The missing man……..

Back when we were in Charleston a couple of weeks ago, I gave the S.O. a complete tour of the Citadel campus. One of the places I dragged her into took her to was the Daniel Library. It is worth the look-see, if only for the reason that the front great hall has some huge murals on display:

See all the portraits on the wall on your right? Those are pictures of the past presidents of The Citadel. I had assumed that it was a comprehensive list of paintings and pictures, but as I looked closer, it appeared to me that one of the persons whose picture should be up on the wall was missing.  Knowing the history of the man’s troubled tenure as Citadel president, I wonder if it might have been more than just an oversight. The cynic in me suspected that portrait’s omission might have been by design.

That man is Vice Admiral James Bond Stockdale. At my commencement ceremonies, he was the speaker, which occurred right after he had been announced to succeed Gen Seignious as the college’s 15th president. He served one year as president from 1979-1980. While it is contentious to some, it is also nonetheless a statement fact that few alumni or cadets at the time -were sad to see him leave. I remember well hearing of the news of his moving on to Stanford, just as I had heard of the events that transpired during his tenure. Count me in the alumni group who felt he was bad for the college and eagerly welcomed his departure.

Stockdale’s  account of the period can be found in the closing chapter of his autobiography In Love and War. He writes unsparingly about the college and many of the people who worked in senior positions within its board and the administration of the time. Since I knew most of the people, he attacks in the book either by name or reputation from my time as a cadet-I think he did those people a great disservice. Two people, in particular, I hope he subsequently apologized to. His statements about the Commandant at the time, an active duty US Army Colonel and the president’s executive assistant-are particularly regrettable and grossly incorrect IMHO.

It’s always a bit difficult to write about this particular time, as Stockdale was a true hero and a man of incredible courage. He gave this country a lot more than he ever got from it. Nonetheless, an examination of his tenure at the College clearly shows what happens when a governing body makes a decision in haste-hoping to cash in on a name and that Stockdale was the wrong man for The Citadel. To my knowledge, for the rest of his life, he never mellowed in his opinion that all of the problems that occurred during that stormy year were all the college’s fault.  It makes a great story and a great rationalization-but it was not true. It diminishes none of his greatness to analyze why he was such a bad fit for a great institution.

Simply put,  James Stockdale misunderstood the institution and the fact that despite his earnest desire to make it like the Naval Academy, that was not and should not be its place in the educational universe. ( The Citadel and VMI are better than that -and do not need to be dragged into the same morass as that federally funded institutions). Furthermore, he failed dismally to understand that an institution as the Citadel rises and falls on the money flowing from its alumni, and when you needlessly antagonize them, it does not matter how right you think you are.

Plus, in 1980-plenty of folks within the college’s administration, the Corps of Cadets, and the Board of Visitors had seen the hypocrisy the Naval Academy was putting up with – and wanted no part of it.  Despite USNA’s best efforts to hide the facts-the truth was getting out from the Midshipmen themselves.  Definitely, the wrong time to be pulling the “new sheriff in town” act.

Stockdale proposed fundamental ( and destructive) changes to the college’s military system, and it is clear from his writings that he came into the President’s position with a flawed and pre-conceived notion of what he thought the place was supposed to be like. That he was mistaken in his ideas and his approach was more than adequately proven by the successful tenure and improvements to the college that were made by his successor-while still preserving the essentials of the military system that makes the college the unique and great institution that it was all the way up to 1996.  Gen Grimsley saved the college. (It’s still a great college today-but thanks to the Supreme Court-it has morphed into something entirely different).  Contrary to Stockdale’s assertion that the college was in an academic slump, he never points out that even before he arrived, the college was well ranked among colleges of its size, and my class, for example, had the largest freshman enrollment in the college’s history.  ( We started with 790 of us and finished with 410).

That the college’s board and its alumni had had enough is reflected in the following Alumni Association resolution posted about Admiral Stockdale’s successor:

WHEREAS, The Board of Visitors wisely selected Major General James A.  Grimsley, Jr., U.S. Army, Retired, Class of 1942, to succeed to the presidency of The Citadel upon the resignation of Vice Admiral  James B. Stockdale, U.S. Navy, Retired; and
WHEREAS, the college environment which had for some time been in a state of uncertainty; and
WHEREAS, the college is now functioning efficiently in all areas as a result of General Grimsley’s inspired leadership,
BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED THAT the Association of Citadel Men hereby commends the Board of Visitors for its wisdom in making this selection and commends General Grimsley for his exemplary performance to date and that the officers and directors of the Association unanimously wish General Grimsley well and
pledge their complete support of his administration, and we further pledge our support to the Board of Visitors as the constituted governing body of the College.

Academic speak for, “Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”

There are no buildings on campus named for him. There are, however, buildings honoring both his predecessor and his successor though. Read into that -what you will.