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Elmo R. Zumwalt
'Elmo Russell Zumwalt, Jr.' (
November 29,
1920 –
January 2,
2000) was an
American naval leader and the youngest man to serve as
Chief of Naval Operations. As an
admiral and later the 19th
Chief of Naval Operations in the
U.S. Navy, Zumwalt played a major part in the
Vietnam War. A highly decorated war veteran, Zumwalt reformed Naval personnel policies in an effort to improve enlisted life and ease racial tensions. After he retired from a 32-year Navy career, he launched an unsuccessful campaign for the
U.S. Senate.
Early life and education
Zumwalt was born in
San Francisco,
California, the son of Elmo Russell Zumwalt, M.D., and Frances Zumwalt, M.D., both country doctors. Frances had been the daughter of two French-Canadian doctors in a small town in Vermont: her parents had both died in a smallpox epidemic when she was a baby. She was adopted by a family who moved to Los Angeles, where she grew up. Her adoptve parents encouraged Frances to become a doctor like her birth parents.
Zumwalt, an
Eagle Scout and recipient of the
Distinguished Eagle Scout Award from the
Boy Scouts of America, attended
Tulare Union High School in
Tulare, California, where he became the
valedictorian, and
Rutherford Preparatory School in
Long Beach. He had planned to become a doctor like his parents, but in
1939, Zumwalt was accepted to the
United States Naval Academy in
Annapolis,
Maryland. As a
midshipman at USNA, he was president of the Trident Society, vice president of the Quarterback Society and the two-time winner of the June Week Public Speaking Contest (
1940-
41). Zumwalt also participated in intercollegiate debating and was a Company Commander (1941) and Regimental Three Striper (
1942). He graduated with distinction and was
commissioned as an
ensign on
June 19,
1942. He also received an honorary degree from Texas Tech University.
World War II
Zumwalt joined the
USS ''Phelps'' (DD-360), a
destroyer. In August
1943, ''Phelps'' was detached for instruction in the
Operational Training Command-
Pacific in
San Francisco. In January
1944, Zumwalt reported onboard the
USS ''Robinson''. On this ship, he was awarded the
Bronze Star with
Valor device for "heroic service as Evaluator in the
Combat Information Center...in action against enemy
Japanese
battleships during the
Battle for Leyte Gulf,
October 25, 1944."
After the end of
World War II in August
1945, Zumwalt continued to serve until
December 8 as the prize crew officer of the
HIMJS ''Ataka'', a 1,200-ton Japanese river
gunboat with a crew of 200. In this capacity, he took the first American-controlled ship since the outbreak of
World War II up the
Huangpu River to
Shanghai. There they helped to restore order and assisted in disarming the Japanese.
He also met and married Mouza Coutelet du Roche, whose French-Russian family was living in Shanghai. She returned with him to the States. Her family, left behind in a region whose post-War government was chaotic, fared poorly, despite the best intentions and best efforts of the victors.
Command assignments
Zumwalt next served as
executive officer of the destroyer
USS ''Saufley'', and in March
1946 was transferred to the destroyer
USS ''Zellars'', as Executive Officer and Navigator. In January
1948 he was assigned to the
Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps Unit of the
University of North Carolina, where he remained until June
1950. That month he assumed command of
USS ''Tills'', in commission in reserve status. That destroyer escort was placed in full active commission at
Charleston Naval Shipyard on
21 November 1950, and he continued to command her until March
1951, when he joined the battleship
USS ''Wisconsin'' as Navigator.
Detached from USS ''Wisconsin'' in June
1952, he attended the
Naval War College,
Newport, Rhode Island, and in June
1953 reported as Head of the Shore and Overseas Bases Section,
Bureau of Naval Personnel, Navy Department,
Washington, D. C. He also served as Officer and Enlisted Requirements Officer and as Action Officer on Medicare Legislation. Completing that tour of duty in July
1955, he assumed command of the destroyer
USS ''Arnold J. Isbell'', participating in two deployments to the
Seventh Fleet. In this assignment he was commended by the Commander, Cruiser-Destroyer Forces,
U.S. Pacific Fleet for winning the Battle Efficiency Competition for his ship and for winning Excellence Awards in Engineering, Gunnery, Antisubmarine Warfare, and Operations. In July
1957 he returned to the Bureau of Naval Personnel for further duty. In December 1957 he was transferred to the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Personnel and Reserve Forces), and served as Special Assistant for Naval Personnel until November
1958, then as Special Assistant and Naval Aide until August
1959.
