symposium, Luntz wrote, “‘Do Unto Others as You Would Have Them Do Unto You’ applies to communication, not just behavior.” Luntz says it’s important to come across as patient, understanding, and humble, not just in the words we use but in the words others hear us say.”

In recent years Luntz has publicly criticized the lack of “decorum” in politics and sore-loser campaigning by ex-President Trump and his ultra-MAGA supporters. Yet, on Nov. 7, 2022, he predicted Republicans would gain control of the Senate and win 233 to 240 House seats; instead, they lost a seat in the Senate and only won only ten seats in the House for a total of 222 (including Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, and newcomer fabulist George Santos).

Luntz mis-read his flawed polls, and it wasn’t the first time. He also mis-read the room that day in Baltimore.

Part of his schtick includes polling his audience and asking provocative questions, which he did to the PAOs and MCs. He told us to indicate whether we believed the Constitution was more of an authority for the United States than the Bible. He expressed surprise when many of us chose the Constitution. It seemed to me, then and now, that Luntz was giving a veiled nod to Christian Nationalism.

In “What Americans Really Want…” Luntz praises former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s commitment to her public expressions of devotion to her Christian identity:

“Sarah Palin is the perfect case study for those seeking to uncover the secret to religious messaging and communication. She clearly recognized the connection between religious values and small-town values –– and sought to make that connection the centerpiece of her campaign message. It was a genuine appeal from a devout Christian … Throughout the campaign, it was impossible to tell where her political beliefs ended and her religious beliefs began –– they were so intertwined.”

He notes how Palin said in an interview with James Dobson that she had sought God’s “intercession” in the election: “I can feel the power of prayer, and that strength that is provided through our prayer warriors across this nation,” Palin said, continuing, “…it’s our reminder to do the same, to put this in God’s hands, to seek his perfect will for this nation, and to of course seek his wisdom and guidance in putting this nation back on the right track.” Luntz admits, her words, “while balm to the religious community were like fingernails on the chalkboard to everyone else.”

In that chapter, “God Help Us,” Luntz offers his “rules for religious discussion” with an attempt to find common ground through listening instead of lecturing. He says we need to, for now, acknowledge a separation of state and church –– as “an accepted doctrine among all but the most devout in America, even as we disagree about its application.” To his credit, he says we wouldn’t want laws based on Sharia law or Supreme Court citations of Deuteronomy rather than the Constitution. Yet he concludes, “But just because we don’t want our government to establish a religion doesn’t mean we should pretend religion doesn’t influence our government at all. The fact is, we pick our politicians after we pick our God. Just don’t say it this way.”

Trump supporters, some holding Bibles and nationalist flags and symbols breach security at the Capitol, January 6, 2022, attacking police. (Luke Mogelson)

Luntz’s focus on seeming to be genuine, in "coming across" a certain way, and in disguising true beliefs in superficial and misleading phrases is antithetical to Navy core values of honor, courage, and commitment, where integrity is based on a deeper ethos. Politicians may take the oath to uphold the Constitution on a family bible or koran (or other book representing a person’s beliefs), but it’s the Constitution that matters.

The pinnacle of misplaced faith and beliefs came when Trump supporters, white supremacists, and Christian nationalists marched through the halls of the Capitol last year shouting “Hang Mike Pence,” “Nancy, where are you Nancy?” and, ironically, “Treason, treason, treason.” The insurrectionists defiled the People’s House and Pelosi’s office. They gathered for prayer in the U.S. Senate Chamber, captured on video by New Yorker reporter Luke Mogelson: “Jesus Christ, we invoke your name, amen … Thank you heavenly father for gracing us with this opportunity … Thank you divine, omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent creator God for filling this chamber with your white light and love, with your white light of harmony. Thank you for filling this chamber with patriots … We love you and we thank you, in Christ's holy name we pray.”

(Mogelson, New Yorker)

It’s been said that not every Republican or so-called ultra-MAGA Trumpist is a white supremacist or Christian nationalist, but every such extremist tends to be a Trump supporter.

Even Luntz says many conservatives are turning away from Trump and his martyrdom ideology.

