Command of the Seas (Bluejacket Books) - Softcover

Lehman, John F.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1557505349 ISBN 13: 9781557505347

Publisher: Naval Institute Press, 2001

Synopsis

This infectiously readable memoir by the most colorful and controversial Navy Secretary in memory provides the inside story of the origins and battles at home and abroad in building a 600-ship Navy. Young, bright, and ambitious, John Lehman came to office refusing to be just another figurehead. For the six years he served in the Reagan administration, he helped forge an aggressive strategy for achieving maritime supremacy and for rebuilding the U.S. Navy. In this bestselling personal account of those years between 1981 and 1987, he speaks with candor and authority about the ills of the military establishment and the struggles and frustrations he encountered.

Lehman reveals instances of political intrigue, including his dramatic Oval Office confrontation with Admiral Rickover at the time of the admiral's firing in 1982 and battles within the Pentagon and Congress. His explanation of the administration's new naval strategy has been called the most comprehensive and lucid ever written, and his descriptions of the Navy in combat over Libya, Lebanon, and Grenada are packed with fascinating details that only an insider could know. The bold insights he presents of a critical turning point in the Cold War will continue to inform and, with the addition of new material to this paperback edition, promise to renewed discussion of the role of the U.S. Navy then and into the future.

About this title

About the Author:

John Lehman was just thirty-nine years old when named Secretary of the Navy. He now runs a private equity investment company in New York City.

From Library Journal:

Lehman was Secretary of the Navy for six years under Reagan, and was crucial in that administration's push for vastly increased naval capabilities and a 600-ship Navy. Here he ably, if selectively, argues his cases for reform, justifying decisions such as retirement of Rickover, large versus small carriers, high-tech versus low-tech weapons, competitive versus cost-plus procurements, and a Navy organized around 15 nuclear carrier groups. Lehman is a lively writer, pulling few punches. He makes feeble attempts at objectivity, but is unabashedly a Republican stalwart. There are interesting technical analyses of naval policies (both U.S. and foreign), and some telling anecdotes on personalities and politics in Washington. Mandatory for public libraries and subject collections.
- Edwin B. Burgess, United States Army TRALINET Ctr., Fort Monroe, Va.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Naval Institute Press
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 1557505349
• ISBN 13: 9781557505347
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 400