Competitive Cooperation, Civilian Control – History of JMSDF

Sailors train Nov. 17 in Annual Exercise 2017 in the Philippine Sea. (Photo by MC2 J. Graham)

Review by Bill Doughty

How did the JMSDF come about, what is its role now, and what will the future bring for Japan's "nonmilitary" military? What is the value of civilian control of the military? These are some of the questions explored in Sado Akihiro's "The Self-Defense Forces and Postwar Politics in Japan" (2006, 2017, Japan Publishing Industry Foundation for Culture).

Strictly speaking, and in keeping with Japan's laws, the Self-Defense Forces in Japan have not been considered a military, according to Sado.

Vice Adm. Hoshina Zenshiro

Japan's aversion to the military and war is understandable, he explains, considering what the country went through under a military-controlled government that invaded Korea, China and Indochina and started a war with the United States in the last century.

Many Imperial Japanese naval leaders, unlike the army, were reluctant to start a war with the United States prior to 1941. 

After the war, with the help of the United States, Japan established a constitution, a democratic government and a free and open society built on international relations, competitive cooperation and commerce.

Veterans of the smaller, tighter Imperial Japanese navy maintained close ties after the war. Vice Adm. Hoshina Zenshiro, who had been director of the Navy Ministry of his nation's Bureau of Naval Affairs, took the initiative with a core group of former naval officers.

Working with Hoshina, America's military helped build the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Forces:

"One remarkable characteristic of the former Imperial Navy group's rearmament plan was its emphasis on the importance of relations with the United States. This group was foresighted enough to make Nomura Kichisaburo, who had been well connected with the U.S. military, the center of its efforts. As a result, such U.S. Navy leaders as Vice Admiral Charles Turner Joy, Commander Naval Forces, Far East; Chief of Staff Ralph A. Ofstie; and Deputy Chief of Staff Arleigh A. Burke, who later assumed the highest post in the U.S. Navy, chief of naval operations, became powerful supporters of the efforts by Nomura, Hoshina, and their associates. As eloquently revealed in Nomura's remarks to U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, who visited Japan for the peace treaty negotiations, that 'the most important foundation is the U.S.-Japan military alliance,' the Nomura group's emphasis on relations with the United States put the military alliance first. Moreover, when Hoshina briefed the Study Group on Rebuilding the New Japanese Navy plan to Arleigh Burke, one of the most outstanding Japan sympathizers in the U.S. Navy, he declared  that the new Japanese navy would be 'an object of cooperation with the United States Navy.' Thus, Hoshina revealed that the group was planning to build a navy that, within the framework of the U.S.-Japan military alliance, could collaborate with the U.S. Navy. It is an important point to be kept in mind that these ideas were at the foundation of the establishment of today's Maritime Self-Defense Force."

JMSDF CNO Adm. Yoshikawa (right) and then-Commander Naval Forces Japan Rear Adm. J. Kelly
salute Adm. Arleigh Burke at the U.S. Naval Academy May 16, 2007. (MCSN Chris Lussier)

Senior JMSDF leaders who visit the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis stop and pay their respects to Adm. Arleigh Burke. Ten years ago JMSDF Chief of Naval Operations Yoshikawa Eiji led a wreath-laying ceremony at Burke's gravesite at the academy's cemetery in 2007.

Sado introduces us to dozens of influential prime ministers and other officials who helped shape the self-defense forces over the years: Miki, Ohira, Nakasone, Mori, Hosokawa, Koizumi and Abe.

Under President Reagan and again under President Clinton ties between the two nations deepened especially in U.S.-Japan defense cooperation and support of Peacekeeping Operations (PKO).