Despite Luntz’s attempts at sincerity and concern for others, looking back, I wonder how much of a role Luntz played in fertilizing extremism, exploiting division, and empowering the insurrection he seems to earnestly condemn. The day after January 6, Luntz on CNBC called the attack on the Capitol “horrible,” but he did not distance himself from the Big Lie that the election was stolen. Instead, he said we need to understand the anger and pain of of the Trump supporters: “They do believe that there’s voter fraud,” he said. “I think the business community is expecting Washington to get its act together. It’s expecting Republicans and Democrats to figure out what went wrong in their various states and address it so we never have an election process like we had.”

Dr. Frank Luntz is a complicated individual. His books, including “Words that Work: It’s Not What You Say, It’s What People Hear” (Hyperion Books, 2007), are filled with truly good advice on how to communicate. Which must be why he was invited to speak the PAO symposium in Baltimore in 2010 (unexpectedly dropping a figurative dog turd in the punch bowl). Questions remain about Luntz and his self-described “wisdom” as a pollster and strategist. Does he really believe he is an impartial broker of opinions when Republican backers fund his focus groups? Does he really want to bring both sides together? Does he think ends justify the means if wrongdoing is done in service to a higher power?

Luntz had the right to say what he wanted about Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi back then in Baltimore, but we have the right to turn away from his veiled hate, fears, and contempt.

Not Forgotten: Adm. Joseph M. Reeves

Review by Bill Doughty––

“Saratoga’s bow cut through the black water, her stern leaving a luminescent trail in her wake as she moved through the darkness in the early hours of 26 January 1929 … On her flag bridge, standing in the cool night air, stood Rear Adm. Joseph Mason Reeves, the commander of the Aircraft Squadrons, Battle Fleet.”

That’s from the opening paragraph of a book that takes readers back nearly a hundred years to the nascent development of aircraft carrier warfare tactics and strategies: “All the Factors of Victory: Adm. Joseph Mason Reeves and the Origins of Carrier Airpower” by Thomas Wildenberg (Naval Institute Press, 2003).

This not-to-be-overlooked book covers more than a half-century of Admiral Reeves’s service in a Navy uniform and beyond.

Aboard Saratoga, as described in the book’s prologue, Reeves demonstrated the power of a carrier task force. It was “a stunning success of the aerial operations” under his command, according to Wildenberg, who presents an indispensable biography and history of Reeves and his achievements.

The author takes us into the U.S. Naval Academy with Reeves, who became a star on the Navy’s football team, especially against Army. Wildenberg describes how Reeves developed his own football headgear –– made of moleskin –– the first helmet used in collegiate football.

As a junior officer, Reeves saw action in the Spanish-American War at the Battle of Santiago. His career was “intertwined” with that of his colleague and fellow junior officer aboard USS Oregon (BB-3), William D. Leahy. Leahy would later become Reeves’s chief of staff in the spring of 1946.

Reeves and Leahy (NHHC)

This book shows Reeves’s connections with cryptanalyst Joseph Rochefort, well-before the intelligence officer reported to Station Hypo, Pearl Harbor, and cracked the code to help the Navy win at the Battle of Midway. We see the admiral's influence on Adm. "Bull" Halsey, Adm. Marc Mitscher, and Adm. Ernest J. King, among others.

In an unadorned style, Wildenberg introduces us to the people, places, and events that shaped the early days of naval air power and the man considered “the father of carrier warfare” and a stickler for training and preparedness. “[H]e was a major, if not the leading, proponent of readiness in the entire prewar Navy.”

Reeves's aggressive style was a double-edged sword, winning praise from some but alienating others, especially those who were stuck to the past or worried only about making rank. One of the best Reeves quotes is: “A commander who stops to appraise the impact of a military decision upon his personal fortunes has no right to be entrusted with command.”

Prior to USS Saratoga becoming his flag ship, Reeves commanded the U.S. Fleet aboard USS Pennsylvania (BB-38).

Admirals assemble aboard USS Pennsylvania, which would become flagship of Adm. Reeves (front, second from left). The full caption is at the bottom of this post.

Reeves, Wildenberg notes, was the first U.S. naval officer qualified in aviation promoted to flag rank; the first officer in the Navy to carry the title of Carrier Commander, U.S. Fleet; and the first flying officer to be selected as Commander in Chief, U.S. Fleet.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Reeves to lead “lend-lease” efforts to supply Navy ships to Great Britain.

