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is CBS Eye on the World. Here's John Bachelor

Nimitz at war command leadership from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay. It's a pleasure to welcome Professor Craig Simons, a Meredith Professor from the U.S. Naval Academy, writing of a Manchester Nimitz, who was principal in the Pacific War of 1941 to 1945.

The story is told from the point of view of command leadership, hence the subtitle.

This is the story as I've never read it before, not concentrating on the battles, the moments to moments of the drama, the disappointments

and the grief, but on the relationships of the flag officers and their equivalent in the

U.S. Army.

Professor, a very good evening to you. their equivalent in the US Army.

Professor, a very good evening to you.

Congratulations, it is Christmas 1941.

Chester Nimitz arrives in Pearl Harbor.

What is his mission at that moment? How does he imagine he will proceed given

that the harbor is still burning? Good evening to you.

Good evening to you, John. Thank you for having me on the show. I appreciate it a lot. We can imagine

Chester Nimitz arriving by seaplane in the harbor, Pearl Harbor. Well, the holes of destroyed battleships

are still visible. Well while small boats are still retrieving

American bodies from the water. He has come without a staff by himself to take

over a wrecked command and his initial responsibility is to bring about some kind of stability,

some kind of sense of the possibility of recovering from this disaster.

So I think that's his first thought and his first job.

He's been sent there by Ernest J King and by Secretary of the Navy Knox and the

president of the United States who tapped him for this job. What is it that

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