"One thing to be pointed out first is the great role the MSDF played in U.S.-Japan defense cooperation. It can be said that the MSDF, which had been created and developed on the premise of joint actions with the U.S. Navy, well lived up to the U.S. Navy's expectations by exerting its capabilities in full. The cooperation between the U.S. and Japanese naval forces was so close that some diplomacy experts claim the essence of U.S.-Japan security cooperation to 'navy to navy' relations. This degree of closeness, however, also meant that MSDF activities regarding bilateral defense cooperation stood out starkly from the other branches of the JSDF. Truth be told, even with the Defense Agency, the defense of sea lanes was predominantly perceived as defense of shipping lanes ... It appears that the MSDF had gone ahead with substantive cooperation with the U.S. Navy to a degree beyond the inner bureau's assumption. It can be said that the MSDF was indeed engaged in defense cooperation with the U.S. Navy one step ahead of other branches of the JSDF."

We see how events shaped the JSDF, especially during and after the Cold War, Vietnam and the Gulf War. In modern Japanese history, the people of Japan have seen their self-defense services as being strictly defensive but able to respond to disaster relief and other humanitarian missions.



"Along with disaster relief activities, which became increasingly important for the JSDF after the Great Hanshin Earthquake in 1995, international cooperation has now become one of the most important post-cold war activities of the JSDF," Sado writes.

"Instances of the JSDF being dispatched overseas are likely to continue to increase. Nevertheless, there remains a risk that the JSDF's presence overseas may fail to receive as much high esteem from the international community as expected due to the numerous constraints on its activities and its lack of self-defense capabilities. The obstacles mentioned above to dispatching the JSDF still have to be overcome. Meanwhile, today dispatch of the JSDF overseas is no longer contained to PKO activities; nowadays the JSDF is mobilized to assist overseas anti-terrorist activities. Thus, it should be said that a limit has already been reached for Japan to continue to dispatch the JSDF in the same fashion as in the past."

The end of the Soviet Union signaled the end of the Cold War and what Japan saw as its greatest threat. But since then, new threats have arisen in the world. Because the bulk of this book was written prior to 2006, there is scant mention of the rise of nuclear threats from North Korea. Sado also lightly touches on the various controversies surrounding Okinawa ever since a rape incident occurred there in 1995, "although it is beyond the scope of this book on the JSDF." He does, however, devote considerable time on international terrorism and the ripple effects of 9/11 on Japan and the JSDF.

China's expansion and the nine-dash-line in the East China and South China Seas are examined in what Sado calls, "tenacious arguments with China."

In 2011 the JSDF proved its worth and gained a nation's respect for how it responded in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami that hit Fukushima. "The JSDF ended up playing an outstanding role at this time of crisis," Sado writes.

Researchers will be disappointed with the sparse index in this volume. On the positive side, this book presents a comprehensive history of the origins and development of the maritime force and has extensive appendices with a deeper dive into what's on the horizon for Japan's defense development and closer partnership with the Republic of Korea, Australia and other U.S. allies.

The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer JS Ashigara (DDG 178), foreground, the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Wayne E. Meyer (DDG 108) and the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Champlain (CG 57) transit the Philippine Sea April 28, 2017. (MC2 Z.A. Landers)

As for the future of the JSDF, Sado discusses "The Modality of Security and Defense Capability of Japan: Outlook for hte 21st Century." And in Appendix I, he prints this from "National Defense Program Guidelines for FY2014 and Beyond," of Dec. 17, 2013:

"Japan will promote various initiatives to improve the global security environment on a regular basis in cooperation with the international community. Japan will continue strengthen various initiatives concerning arms control, disarmament, nonproliferation and capacity building assistance in order to respond to global security challenges, including regional conflicts, expansion and spread of international terrorism, failed states, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and problems related to the sea, outer space and cyberspace, while regularly cooperating with its ally and relevant questions with which it shares security interests and with international organizations and other relevant bodies. In this respect, Japan will further strengthen its cooperation with the European Union (EU), North Atlantic Treaty Organizations (NATO), the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and with the United Kindgom, France and other European countries and will work with them in responding to these challenges. Japan will also promote cooperation and exchanges with regard to equipment and technology with these countries and organizations."

