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The John Batchelor Show

SONS OF THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER: 5/8: Nimitz at War: Command Leadership from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay by Craig L. Symonds

The John Batchelor Show

John Batchelor

Books, News, Society & Culture, Arts

4.52.8K Ratings

🗓️ 26 May 2024

⏱️ 11 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

SONS OF THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER: 5/8: Nimitz at War: Command Leadership from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay by Craig L. Symonds

https://www.amazon.com/Nimitz-War-Command-Leadership-Harbor-ebook/dp/B09Y64QMZT

From America's preeminent naval historian, the first full-length portrait in over fifty years of the man who won the war in the Pacific in World War Two.

Only days after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt tapped Chester W. Nimitz to assume command of the Pacific Fleet. Nimitz transformed the devastated and dispirited Pacific fleet into the most powerful and commanding naval force in history.

Facing demands from Washington to mount an early offensive, he had first to revive the depressed morale of the thousands of sailors, soldiers, and Marines who served under him. And of course, he also confronted a formidable and implacable enemy in the Imperial Japanese Navy, which, until the Battle of Midway, had the run of the Pacific.

Craig Symonds's Nimitz at War captures Nimitz's composure, discipline, homespun wisdom, and most of all his uncanny sense of when to assert authority and when to pull back. As Symonds's absorbing, dynamic, and authoritative portrait reveals, it required qualities of leadership exhibited by few other commanders in history, qualities that are enduringly and even poignantly relevant to our own moment

1943 USS BROOKLYN

Transcript

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1:08.0

Here's John Bachelor.

1:10.0

Craig Simon's new book is Nimitz at War, command leadership from Pearl Harbor to

1:15.9

Tokyo Bay. He is a Meredith professor of history from the US Naval Academy and we're

1:21.9

speaking of Chester Nimitz at war in the Pacific. It is now

1:26.0

the point where the Central Pacific campaign starting in the Gilbert Islands, driving towards the Japanese islands, is underway with the

1:38.2

landing at Tarawa, a small island, a series of atolls.

1:43.3

And this is where the Marines have to practice their amphibious landing that will get better

1:48.8

and stronger throughout the war.

1:51.0

In fact, amphibious landings in general are now being invented by the Marines as the You all think of the landing craft from D-Day, the drop of the front and the men piling out.

2:06.0

Well, that didn't exist as they land at Tarawa.

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