Lend-lease was FDR’s way to legally equip Churchill’s Royal Navy in the early months of World War II, prior to United States’ entry into the war after the attack by Imperial Japan on Hawaii on Dec. 7, 1941.

Reeves also played a pivotal role for the Navy and the nation in the aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor and other targets on Oahu.

SECNAV Frank W. Knox and Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson selected Reeves, along with Admiral William H. Standley, as Navy representatives on a commission directed by FDR to investigate readiness failures at Pearl Harbor. The Army appointed two senior general officers. Supreme Court Associate Justice Owen J. Roberts led the commission.

At Fort Shafter, an Army base near Pearl Harbor, the commission members interviewed their first witness, Lt. Gen. Walter C. Short, commander of all Army forces in Hawaii.

“It was obvious from his responses to the commission’s questions that Short, veteran infantry officer, did not have a good grasp of the Army’s mission to protect the fleet while it was anchored in Pearl Harbor. When Reeves’s turn came, he ‘raked the general over the coals’ with his probing questions about the status of Hawaii’s air defense system, the Army’s inability to detect the threat of a carrier attack, and its communication procedures with the Navy. Short, who had been obsessed with sabotage and training, freely admitted that he had made a serious mistake by not placing his forces on alert against the threat of an all-out attack.”

Adm. Joseph M. Reeves

The commission also heard from Adm. Husband E. Kimmel, the Navy commander of Pearl Harbor who was faulted for lack of preparedness, even though the Navy had held simulated air attacks on Pearl Harbor, led by Reeves himself. Kimmel was faulted for not protecting the harbor against torpedo attacks and his failure to order 360-degree air patrols.

Reeves insisted on the need for accountability for the military’s lack of readiness at Pearl Harbor. Wildenberg writes, “Reeves regarded the debacle at Pearl Harbor as a disgrace to the United States Navy.”

You’ll find captivating vignettes, photos, leadership examples, and a sweep of history in this excellent and timeless book.

In All the Factors of Victory's: epilogue, Wildenberg discusses the leadership qualities that made Reeves a great admiral:

“...knowing the job thoroughly, setting examples, and taking care of one’s personnel, gaining their confidence, and then making them feel stronger than they actually are.” Reeves, he said, could both take initiative and delegate authority, always thinking about new, innovative ways to achieve goals. Wildenberg lists a number of other key qualities Reeves possessed, “well-versed in all aspects of naval science … a teacher and a tactician who had a lifelong commitment to learning.”

“Perhaps Reeves’s greatest legacy to the Navy, however, lay in the contribution he made to carrier warfare. As historian William F. Trimble was quick to note, ‘Reeves more than any other single figure, pointed the way to making carrier aviation an indispensable part of the fleet.’ He was a farsighted man who did more to shape the future role of carrier aviation than any other officer in the Navy. His ‘Thousand and One Questions’ fostered the development of a host of innovative doctrines and tactics that laid the foundations for all of the major tenets of modern carrier doctrine. He was the first flag officer to employ the aircraft carrier as an offensive weapon that could be used to mount long-range attacks on an enemy’s coast. Under his leadership, carrier commanders began to exercise the freedom of movement that later [would] become the hallmark of U.S. naval operations in the Pacific during World War II. Most important of all, Reeves deftly fashioned an offensive role for carrier aviation that did not threaten the supremacy of the battleship, thereby assuring that the resources needed to further the development of carrier-borne air power would continue to be allocated during the lean years of the Depression.”

In other words, Reeves’s insistence in readiness and training, coupled with his commitment to innovation in carrier aviation, would lead to the U.S. Navy’s success in the Pacific War, especially in the Battle of Midway. That success would be carried forward into the Cold War by USS Midway (CV-41), among other great aircraft carriers.

USS Reeves (CG-24) underway in the Indian Ocean, Aug. 20, 1975. (PH1/AC R. H. Green, NHHC)

I was working for the Navy when USS Reeves (CG-24), namesake of the great admiral, transferred from Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, to Yokosuka, Japan, arriving Aug. 14, 1980. Reeves swapped with USS Worden (CG-18), to become “the Only Cruiser in Town” of the Forward-Deployed Naval Forces.

