In 2004, Naval History’s parent organization, the U.S. Naval Institute, decided to change the format of the seminar program that traditionally complemented the organization’s Annual Meeting. The program, which generally had focused on current national defense affairs, would from that point be known as the Annapolis Naval History Symposium. The idea was to commission four historians to write papers on a specific aspect of a general historical topic and invite them to make presentations at the symposium. Each paper would be discussed by panels comprised of other historians and at least one active-duty officer in the Sea Services. The overt purpose was to provide a venue for historians to address details of the topic that normally never would surface anywhere else. An underlying motive was to engage acting professionals in discussions concerning how these history lessons might apply to current operations.
Some of us were skeptical about the latter. But much to our surprise, it was a resounding success, a perfect meld of lessons from the past that could be applied to the present and the future. Last year’s program yielded other benefits, as well. In this issue, beginning on page 26, edited versions of all four papers presented last year address the symposium’s theme, “Transformation of the U.S. Navy at the Dawn of the 20th Century.” Included are some of the biggest names in naval and historical literature today: H. W. Brands, James Reckner, John Hattendorf, and Norman Friedman.
We are pleased to report that the topic for the 2005 program, from 7-8 April, is “Expeditonary Warfare: America’s Way of War?” And this year, we also are delighted that the U.S. Naval Academy History Department has joined the other seven sponsoring organizations and is weaving in a block of concurrent scholarly sessions that were not part of the program last year. Hence, this year’s sessions promise to be broader-ranged and even better than 2004.
Also in this issue, we feature a World War II 60th anniversary commemoration of the Battle of Okinawa. Retired Marine Corps Colonel Joseph Alexander, an award-winning author, regular expert commentator on the History Channel and the Arts & Entertainment network, and frequent contributor to Naval History, takes us back to spring 1945, as Pacific commanders planned for what one called a “hellish prelude” to an invasion of the Japanese mainland. Here, Alexander takes a rare look at the Navy’s role in the battle and the high price it paid at the hands of Japanese kamikazes who crashed their aircraft seemingly at will into U.S. ships. Accompanying this sweeping article is a brief look at what motivated the kamikaze aviators, which author Miki Hayden sees as not so different from the motivations of U.S. troops fighting for their country.
In addition, Naval History talks to Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and historian David Halberstam about the compatibility of his two vocations, the staying power of The Best and the Brightest, perhaps his best-known work about the origins, execution, and consequences of the Vietnam War, and a new book he is writing on various aspects of the Korean War. We hope you find this entire issue thought-provoking and even forward-thinking.
—Fred L. Schultz, Editor-in-Chief