Ordered to the first ship built from the keel up as a guided missile ship,
USS ''Dewey'' (DLG-14), building at the
Bath (Maine) Iron Works, he assumed command of that guided missile
frigate at her commissioning in December
1959, and commanded her until June
1961. During this period of his command, Dewey earned the Excellence Award in Engineering, Supply, Weapons, and was runner-up in the Battle Efficiency Competition. He was a student at the
National War College, Washington, D. C., during the 1961-1962 class year. In June he was assigned to the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (International Security Affairs), Washington, D. C., where he served first as Desk Officer for
France,
Spain and
Portugal, then as Director of Arms Control and Contingency Planning for
Cuba. From December
1963 until
21 June 1965 he served as Executive Assistant and Senior Aide to the Honorable
Paul H. Nitze,
Secretary of the Navy. For duty in his tour in the offices of the
Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of the Navy, he was awarded the Legion of Merit.
Flag assignments
After his selection for the rank of
Rear Admiral, he assumed command in July 1965 of
Cruiser-Destroyer Flotilla Seven. In September 1968 he became Commander Naval Forces,
Vietnam. and Chief of the Naval Advisory Group, U. S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam. Admiral Zumwalt was the Navy adviser to General
Creighton Abrams, the commander of all US Forces. Zumwalt always spoke very highly of Abrams and said he was the most caring officer he had ever known. He mentioned that the General was the first to congratulate him when he was chosen to be Chief of Naval Operations.
Zumwalt's command was not a blue-water unit, like the Seventh Fleet; it was a brown-water unit: He commanded the flotilla of Swift Boats that patrolled the coasts, harbors, and rivers of Vietnam. Among the swift-boat commanders were his son, Elmo Russell Zumwalt III, and later future Senator
John Kerry. During this time the elder Zumwalt had an opportunity to safeguard the men who served under his command from the Viet Cong who hid in the jungle and ambushed American and ARVN patrols at will: a new herbicide,
Agent Orange, could be sprayed on the trees to remove the cover the VC used so effectively. The effects of long-term Agent-Orange exposure on humans were not yet known, and the manufacturers--Dow and Monsanto-- were eager to reassure potential users about its safety. Admiral Zumwalt acted to protect his son and his many comrades from a "clear and present danger," but in so doing he inadvertently exposed him to chemicals now known to cause cancer. As all commanders must do, he acted quickly and decisively on incomplete information; in this case, he relied on information sources that were biased and unreliable, as later developments made clear.
Chief of Naval Operations
President
Richard M. Nixon nominated Zumwalt to be
Chief of Naval Operations on
14 April 1970. Upon being relieved as Commander Naval Forces, Vietnam, on
15 May 1970, he was awarded a
Gold Star in lieu of a second
Navy Distinguished Service Medal for exceptionally meritorious service.
He assumed command as
Chief of Naval Operations and was promoted to
Admiral on
1 July 1970 and quickly began a series of moves intended to reduce racism and sexism in the Navy. These were disseminated in Navy-wide communications to the Navy known as "Z-grams." These included orders authorizing beards (sideburns, mustaches, and longer groomed hair were also acceptable) and introducing beer dispensing machines to barracks. Not all of these changes were well-received by senior naval personnel. The measures to reduce discrimination against women and racial minorities were adamantly opposed by those who had long benefited from this discrimination.
Zumwalt reshaped the Navy's effort to replace large numbers of aging World War II-era vessels, a plan called "High-Low." Instituted over the resistance of Admiral
Hyman Rickover and others, High-Low sought to balance the purchase of high-end, nuclear-powered vessels with low-end, cheaper ones that could be bought in greater numbers. Rickover, the Father of the Nuclear Navy, preferred buying a few impressive ships to buying many ordinary ones. (A similar dichotomy was seen in the late 16th century: The
Spanish Armada was a fleet of 100-odd large
ships of the line--massive, fast, heavily armed, carrying an army of infantrymen inside them, ready to invade England. Against them was ranged a more numerous English fleet of small, agile, lightly armed ships. Ultimately the little ships sank many of the big ones, and storms sank almost all of the rest.)