Reeves was the anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) picket for Battle Group Alpha for Midway.

USS Pennsylvania photo caption: Aboard USS PENNSYLVANIA, flagship of the U.S. fleet. Quoted from the Long Beach Press-Telegram: The largest gathering of flag officers of the United States Fleet was recorded aboard the USS PENNSYLVANIA. Twenty Rear Admirals, Vice Admirals, and Admirals assembled at the request of Admiral David Foote Sellers, Commander in Chief of the Unites States Fleet, to discuss final details of the Atlantic Cruise which begins Monday morning. L to R (seated): Vice Admiral Harris Laning, COM Cruisers, Scouting Force; Admiral Joseph M. Reeves, COM Battle Force; Admiral Sellers; Vice Admiral Frank H. Brumby, COM Scouting Force; Vice Admiral Walton R. Sexton, COM Battleships, Battle Force. (Standing): Rear Admiral Manley H. Simons, Chief of Staff to Vice Admiral Laning; Rear Admiral Sinclair Gannon, Ordered AS COM Minecraft, Battle Force; Rear Admiral A.E. Watson, COM Destroyers, Scouting Force; Rear Admiral H.E. Lackey, COM CRUDIV 4, Scouting Force; Rear Admiral Edward B. Fenner, COM CRU Battle Force; Rear Admiral John Halligan, COM Aircraft, Battle Force; Rear Admiral Henry V. Butler, COM Battleship DIV 3; Rear Admiral Charles P. Snyder, Chief of Staff to Admiral Sellers; Rear Admiral Thomas T. Craven, COM Battleship DIV 1; Rear Admiral W.T. Tarrant, COM 11th N.D; Rear Admiral E.C. Kalbfus, COM DES, Battle Force; Rear Admiral C.E. Courtney, Ordered as COM CRU, Battle Force; Rear Admiral Frederick J. Horne, COM Base Force; Rear Admiral Adolphus Andrews, Chief of Staff to Admiral Reeves; Rear Admiral W.S. Pye, Chief of Staff to Vice Admiral Brumby. Photo taken April 6, 1934. (NHHC)

Part II: Hornfischer’s One Ocean…

Review by Bill Doughty––

James D. Hornfischer’s final book, “Who Can Hold the Sea,” opens with a poignant message from Jim’s widow, Sharon Hornfischer.

Sharon includes this advice:

“Jim believed, as I also do, that others of this generation and future generations will carry on telling the stories of our great nation’s history. Share your stories with your children and grandchildren, nieces and nephews, so that they are engaged in our nation’s history and our country’s continued fight for freedom and democracy. Encourage our next generation, take them to air shows, museums, and libraries; ignite the spark of curiosity in our future historians and writers so that they can continue to tell stories for us all to read.”

Hornfischer

It’s both sad and inspiring to read Jim Hornfischer’s final work. As both a gifted writer and historian, he created vivid true stories of Sailors and Marines and their leaders. This book’s preface, introduction, and acknowledgements bookend the story of the Cold War with tender personal messages.

Hornfischer’s “Who Can Hold the Sea” (Bantam Books, 2022) opens in the gray aftermath of World War II.

After confronting and defeating fascism, the United States and most of the Allies moved toward greater democracy, peacekeeping, rule of law, and liberty for all. The Soviet Union, on the other hand, held on to autocracy, aggression, violations of laws, and control of its citizens’ freedoms.

“For Truman,” Hornfischer observes, “the Soviet Union was a treacherous and malignant betrayer.”

Americans adjusted to postwar realities –– not only fear of spreading communism and Soviet expansion, but also budgetary turmoil that reached into the military. Some politicians proposed doing away with the Marine Corps and Navy and merging the service branches.

None other than Adm. William “Bull” Halsey spoke out against the merger in a speech thankfully excerpted by Hornfischer.

Halsey said, in part:

“Merger is not necessary. It is not desirable. It is plainly dangerous. It would destroy the initiative of individual services. It would hamstring their right to advance. It would deprive them of representation before Congress and the people. It would substitute military for civilian control. It might lead to military dictatorship.”