JMSDF and U.S. Navy sailors meet at RIMPAC 2016. (MC1 Jeff Troutman) 

In fact, in the past decade the JMSDF earned key leadership roles in the Rim of the Pacific exercise, training with the U.S. Navy and international participants primarily in the waters around the Hawaiian Islands and building understanding and cooperation.

Appendix J is "The Guidelines for Japan-U.S. Defense Cooperation" of April 27, 2015 offering a "general framework and policy directions," strategies for strengthening bilateral cooperation, a commitment to "cooperation for regional and global peace and security" and a plan to contribute to space and cyberspace security.

After World War II, Japan reconstituted a national defense system – first called the National Police Reserve, then the National Safety Forces, before becoming the JSDF. As mentioned, Japan set up its democratic system of government (including its constitution) based on that of the United States – and under an important American concept: civilian control of the military.

"It seems beyond doubt that a system of civilian control that is suitable for the new age has to be explored," Sado opines. Nevertheless, a civilian government's control of the military is considered a war preventive, WWII being a case in point, in which the military controlled the governments in Japan and Germany. While there may be benefits in further integrating the three services, as Sado points out, there is a reason for a separation of military forces, just as there is in the branches of government – to protect a balance of power.



USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70), foreground, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer JS Ashigara (DDG 178), left, and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force Murasame-class destroyer JS Samidare (DD 106), back, transit the Philippine Sea April 26, 2017. The U.S. Navy has patrolled the Indo-Asia-Pacific routinely for more than 70 years promoting regional peace and security. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Sean M. Castellano)

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.)

Presidential Challenges: JFK 100

By Bill Doughty

This Memorial Day coincides with the 100th birthday of a U.S. Navy World War II hero and the 35th president of the United States: John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

JFK challenged Americans to serve their nation and to work toward greater equality and justice. He saw hope in the future: "Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans."

Now his daughter, former U.S. ambassador to Japan, Caroline Kennedy, is ensuring her father's memory and legacy is remembered and honored. She, herself, is passing the torch to another generation.

Beginning this Memorial Day weekend, Boston's John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum is presenting JFK 100: Milestones and Mementos – an opportunity to connect with his life, achievements and ideals.

From the JFK Library: "Ambassador Caroline Kennedy and her children, Rose, Tatiana, and Jack, reflect on how 100 years after his birth, their father and grandfather continues to inspire others to work, fight, and believe in a better world."



Caroline Kennedy is author or editor of numerous books on history, constitutional law, poetry and patriotism.

Here are some poems for the next generation from her beautiful compilation, "Poems to Learn by Heart" (Disney Hyperion, 2013), with paintings by Jon J Muth. This sampling is selected for Memorial Day, as we remember service members who gave their lives for our freedom and in service to their nation.

Shiloh: A Requiem, April 1862
(Herman Melville)

Skimming lightly, wheeling still, 
      The swallows fly low 
Over the field in clouded days, 
      The forest-field of Shiloh— 
Over the field where April rain 
Solaced the parched ones stretched in pain 
Through the pause of night 
That followed the Sunday fight 
      Around the church of Shiloh— 
The church so lone, the log-built one, 
That echoed to many a parting groan 
            And natural prayer 
      Of dying foemen mingled there— 
Foemen at morn, but friends at eve— 
      Fame or country least their care: 
(What like a bullet can undeceive!) 
      But now they lie low, 
While over them the swallows skim, 
      And all is hushed at Shiloh.

What Are Heavy?
(Christina Rossetti)

What are heavy? sea-sand and sorrow:
What are brief? today and tomorrow:
What are frail? Spring blossoms and youth:
What are deep ? the ocean and truth.

Devotion
(Robert Frost)

The heart can think of no devotion
Greater than being shore to ocean -
Holding the curve of one position,
Counting an endless repetition. 



Liberty
(Janet S. Wong)

I pledge acceptance
of the views,
so different,
that make us America

To listen, to look,
to think, and to learn

One people
sharing the earth responsible
for liberty
and justice
for all.