Zumwalt proposed four kinds of warships to fit the plan; in the end, only the
''Pegasus'' class of missile patrol boats and the
''Oliver Hazard Perry'' (FFG 7) class of
guided missile frigates became reality. But the ''Perrys'' stood as the most populous class of U.S. warships since World War II until the
''Arleigh Burke'' (DDG 51) destroyers came along.
Zumwalt retired from the Navy on
1 July 1974.
Later years
In
1976, he unsuccessfully ran as a
Democratic candidate for the
United States Senate from
Virginia. Later he held the presidency of the
American Medical Building Corporation in
Milwaukee,
Wisconsin.
In 1996, Admiral
Jeremy Boorda, Chief of Naval Operations, and a close subordinate of Zumwalt's in Vietnam, committed suicide while on active duty because of a ''Newsweek'' article by retired U.S. Army Colonel
David Hackworth. Hackworth questioned Boorda's wearing a "V" - for valor- pin on his Navy Achievement and Commendation Medals (which were earned for service in Vietnam). Zumwalt publicly stated that Boorda had indeed earned them and was authorized to wear them, but it proved too late for Jeremy Boorda. Following these statements made by Zumwalt, Hackworth's criticism of Boorda ceased to make headlines.
Admiral Zumwalt died on
2 January 2000 at the
Duke University Medical Center in
Durham, North Carolina after suffering with
mesothelioma, a rare
cancer of the lungs caused by his exposure to
asbestos while serving in the Navy. (The same disease took the lives of actor
Steve McQueen and musician
Warren Zevon.) His home was in
Arlington, Virginia. He was married to the former Mouza Coutelais-du-Roche of
Harbin,
Manchuria, and they had two sons,
Elmo R. Zumwalt III, who died of
cancer in
1988, possibly due to
Agent Orange exposure, and James Gregory Zumwalt, and two daughters, Ann F. Zumwalt Coppola and Mouza C. Zumwalt-Weathers. He was also survived by six grandchildren. Admiral Zumwalt and his son wrote a book called ''My Father, My Son'' where they discussed their family tragedy. The book was adapted for the 1988 made-for-TV movie starring
Karl Malden.
Admiral Zumwalt said he felt his son's illness was most definitely due to Agent Orange. He also mentioned that his grandson suffered from very severe learning disabilities that could possibly be traced to it as well. The Admiral mentioned that he felt terrible guilt and shame over his decision to have US Navy planes use the infamous defoliant during the war. It should be noted that the younger Zumwalt said he bore his father no bitterness and did not blame him. After treatment in a number of hospitals, Elmo III went to the
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, in
Seattle, where he received a
bone marrow transplant from his sister Mouzetta, whose tissues fortunately matched his well enough for this treatment to be feasile. Results were promising at the end of ''My Father, My Son,'' but he died in 1988.
During his son's illness in the early 1980s, Admiral Zumwalt was very active in lobbying Congress to establish a national registry of bone marrow donors. (Such donors serve patients who do not have suitably matched bone marrow donors in their families. This was ultimately a disinterested act, since his son was able to receive a transplant from his own sister, but many patients don't have close relatives who are able and willing to help in this heroic way. His efforts were a major factor in the founding of the
National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) in July 1986. Admiral Zumwalt was the first chairman of the NMDP's Board of Directors.
The lead ship of the U.S. Navy's
DD(X) guided missile destroyer program is named the
USS ''Zumwalt''; by Navy tradition, the ship and its sisters will be called the ''Zumwalt'' class.
Family
Zumwalt's family includes four men named "Elmo Russell Zumwalt." His father, born in the late 19th century, was the California physician Elmo Russell Zumwalt, M.D; he married another physician, the daughter of two physicians who had died battling a smallpox epidemic when she was a child. Zumwalt Jr. died in 2000; his epitaph reads "Zumwalt/Elmo Russell, Jr." The admiral's son, Elmo Russell Zumwalt III, died in 1988 of cancer attributed to
Agent Orange exposure. His grandson, Elmo Russell Zumwalt IV, was alive at the end of the 1986 book ''My Father, My Son.''