Admirals Chester Nimitz, Ernest J. King, Marc Mitscher, and Edward L. Cochrane –– along with Secretary of the Navy (and first Secretary of Defense) James V. Forrestal –– persuaded President Truman and others that the Navy had a strategic role in the Atomic Age; merger of the services, along with loss of the Marine Corps, would be a bad idea.

President Truman is welcomed aboard USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CV-42) by SECNAV Forrestal and Adm. Nimitz. Adm. Leahy pictured in background. (NHHC)

Truman visited Norfolk, Virginia, in April 1946 at the invitation of Commander in Chief, U.S. Atlantic Fleet Adm. Mitscher. Truman witnessed the power of naval aviation and capabilities of aircraft carriers USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CV-42) and the seemingly ubiquitous USS Midway (CV-41). Mitscher’s chief of staff was Capt. Arleigh Burke.

Then-SECNAV Forrestal was one of the principal architects of the post-war modern Navy. His global vision was based on peace through freedom and democracy, not communism or autocracy. Hornfischer writes, “If that world was to become a community, it would be possible, Forrestal thought, only with U.S. leadership, the victorious democracy investing its credibility and standing in the world to promote self-determination and freedom wherever it showed aspiration.” Hornfischer explores the role Forrestal played and delves into Forrestal’s controversial death at Bethesda Naval Hospital.

“Who Can Hold the Sea” vividly covers how Burke, Nimitz and Forrestal shaped the Navy during the Cold War. And strategic thinker and diplomat George Frost Kennan influenced the influencers, as Mahan had done for the first half of the century. Kennan recognized early the “perverse brutality and terror” of Joseph Stalin and Communism’s threat to Capitalism and democracy.

Watercolor of scorched USS Nevada (BB-36) as Nagato and Sakawa sink.. (Arthur Beaumont, 1946)

As a result of those fears, including the real fear that the Soviets were developing nuclear weapons, the United States rushed to conduct atomic bomb tests in the Pacific just a year after the war. In Operation Crossroads, the Navy positioned hundreds of pigs and goats, as well as 4,000 rats, aboard a target ship to test the results of radiation from a nuclear “cauliflower head.” The results were staggering and crippling.

The flagship of Adm. William H. “Spike” Blandy, who headed up Operation Crossroads, was contaminated with radiation, so “hot” it needed to “cool down” before it could be boarded.

After "Able" and "Baker," Blandy had to cancel a third "Charley" stage of the test, Hornfischer notes. “The radioactive mess had become impossible to manage.”

Later, he would celebrate the operation with a bizarre cake-cutting ceremony.

Vice Adm. Blandy and his wife cut into an Operation Crossroads cake shaped to look like a radioactive geyser, as Rear Adm. Frank J. Lowry looks on, Nov. 7, 1946.

The Navy forged forward in developing deployable nuclear weapons, supported by John L. Sullivan, Secretary of the Navy.

“The atomic bomb would shape the entire forty-four-year span of the Cold War. Made even smaller and more easily deployable, with larger and larger payloads, it would place every crook and crevice of the world under threat of ruin. War planners schemed to win atomic exchanges, even as they and every policy maker had no sense of consequences, and prudence demanded keeping the weapon in Pandora’s box. Humility, terror, curiosity, eager innovation, and abject paranoia would be the diverse by-products of the bomb.”

Louis A. Johnson

Sullivan would fight for the Navy but would resign in the face of cutbacks, cancellation of construction of the CVA-58 class aircraft carrier USS United States, and favoritism for the Air Force by SECDEF Louis A. Johnson. “The new defense secretary was an equal opportunity irritant, abrasive and arrogant and making no effort to filter it,” Hornfischer writes. “Johnson’s animus toward the Navy was an open secret.”

Despite obstacles, the Navy forged ahead in developing deployable nuclear weapons and nuclear-powered ships, including submarines. 

Hornfischer reveals how close the world came to nuclear war in the decade-and-a-half after bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Leaders contemplated using nuclear weapons after Communist China threatened Formosa (Taiwan), after Communist North Korea invaded the South, and after Communists took power in French Indochina (Vietnam). Eisenhower was a voice of reason in nixing the idea of using the Bomb. Though not covered in this book, the Bay of Pigs incident comes to mind, when President John F. Kennedy, Navy veteran and WWII hero, proved to be the voice of reason in preventing nuclear war after the Soviet Union threatened to position nuclear weapons in Cuba.