We remember JFK, his strong connection with the Navy, and his pursuit of "liberty and justice for all" on his 100th birthday with these photos:

President John F. Kennedy and others watch television coverage of the lift-off of astronaut Commander Alan B. Shepard, Jr. aboard "Freedom 7," on the first US manned sub-orbital flight. L-R: Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy; Special Assistant to the President for National Security McGeorge Bundy; Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson; Special Assistant to the President Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.; Chief of Staff of the United States Navy Admiral Arleigh Burke; President Kennedy; First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy. Office of the President’s Secretary, White House, Washington, D.C. (JFK Library)

President John F. Kennedy presents Distinguished Service Medal to Admiral Arleigh A. Burke, Chief of Staff of the United States Navy. Looking on (L – R): Naval Aide to the President Commander Tazewell Shepard, Jr. (far left); Congressman Daniel J. Flood (Pennsylvania, partially hidden); Roberta Burke, wife of Admiral Burke; General Lyman Lemnitzer, Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff (behind and between President Kennedy and Admiral Burke); others unidentified. Rose Garden, White House, Washington, D.C. (JFK Library)

President John F. Kennedy hands a diploma to an unidentified cadet at the United States Naval Academy commencement ceremony, Annapolis, Maryland. Chief of Staff of the United States Navy Admiral Arleigh A. Burke is seated on the stage, fifth from the left. (JFK Library)

President John F. Kennedy presents a posthumous medal for Lieutenant Commander Victor A. Prather, Jr., (United States Navy) to his widow, Virginia Merritt Prather. Prather’s children, Victor Alonzo III and Marla Lee, stand in front. Oval Office, White House, Washington, D.C.

President John F. Kennedy meets with Harold Russell, National Commander of American Veterans (AMVETS), in the Oval Office, White House, Washington, D.C. They hold a pamphlet entitled “1102 American Heroes: Are They Forgotten?” produced by the AMVETS to encourage legislators to fund the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor, Honolulu, Hawaii. (JFK Library)

President John F. Kennedy (center) greets a referee and team captains for the coin toss prior to the Army-Navy Football Game (United States Military Academy Cadets versus United States Naval Academy Midshipmen). John Hewitt of Navy stands at left; Mike Casp of Army stands at right. Associate Press Secretary, Andrew T. Hatcher, stands at far right (face partially hidden). Municipal Stadium, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (White House photograph)

President John F. Kennedy's visits the U.S. Atlantic Fleet, April 1962 and looks through the periscope aboard USS Thomas Edison (SSBN-610).
(Photo from National Archives.)

President John F. Kennedy (center, wearing sunglasses) speaks by radiotelephone to the crew of the submarine USS Andrew Jackson (SSBN-619) from the deck of the United States Naval ship USS Observation Island (EAG-154), at sea off the coast of Florida. Left to right: three unidentified military personnel; Deputy Commander of the Submarine Force of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet, Rear Admiral Vernon L. Lowrance; Commanding Officer of the USS Observation Island, Captain Roderick O. Middleton (in back, partially hidden); President Kennedy (wearing a windbreaker bearing the insignias of USS Observation Island and USS Andrew Jackson presented as a gift from the crews of both ships); Director of Special Projects (USN), Rear Admiral I. J. Galantin; and two unidentified sailors. The President sailed aboard the ship to view a Polaris A-2 missile launch demonstration from the submarine. (JFK Library)

President John F. Kennedy (center) speaks with U.S. Navy SEAL team members on the pier at Naval Air Station, Norfolk, Virginia, before boarding the USS Northampton (CC-1) for an overnight cruise to view U.S. Atlantic Fleet exercises. (JFK Library)

President John F. Kennedy (center) shakes hands with an unidentified United States Navy pilot on the hangar deck of the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, at sea off the coast of North Carolina. Admiral Robert L. Dennison, Commander in Chief of the Atlantic Command (CINCLANT), Commander in Chief of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet, and Supreme Allied Commander, Atlantic (SACLANT), stands at far left; Naval Aide to the President Captain Tazewell Shepard, Jr. (in profile, partially hidden), stands right of Admiral Dennison. President Kennedy delivered remarks from the hangar deck after observing U.S. Atlantic Fleet exercises. (White House photograph)

