Skip to main content
USNI Logo USNI Logo USNI Logo USNI 150th Anniversary
Donate
  • Cart
  • Join or Log In
  • Search

Main navigation

  • About Us
  • Membership
  • Books & Press
  • USNI News
  • Proceedings
  • Naval History
  • Archives
  • Events
  • Donate
USNI Logo USNI Logo USNI Logo USNI 150th Anniversary
Donate
  • Cart
  • Join or Log In
  • Search

Main navigation (Sticky)

  • About Us
  • Membership
  • Books & Press
  • USNI News
  • Proceedings
  • Naval History
  • Archives
  • Events
  • Donate

Sub Menu

  • Essay Contests
    • About Essay Contests
    • Marine Corps
    • Naval Intelligence
    • Naval and Maritime
  • Current Issue
  • The Proceedings Podcast
  • U.S. Naval Institute Blog
  • American Sea Power Project
  • Contact Proceedings
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Media Inquiries
  • All Issues

Sub Menu

  • Essay Contests
    • About Essay Contests
    • Marine Corps
    • Naval Intelligence
    • Naval and Maritime
  • Current Issue
  • The Proceedings Podcast
  • U.S. Naval Institute Blog
  • American Sea Power Project
  • Contact Proceedings
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Media Inquiries
  • All Issues

An Ethic Without Heroes

By Lieutenant Lawrence Bauer, U.S. Navy
June 1993
Proceedings
Vol. 119/6/1,084
Leadership Forum
View Issue
Comments

This html article is produced from an uncorrected text file through optical character recognition. Prior to 1940 articles all text has been corrected, but from 1940 to the present most still remain uncorrected.  Artifacts of the scans are misspellings, out-of-context footnotes and sidebars, and other inconsistencies.  Adjacent to each text file is a PDF of the article, which accurately and fully conveys the content as it appeared in the issue.  The uncorrected text files have been included to enhance the searchability of our content, on our site and in search engines, for our membership, the research community and media organizations. We are working now to provide clean text files for the entire collection.

 

Almost 70 years ago, Rear Admiral Albert Gleaves raised a toast to the Navy’s traditions. “Certainly, it is our duty to keep these traditions alive,” he said, “and to pass them on untarnished to those who come after us.” If Admiral Gleaves were alive today, it is likely he would be concerned with polishing some tarnished traditions. During the past two years, revelations of sexual harassment and other misconduct have brought dis­credit to the Navy and the reputation of its officers. As a result, professional ethics are—now more than ever—an im­portant factor in the education of an of­ficer. Long after Tailhook becomes a footnote in the history books, our re­sponse to it will be having a profound ef­fect on the practice of leadership.

For a naval officer, ethics is not aca­demic; it is a discipline applied to every­day decision making. It is a source of in­spiration, encouraging us to remain faithful to it when the temptation to com­promise is great. We rely on our leaders to make wise choices in difficult mo­ments. For an officer, then, devotion to the professional ethic must be equal to his or her devotion to subordinates, be­cause to fail one is to fail them both.

Like the professional ethic of many old institutions, ours has developed over the years and is rich in tradition. Last year, however, the Navy adopted an official set of core values and introduced it into the fleet. For the first time in its history, the Navy codified the qualities it finds most desirable in its personnel and in its lead­ers: courage, honor, and commitment. In­deed, these are timeless virtues, but what is missing, and what this philosophy will need if it is to accomplish any lasting good, is tradition—heroes and a history of its own.

“Fortune,” said Winston Churchill, “is rightly malignant to those who break with the customs of the past.” What began in Las Vegas two years ago has been called a watershed by military and civilian leaders. But watershed is a dan­gerous word. It places most of our his­

tory and tradition on the wrong side of a time line dominated by a single tragic event, and it reinforces the viewpoint of skeptics that ethics is a political expedi­ency in the wake of a scandal. It deprives us of what the past has to offer.

For more than two centuries, officers have been expected to treat others with dignity and respect because they defend and represent a society based on an as­sumption of individual worth. The crises that plague the Navy are not the result of a flawed standard of conduct, but rather they are the work of a few officers who failed to keep faith with a 200-year- old ethic—either by their own actions or by tacit ap­proval of the actions of oth­ers. Only an ethic steeped in history provides the means to put these failures in perspective.

The characters and lives of our great leaders dwarf the in­discretions of lesser men. It was, for example, George Washington’s reputation for fairness that established him as the preeminent mil­itary officer in America even before the Revolution.