Admittedly incomplete and somewhat unfinished, Hornfischer’s history of the Cold War is a compelling book thanks to the author’s distinctive style and grace. His writing shines in descriptions of not only events but also people, such as the great Arleigh Burke, “the son of a humble Colorado farmer,” a leader who embraced an ethos of good leadership.

“[Burke] had taken integrity, self-discipline, and strong principles from his father and mother, a teacher. In 1923, the year he graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy, the faculty had just compiled the first textbook on naval leadership. It listed the ‘essential qualities’ of a naval officer as personal dignity, honor, courage, truthfulness, faith, justice, earnestness, assiduity, judgment, perseverance, tact, self-control, simplicity, and loyalty –– to country and to service, to both one’s seniors and juniors. ‘Loyalty up and down was important because of the natural independence and self-reliance of the American sailor,’ and naval officers had to earn the respect of their men [and women] through their personal merit and example. Burke had been trained as a specialist in ordnance, earning a master’s degree in chemical engineering and becoming a design and production specialist in explosives. This background exposed Burke to the most advanced naval technologies of his time and would prepare him as CNO to promote the development of nuclear weapons, nuclear power, and guided and ballistic missiles.”

Burke helped guide the Navy through rough seas during the Cold War.

CNO Arleigh Burke on the bridge of USS Forrestal (CVA-59) March 12, 1956 as ship's CO Capt. Roy L. Johnson points out distant aircraft. (NHHC)

It’s bittersweet to read this excellent book about the Cold War knowing that Hornfischer is gone. He died last summer after a valiant fight with cancer. As mentioned, his wife Sharon offers a beautiful tribute to him and his legacy in the book’s preface.

Both Jim and Sharon offer acknowledgements at the end of this book. They thank retired Navy Admiral “Fox” Fallon, former commander of both U.S. Pacific Command and Fleet Forces Command and current board chairman of the Naval Historical Foundation. They also acknowledge and thank other graybeards, including retired Rear Admiral Samuel Cox, director of Naval History and Heritage Command and Curator of the Navy. The Hornfischers pay special tribute to the Nimitz Museum in Fredericksburg, Texas, hometown of the great admiral who led the winning strategy in the Pacific War.

This terrific book brought other books to mind that would make good companion reading: “Atlantic” and “Pacific” by Simon Winchester; "The Second Most Powerful Man in the World: The Life of Admiral William D. Leahy, Roosevelt's Chief of Staff" by Phillips Payson O'Brien; “Revolt of the Admirals: The Fight for Naval Aviation, 1945-1950” by Jeffrey G. Barlow; "The Silent War: The Cold War Battle Beneath the Sea” by John Piña Craven; “This Kind of War: The Classic Korean War History” by T. R. Fehrenbach; “Gangsters of Capitalism: Smedley Butler, the Marines, and the Making and Breaking of America’s Empire” by Jonathan M. Katz; “Opening the Great Depths: The Bathyscaph Trieste and Pioneers of Undersea Exploration” by Norman Polmar and Lee J. Mathers; and “The Blue Age: How the US Navy created Global Prosperity –– and Why We’re in Danger of Losing It” by Gregg Easterbrook. It goes without saying that every book by Hornfischer should be on the reading list for anyone interested in American maritime history.

The Hornfischers valued libraries, museums, research institutes, and, of course, books. As Jim writes, “Those interested in national and maritime affairs ought to be mindful of the major events of the past.”

Top Photo: Operation Crossroads "Baker Day" A-bomb underwater explosion, seen from shore of Bikini Atoll, 25 July 1946. NHHC

(In Part I of this review, we presented Hornfischer's view of "one global ocean." We also compared Gorbachev and Putin, discussed the rise of NATO, and presented some coincidental milestones that happened in August and September decades ago.)