President John F. Kennedy (center) greets Congressional Medal of Honor recipients, at a military reception in their honor. Also pictured: Military Aide to the President, General Chester V. Clifton; Naval Aide to the President, Captain Tazewell Shepard; Associate Press Secretary, Andrew T. Hatcher; Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy; First Lady’s Social Secretary, Letitia Baldrige; Deputy Secretary of Defense, Roswell L. Gilpatric; Secretary of Defense, Robert S. McNamara; and Secretary of the Navy, Fred Korth. Rose Garden, White House, Washington, D.C. (JFK Library)

President John F. Kennedy visits with U.S. Navy officers. Left to right: Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) officer, Commander Irene Wolensky; Director of WAVES, Captain Winifred Quick Collins; and President Kennedy. Oval Office, White House, Washington, D.C. (JFK Library)

President John F. Kennedy (center, wearing sunglasses) exits a United States Marine Corps helicopter upon his arrival aboard the aircraft carrier USS Oriskany (CVA-34), during a visit to the U.S. Pacific Fleet at sea off the coast of San Diego, California. Secretary of the Navy Fred Korth follows behind President Kennedy; U.S. Navy sailors render honors. (White House photograph)

President John F. Kennedy (seated in high-back chair at right) and other distinguished guests watch U.S. Pacific Fleet demonstrations from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk (CVA-63), at sea off the coast of San Diego, California; a North American Vigilante bomber jet aircraft (with tail number 150823) sits on the deck in the background. Front row, left to right: Secretary of the Navy Fred Korth (pointing up towards the sky); Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Fleet (CINCPACFLT), Admiral John H. Sides; President Kennedy; Governor of California, Edmund G. “Pat” Brown; Senator Clair Engle (California); Under Secretary of the Navy, Paul "Red" Fay; and Commandant of the Marine Corps, General David M. Shoup. (JFK Library)

President John F. Kennedy visits the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii June 9, 1963. Also pictured: Governor John A. Burns of Hawaii; Senator Daniel Inouye (Hawaii); Commander in Chief of the U.S. Pacific Command (CINCPAC), Admiral Harry D. Felt; Deputy Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral U. S. Grant Sharp, Jr.; and Naval Aide to the President, Captain Tazewell Shepard. (JFK Library)

President John F. Kennedy (right)meets with Secretary of Defense, Robert S. McNamara, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Maxwell D. Taylor (far left).  McNamara and  Taylor reported to President Kennedy on their recent survey trip to South Vietnam. Oval Office, White House, Washington, D.C.

President John F. Kennedy and others listen to a bugle player during Memorial Day ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. Administrator of the Veterans Administration (VA), General John S. Gleason (face obscured), stands right of bugler. (JFK Library)

Military officials arrive at the White House prior to the funeral procession of President John F. Kennedy. Those pictured include: Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force, General Curtis E. LeMay; Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Maxwell D. Taylor; Chief of Staff of the United States Army, General Earle G. Wheeler; Commandant of the United States Marine Corps, General David M. Shoup; Naval Aide to President Kennedy, Captain Tazewell Shepard; Air Force Aide to President Kennedy, Brigadier General Godfrey T. McHugh; Military Aide to President Kennedy, General Chester V. Clifton. A member of the United States Navy color guard holds a flag at left. North Lawn driveway, White House, Washington, D.C. (JFK Library)

USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67) Underway during carrier airwing qualifications in the Northern Puerto Rican Operations Area, December 10, 1996. (Photo by PH2c Scott A. Moak, USN. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, NHHC.)

Over the past eight years Navy Reads has published posts on "Profiles in Courage" and "PT-109," showing how President Kennedy overcame challenges and kept his focus on freedom, equality and justice for future generations.