Medals and Decorations
United States
US Civilian medals and decorations
★
Presidential Medal of Freedom
US Military medals and decorations
★
Navy Distinguished Service Medal with two gold
award stars in lieu of second and third award
★
Legion of Merit with one gold award star
★
Bronze Star with
Combat "V"
★
Navy Commendation Medal with Combat "V"
★
Navy Unit Commendation
★
China Service Medal
★
American Defense Service Medal with bronze
"A" Device
★
American Campaign Medal
★
Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with one silver and two bronze
campaign stars in lieu of seven awards
★
World War II Victory Medal
★
Navy Occupation Service Medal
★
National Defense Service Medal with one bronze
service star
★
Korean Service Medal with two bronze service stars
★
Vietnam Service Medal with one silver and two bronze service stars in lieu of seven awards
Foreign medals and decorations
★
United Nations Korean Medal - (United Nations)
★ The
Order of May for Naval Merit, Grand Master (or ''Orden de Mayo al Mérito Naval'') - (Argentina)
★
Order of Léopold, Commander - (Belgium)
★
Order of Naval Merit, Grade of High Officer - (Bolivia)
★
Order of Naval Merit, Medal of Grand Officer - (Brazil)
★
National Order of the Southern Cross, Degree of Grand Cross - (Brazil)
★
Great Star of Military Merit - (Chile)
★
Almirante Padilla Naval Merit Order, Great Official
[1] - (Colombia)
★
Order of Merit of Duarte, Sanchez and Mella, Grand Cross with Silver Breast Star (Dominican Republic)
★
Légion d'honneur in the Rank of Commander - (France)
★ Grand Cross, Second Class of the
Order of Merit - (Germany)
★
Order of George I, Grand Cross - (Greece)
★
Bintang Jalasena Utama, First Class - (Indonesia)
★
Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, Grand Cross (or ''Cavaliere di Gran Croce Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana'')
[2] - (Italy)
★
Order of the Rising Sun, 1st Class, Grand Cordon - (Japan)
★
Order of Military Merit, Third Class - (Republic of Korea)
★
Korean Presidential Unit Citation - (Republic of Korea)
★
Order of National Security Merit, Tong-Il Medal - (Republic of Korea)
★
Order of Orange-Nassau (''military division''), Grand Office - (Netherlands)
★
Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav, Grand Cross - (Norway)
★
Philippine Presidential Unit Citation - (Philippines)
★
Philippine Liberation Medal with two service stars - (Philippines)
★
Royal Swedish Order of the Sword, Knighthood Grand Cross - (Sweden)
★
Order of Naval Merit, First Class - (Venezuela)
★
National Order of Vietnam, Third Class - (Vietnam)
★
Republic of Vietnam Navy Distinguished Service Order, First Class - (Vietnam)
★
Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Palm - (Vietnam)
★
Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross Unit Citation with Palm - (Vietnam)
★
Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal with "1960 Bar" device - (Vietnam)
★
Vietnam Civil Actions Medal, First Class - (Vietnam)
Miscellaneous
★ Zumwalt's picture hangs in the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City, near pictures of
John Kerry,
Robert McNamara,
Warren Christopher, and other American dignitaries, in commemoration of a visit he made after normalization of relations between Vietnam and the United States.
[1]
★ In his first book, ''On Watch'', Zumwalt quoted at length an interview with Admiral
Hyman G. Rickover, regarded as the
Father of the Nuclear Navy and who interviewed all officers with responsibilities involving nuclear propulsion. Rickover and Zumwalt had a combative conversation, with Zumwalt referring to it as a humbling experience.
★ Zumwalt was a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity. He was initiated in 1980.
Further reading
★ ''My Father, My Son'' by Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr. and Elmo R. Zumwalt III. (Dell Publishing Company, ISBN 0-440-15973-3)
★ ''On Watch: a memoir'' by Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr. (The New York Times Book Co., ISBN 0-8129-0520-2)
★ ''Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt Jr., Texas Tech University Series'' http://www.virtualarchive.vietnam.ttu.edu/cgi-bin/starfetch.exe?N4@s13Nbkp6bg29BrFO1pNZvr0DdFDSjye3yUDRVsV6Ke0GZcmbVZhkmoBkfSLgLY9RC5Rqs0Us4tQAivQKzlsyfJEfo4pVehbpFTLDZjAE/6310000000.pdf
External links
★
Find-A-Grave profile for Elmo Russell Zumwalt Jr
★
USS Zumwalt.com
★
DDG-1000 ddg1k.com
★
Z-grams: A List of Policy Directives Issued by Admiral Zumwalt 1 July 1970 to 1 July 1974
★
1972 Time magazine article on resistance to Zumwalt's policies, "Keelhauling the Navy"
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