Eddie Gallagher & Alpha ‘Loyalty’

Review by Bill Doughty––

David Philipps gives a passionate and compassionate profile of a case that hit the U.S. Navy like a “missile” –– that of former U.S. Navy SEAL Chief Petty Officer Eddie Gallagher, accused of war crimes after his deployment with the Alpha platoon of SEAL Team 7 in “ALPHA: Eddie Gallagher and the War for the Soul of the Navy SEALS” (Penguin Random House, 2021).

This is a book about accountability and justice. And karma.

SEALs in Alpha Platoon, wearing their tridents and under the logo of the “Bad Karma Chick,” saw their role as the embodiment of bad karma: “Alpha was there to make sure that bad things happened to bad people.”

“ALPHA” reads less like a book about war and more like a Shakespearean tragedy of an elite American warfighter who chose a noble journey but somehow took a wrong path. Eddie Gallagher began his career as a Hospital Corpsman and tried in vain to become a SEAL until the Afghanistan and Iraq wars opened a sudden need for more of the Navy’s special operations warfare specialists and Gallagher was accepted. He deployed seven times overseas in the so-called war on terror.

Philipps describes the warfighter after seventeen years of service this way:

“Eddie looked like a Navy SEAL poster boy. He had close-cropped blond hair, glacier-like blue eyes, a strong, square jaw, the shoulders of a lion, and a lion’s killer instinct. He was fast, agile, strong, and a dead shot. But a closer look revealed a face deeply lined from years in the desert sun. After so many deployments, the mileage was starting to show. He was thirty-nine years old. In the military, where the average age is twenty-seven, he was closing in on obsolescence. His back hurt. His neck hurt. His shoulders hurt. He had ringing in his ears from too many gunfights. Sometimes he had trouble remembering  things. Not that he regretted any of it. For all the talk about post-traumatic stress disorder and the unfair burden the nation had put on its warfighters, Eddie never once saw combat as a hardship. He had chosen it. He was good at it. He thrived on it. Truth be told, it was cool as hell. He loved the heart-pounding exhilaration of gunfights. He loved the simple intensity of war. Sometimes he felt it was the only thing that made sense. If there were bad guys out there looking to take on the United States and become martyrs, he was happy to punch their ticket.”

But –– “Beneath that SEAL veneer was a history of disappointments and screw-ups that had dogged him for much of his life,” Philipps writes later in “ALPHA.”

This book reveals a tectonic struggle: rule-of-law ethos exemplified by Adm.(Ret.) William McRaven versus a no-rules “pirate” death-cult personified by former Vietnam-era SEAL Cmdr.(Ret.) Richard “Demo Dick” Marcinko –– and Gallagher.

One side prefers to be quiet, humble, and righteous in their work. The other side is all bravado, might-makes-right, and anything goes, including killing unarmed civilians and prisoners when necessary.

One side meant it when they took their oath to support and defend the Constitution; they are loyal to each other and to the mission. The other side abuses power and demands loyalty in a cult of personality, often putting the mission and team in unnecessary danger.

One side has to work silently within the constraints of the Uniformed Code of Military Justice, committed to truth and justice. The other side uses TV, radio, and social media to bend information, threaten opponents, and smear the Navy chain of command.

One side lives by the SEAL Ethos. The other does not.

“…My loyalty to Country and Team is beyond reproach. I humbly serve as a guardian to my fellow Americans always ready to defend those who are unable to defend themselves. I do not advertise the nature of my work, nor seek recognition for my actions. I voluntarily accept the inherent hazards of my profession, placing the welfare and security of others before my own. 

“I serve with honor on and off the battlefield. The ability to control my emotions and my actions, regardless of circumstance, sets me apart from others. Uncompromising integrity is my standard. My character and honor are steadfast. My word is my bond…”

Gallagher stood trial for allegedly murdering a defenseless Iraqi teenager aligned with ISIS by stabbing him with a knife. Gallagher was turned in by a number of his SEAL teammates, who also claimed to have witnessed him shooting indiscriminately into civilian areas as well as deliberately shooting an unarmed girl and an old man.

Philipps provides damning information about Gallagher’s character, including allegations of stealing from the Navy as well as fellow SEALs, illegal habitual drug use, false claims for a Purple Heart and other medals, lying and putting SEALs in harms way for personal gain, and threatening murder in an attempt to cover up his crimes.