Historians agree that he gained not merely the obedi­ence, but the respect of the troops he led:

ington’s time was somewhat the re' verse: the man by his character and performance gave dignity to the office the office was less likely to give luster to the man. . . . Washington implicitly acknowledged the conditions for re' spect when he cautioned his junior1, to “remember that it is the actions and not the commission that make the of ficer—and that there is more expected of him than the title.”[I]

dat

“yc

trai

ha\

all;

oth

sel

wh

ow

We

trai

Wh

cal

ica

spi

tor

els

ad

m£

wt

A

This still is true, but not simpl) because the Navy has adopted a set of abstract words to define an officer’s character. Rather, itlS true because our history spot' lights leaders—from George Washington and John Paul Jones to Vice Admiral James Stock'

ln!

M;

iti(

Pu

ex,

m<

a i ita

ca

He had it because of his actions, not because he was an officer, nor even because his was a deferential society in which men looked up to their social and economic betters. . . . Today, offi­cers are entitled to respect because they are officers.

Even so, there are varying degrees of regard, determined by the manner in which superior officers conduct them­selves. In contrast, the view in Wash-

t

By omitting tradition from its official core values, the Navy has robbed its people of what the past has to offer. Naval history is full of leaders—from John Paul Jones, to Admiral Marc Mitscher, to Vice Admiral James Stockdale—who have set the example and the standard, by their actions as well as their words.

ART: U.S. NAVY

dale—who have set the example and the standard for us, by the,r actions as well as their words- They provide us with a sense of history, which will help us “avoid the self-indulgent error of seeing [ourselves] in a predica­ment so unprecedented, so unique- as to justify . . . making an exception to law, custom, or morality in favor of [ourselves].”2

“To sustain a culture,” says Ernes1 Boyer, president of the Carnegie Foun-

Pu

fo

C(

Wi

kt

Ue

mi

it

of

cc

iti

ar

of

m

bi

di

°I

w

hi

Jc

Pi

at

in

cs

li­

ft

st

tc

50

Proceedings/ June 19W

 

Ration for the Advancement of Teaching, you need points of common memory, hadition, and experience. If we don't have those, it’s impossible to intellectu- a% and socially engage with one an­other.”3 The service is a culture unto it- Self-—a reflection of the society from "'hich it draws its people, but with its °wn unique ethic. To sustain that culture, We must draw on our unique memories, traditions, and experiences—our history.

It is paradoxical that our solution to what the core values instructor guide calls the fragmented experience of Amer- lcan youth4 is as devoid of heroes and sPirit as that experience itself. Educa- t0rs partly blame the lack of role mod- ds for declining student performance and a hearth of values—yet our adopted ethic Stakes no reference to men and women "'ho have been such models.

. Our earliest leaders—General Wash­ington, Thomas Jefferson, and James ^adison among them—believed the qual­ms most desirable in citizens of the re­public would flourish only if there were Samples to emulate. They purposely and ntethodically created such examples.5 In a nation without a long-established mil- ltary or political aristocracy, example be­Came the means by which new leaders "'ere developed.

By weaving history into our ethic we Put life into it. “Seldom do [soldiers] fight I°r causes or abstract values,” writes Lionel Anthony E. Hartle, “though they Till fight for a strong leader whom they Ww well.”6 We must ensure that the val­ues we fight for are not abstract.

. Some might argue that history is not 'ntegral to maintaining an ethic: if it were, U should have prevented the indiscretions

the past two years. But any ethic be­comes weakened if it is reduced to plat- Uudes. At the Naval Academy, for ex- autple, John Paul Jones’ caution that an officer must be more than a “capable Oiariner” is still grist for memorization

midshipmen. But no parallels are Prawn between his words and the devel­opment of an officer’s character. The 'vords are history, and for many, history bus grown irrelevant. While the qualities I°nes found necessary in an officer—tact, Patience, justice, firmness, and charity— Ure coincidentally the same qualities lack- *Ug among the offenders in all of our re­cent scandals, we seem to have focused little attention on them. Instead, we have reWritten them and, in the process, ''Tipped away their eloquence and the his­torical significance of their author.

The question we face is whether an in­stitution that has made history by over­coming adversity will now overcome ad­versity by ignoring its history. And if so,

Proceedings / June 1993 at what price? Admittedly, a doctrinaire emphasis on ethics is better than no em­phasis at all. At the very least, unac­ceptable behavior may be eliminated. But in a profession where leaders accept re­sponsibility for the welfare of others, merely acceptable conduct is not enough. We might eliminate demeaning behavior toward women, for example, or educate officers about racism. It would be far bet­ter, however, to produce leaders who are able to recognize injustice without having to be sensitized to each of its guises, who are able to respect the dig­nity of others without conscious effort.

