We've weathered another mid-term election, though not without one major casualty—Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. After six years as Pentagon chief and architect of the war in Iraq, Mr. Rumsfeld was asked by the President to step down the day after the election. Mr. Bush said "new leadership" was needed.
His choice to replace Mr. Rumsfeld was Robert Gates, ex-CIA chief and deputy national security adviser under the President's father. About 20 years ago, I escorted Mr. Gates to the White House Correspondents Dinner. He told me we were the last martini drinkers left in Washington. Martinis have long since made a comeback and now so has Mr. Gates after a dozen years running Texas A&M University. We wish him well. Few things can be as important to the armed forces as his performance in office.
It's doubtful any man who led the Pentagon worked harder than Mr. Rumsfeld. Or cared more. History will now judge how well he did his job. The war that will be as much his legacy as it is Mr. Bush's has outlasted him. We hope we will not have to say the same thing when Mr. Gates' tenure ends.
Our hope as we enter the holiday season is that a degree of post-election comity will descend on Washington and that our public officials will find ways to deal with the many problems that afflict us. Mostly we hope they find a way to honorably conclude the war in Iraq, one that advances the interests of the United States, brings peace to the Iraqi people, and ends the carnage that has ground up so many fine American men and women who answered their nation's call to arms.
We make no predictions. Over a long career, I have frequently admired the work of fellow journalists. With one caveat. They are, almost to a man (or woman), lousy prognosticators, me included. I date this to 1983, when a Baltimore Sun colleague, a very smart and seasoned reporter, confidently declared that Ronald Reagan had no chance to win re-election the following year. So on Election Day 1984 Mr. Reagan carried 49—count 'em, 49!—states.
The American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "Events are in the saddle and riding mankind," or something close to that. I think that pretty much covers my sense of things at the moment.
On a related matter, we've received a smattering of letters raising questions about a piece we ran in October on the U.S. Senate race in Virginia between incumbent Republican George Allen and former Navy Secretary James Webb, the ultimately victorious Democratic candidate. I intend to discuss the issue on next month's Editor's Page.
In October USNI held its first-ever Honors Night, sponsored by the Naval Institute Foundation. We hope to make it an annual affair. The high point of the evening was announcing those writers whose work over the previous 12 months merited their being named Authors of the Year. The awards and the winners are named and discussed on this month's Foundation page. I salute all of them and I'd like to pay special tribute to one.
Proceedings and Naval History, our sister magazine, joined forces with the Naval Institute Press, USNI's book publishing arm, to bestow the Institute's first Lifetime Achievement Award on retired Marine Brigadier General Ed Simmons.
The award may as well have been created for him. Over the years General Simmons' towering knowledge of Marine Corps history along with his graceful writing has enlivened both magazines and illuminated its readers. Two of his most recent contributions were featured in Naval History's December 2005 issue. One focused on the Marines' transformative World War I experience; the second on their key role in the July 1918 Battle of Soissons. His prize-winning novel of the Korean War, Dog Company Six, remains an immensely popular fixture in NIP's catalog, as does an updated version of his classic, The United States Marines: A History.
Late last year the new wing of the Marine Corps University Library was named in his honor. He was, of course, a well-rounded Marine. He fought on Guam, landed at Inchon, and commanded the 9th Marines in Vietnam. Semper Fi, old friend.
Another one of the winners, former Marine Captain David J. Danelo, known around here as Hurricane Dave for his coverage of Katrina, found himself on assignment in Iraq when Mr. Rumsfeld's departure was announced. Always quick to react to a breaking story, Dave quickly put together a short, but revealing piece for this issue on how the Marines he was with in Ramadi took the news.
Holiday greetings from all of us to all of you.
Editor's Page
By Robert Timberg, Editor-in-Chief