The truth emerges thanks to information from key members of the Alpha Team as well as evidence gathered by NCIS and New York Times, where Philipps is a Pulitzer Prize winning national correspondent.

“ALPHA” presents a brief history of the Navy SEALs, from their founding by Navy WWII veteran President John F. Kennedy, through Vietnam and into the 21st century. Philipps describes the rigorous body-breaking BUD/S training SEALS undergo in Coronado, San Diego –– a crucible where instructors are “striking down hubris like ancient gods.”

He introduces readers to a fascinating cast of characters, each on a spectrum of loyalty to each other, to Navy core values, and to the Constitution. There’s LPO (now Chief) Craig Miller, in many ways the hero of this tragedy; CAPT Matt Rosenbloom, a leader of leaders who put his SEALs ahead of outside threats, including to his career; and Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer, who, like other characters in this story, tries to build a bridge to what was right, only to see his infrastructure crumble under politics and undue influence by the commander in chief.

When SECNAV Spencer was fired for appearing to disobey the president’s bidding immediately, Spencer said it was “just politics,” but was it “just” –– in both meanings of the word? Spencer, a former Marine whose mentor was SECDEF James Mattis, believed in strong standards and values. He tried to allow the SEALs to conduct an ethical review. Philipps writes, “Civilian rule of the military was a delicate thing. It required respect, deference, and a mutual understanding.” It did not do well with heavy-handed tipping of the scale of justice.

Trump and Gallagher

Philipps shows former President Trump’s role in the Gallagher case; disgraced Trump acolytes Bernard Kerik and Duncan Hunter as well as Trump lawyer Marc Mukasey helped Gallagher. Later, Gallagher hobnobbed with Michael Flynn, Erik and Donald Trump Jr., and Rudy Giuliani. Gallagher endorsed and campaigned for Donald Trump, and was feted at Mar a Lago. Trump granted clemency to Gallagher and pardoned two other service members who had been found guilty of war crimes.

The dark side of “loyalty” can be seen in the insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021. It can be seen in the code of silence over police brutality and killings that prompted the BLM protests and riots in the summer of 2020. The dark side of “loyalty” can be found in grievance and resentment and fear of the Other. It can be seen in anyone forgetting their oath to the Constitution and pledging their loyalty to a Big Lie and cult of personality that rejects democracy and embraces fascism and autocracy.

Facebook provides a platform for SEALs to express their support of Gallagher and the “pirate” ethos. “None of the SEALs on Facebook seemed to care that a chief had targeted civilians,” Philipps says. “They were just mad that guys in Alpha had said anything about it.”

"ALPHA" tells the story of true loyalty. Some characters, notably another former corpsman and SEAL, Corey Scott, fail in their commitment to the truth. Others, like Chief Craig Miller, rise to the challenge and stand tall.

Karma is on their side.

Miller, the leading petty officer of Alpha platoon during the Iraq deployment of 2017, uses his experience to teach young SEAL leaders about ethical choices, norms and virtues. Philipps describes Miller’s view: “In real ways, the future of humanity was built by the small actions of millions of everyday folks, and it could be torn down the same way.”

U.S. Navy SEAL candidates participate in Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) training. SEALs are the maritime component of U.S. Special Forces and are trained to conduct a variety of operations from the sea, air and land. (U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Abe McNatt)

(This year a podcast called “The Line” explored various sides of the Eddie Gallagher saga and his war crimes trial in 2019 based on witness reports that he stabbed the ISIS teenager to death. In the podcast Gallagher says, “We killed that guy. Our intention was to kill him.” Gallagher admits. “It was to do medical scenarios on him until he died,” adding “He was going to die regardless. ... We weren't taking any prisoners.”

Speaking of karma: 

A new four-part documentary video series on Apple+, also called "The Line,” airs starting today.

"The Line" is by a team led by filmmaker Alex Gibney, Oscar winner for 2007’s Afghanistan War documentary "Taxi to the Dark Side." Directors Doug Shultz and Jeff Zimbalist obtained the participation of Gallagher; his wife, Andrea; and the members of SEAL Team 7 who stepped forward to accuse Gallagher of war crimes, and all appear on camera.)