To do this, we must first eliminate the notion of statutory ethics, translated into a policy of “get on board with our val­ues or get out.” Laws may be a reflection of the values they uphold, but they are not a substitute for the values themselves. The Navy has a set of regulations in place, to enforce its standards. Those who cannot meet the standards are now, as they have always been, subject to pun­ishment under the Uniform Code of Mil­itary Justice. Unfortunately, there is a punitive tone to the presentation of our new core values. By preaching a philos­ophy of life as if we were administering the law, we obscure the purpose and meaning of both. As Colonel Hartle points out:

Some might suggest that these rules are part of the professional military ethic [PME]. The UCMJ, however, ap­plies to all members of the military, not just the most obviously profes­sional component. It is more compa­rable to the laws of the state in rela­tion to other professionals, which apply to professionals and laymen alike. Nonetheless, the UCMJ defines hon­orable conduct in a negative sense by establishing what members of the mil­itary will not do. The PME, on the other hand, emphasizes ideals and pos­itive aspects of conduct. Without ques­tion, the morality that shapes the PME also underlies the UCMJ, but the two guides for conduct are quite different.7

Once established as ideals, standards are free to become obligations, imposed not by external forces, but by personal pride. Without heroes, however, ideals are easily reduced to ideology. The sec­ond step toward reaffirming a truly ef­fective ethic for ourselves is to ensure that it is seen as part of our history, not a deviation from it. By declaring uncon­scionable behavior no longer acceptable, we imply that at some time it was—and do a disservice to the countless officers before us who might otherwise serve as

examples.

Character development must go hand in hand with an understanding of our his­tory—not simply battles and dates but the trials and personal philosophies of past Navy leaders. Establishing that historical camaraderie increases the sense of oblig­ation to the ethic, since compromise now means becoming a lesser member among greats. It provides examples, and as Ad­miral Stockdale wrote, the knowledge that there is no situation so unique as to war­rant compromise.

Finally, a historical perspective pro­vides a healthy dose of humility. It is humbling to remember many of those past members of the profession whose lives defined the word character. Cer­tainly, humility is, to some small degree at least, a prerequisite for selflessness, and selflessness is at the heart of our profession.

The future of professional ethics in the Navy is not especially bleak, nor is it par­ticularly bright. We have taken the first steps toward reaffirming integrity and re­spect for human dignity as essential qual­ities in our leaders. The danger is that now, satisfied with a clear policy, we will stop, and fail to put spirit into the words. Words without the power to inspire can­not provide effective guidance for an eth­ical way of life. Woodrow Wilson be­lieved that no one can lead “.. . who does not act, whether it be consciously or un­consciously, under the impulse of a pro­found sympathy with those whom he leads—a sympathy which is insight—an insight which is of the heart rather than of the intellect.”8

Words and policies appeal to the in­tellect, but appealing to hearts—and de­veloping them—requires developing a sense of pride and purpose that only other hearts can accomplish.

’Don Higginbothem, George Washington and the American Military Tradition (University of Georgia Press, 1985), pp. 16-17.

'James B. Stockdale, “Moral Leadership,” U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, September 1980, p. 87. •“What Americans Should Know,” U.S. News & World Report, 28 September 1987, p. 86.

'Navy Core Values Instructor Guide, Section G (Background Information).

'Garry Wills, Cincinnatus: George Washington & The Enlightenment, (Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1984), pp. Ill, 129.

‘Anthony E. Hartle, Moral Issues in Military Deci­sion Making (University Press of Kansas, 1989), p. 152.

’Ibid., p. 52.

•Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., Cycles of American History, (Houghton Mifflin Company, 1986), p. 430. 1

 

[I] Lieutenant Bauer, a graduate of Northwestern Uni­versity, is currently assigned to the U.S. Naval Acad­emy. He served earlier as combat information cen­ter officer, first lieutenant, and navigator on board the USS Moinester (FFT-1097).

 

Digital Proceedings content made possible by a gift from CAPT Roger Ekman, USN (Ret.)

Quicklinks

Footer menu

  • About the Naval Institute
  • Books & Press
  • Naval History Magazine
  • USNI News
  • Proceedings
  • Oral Histories
  • Events
  • Naval Institute Foundation
  • Photos & Historical Prints
  • Advertise With Us
  • Naval Institute Archives

Receive the Newsletter

Sign up to get updates about new releases and event invitations.

Sign Up Now
Example NewsletterPrivacy Policy
USNI Logo White
Copyright © 2023 U.S. Naval Institute Privacy PolicyTerms of UseContact UsAdvertise With UsFAQContent LicenseMedia Inquiries
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Instagram
Powered by Unleashed Technologies
×

You've read 1 out of 5 free articles of Proceedings this month.

Non-members can read five free Proceedings articles per month. Join now and never hit a limit.