James Stockdale, RIP

Jesse Walker | July 11, 2005

My least prescient political prediction came 13 years ago, when I told all my friends that James Stockdale would win the first vice-presidential debate of 1992. Besides his admirable personal story -- in addition to surviving torture in Vietnam, he had helped expose the truth about the Gulf of Tonkin incident -- Stockdale was a strong and thoughtful writer; I had seen some of his essays in Chronicles, and had no doubt that he'd make mincemeat of those lightweights Al Gore and Dan Quayle.

As far as I'm concerned, he did win that debate -- not with powerful arguments, not by reciting his biography, but by being the one guy on the stage who seemed to be a real human being. The fact that he seemed so out of place should have been more embarrassing for his opponents than for him. But the polls said he lost badly. Dennis Miller put it pretty well, back when Dennis Miller put things pretty well:

The reason he had to turn his hearing aid on at that debate is because those fucking animals knocked his eardrums out when he wouldn't spill his guts. He teaches philosophy at Stanford University, he's a brilliant, sensitive, courageous man. And yet he committed the one unpardonable sin in our culture: he was bad on television. Somewhere out there Paddy Chayefsky must be laughing his ass off.

Stockdale died last week at the age of 81, a fact I somehow missed until the weekend. Chronicles editor Thomas Fleming has written a fine tribute to the admiral. Here's part of it:

Jim faced a number of moral crises. As a POW his captors tortured him so hard they broke his will, temporarily. Agreeing to denounce the United States in front of the TV cameras, he said he needed to get cleaned up. Once in the bathroom, he took the opportunity to mutilate his face to the point that he was useless for their propaganda. Perhaps an even graver crisis, one he thought about often over the years, was his experience at the Gulf of Tonkin. Although the Johnson administration used the so-called "incident" to justify his war with North Vietnam, Jim, in charge of his squadron, knew that nothing had happened. As he said later, he flew so low that there was salt spray on his windshield and yet he saw nothing. It seemed an outrage that brave men should have to die in a war being waged by cowardly bureaucrats like Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, and he spent his seven years of captivity worrying that the North Vietnamese, with the help of their antiwar friends in the United States, would put two and two together and force him to tell the truth. But Communists are politicians, too, and they wanted only lies.

Stockdale was a truth-teller, a man of tremendous bravery, and a patriot in the best sense of the word. He also understood that no sane man should keep his hearing aid on when there's a risk that Al Gore or Dan Quayle might start talking. Requiescat in pace.

Comments

drf|7.11.05 @ 10:47AM|#

RIP to this fine man. Thank you, Sir, for your bravery.

For those that have the various history/discovery channels: there's a series on Vietnam POWs. To hear about his harrowing tales from the Hanoi Hilton, I recommend that series.

RIP.

|7.11.05 @ 11:00AM|#

It must've been rough "debating" two blatant political stereotypes: one an idiot who got by on his looks, and another an asshole who got by on his family/connections..

I have to say, though, it was a pretty funny SNL skit where Perot tries to ditch Stockdale by pushing him out of the car. Hartman's Stockdale impression, generally, was pretty freak'n funny.

|7.11.05 @ 11:01AM|#

Once in the bathroom, he took the opportunity to mutilate his face to the point that he was useless for their propaganda.

That sounds like a good working definition of both 'hardcore' and 'honorable.' I don't know much about Stockdale, although I do recall watching the debate and thinking that the slams on him were nearly profane. Again, thanks to Admiral Stockdale, both for his service and for an example of how one should aspire to live.

|7.11.05 @ 11:13AM|#

"As far as I'm concerned, he did win that debate -- not with powerful arguments, not by reciting his biography, but by being the one guy on the stage who seemed to be a real human being. The fact that he seemed so out of place should have been more embarrassing for his opponents than for him."

Amen.

|7.11.05 @ 11:17AM|#

It's about time somebody noticed his passing. Stockdale was one of the last of the true heroes.

As for Phil Hartman, I hope somebody makes a hilarious sketch someday involving Hartman, his zany crackwhore girlfriend, and a 9mm.

|7.11.05 @ 11:25AM|#

Stockdale was a great man and Perot unfairly used him. I read the transcript of the famous "Who am I? Why am here?" debate and honestly, I don't see what the big deal was. I don't remember watching the debate, but it seemed that this was the classic, take a clip out of context to smear a man routine.

Yaron|7.11.05 @ 11:26AM|#

Someone told me soon after the debate that it's common behavior for people with hearing aids to turn them off momentarily when speaking in front of large crowds, because the sound of loud applause can be deafening. That would explain why he had his turned off right after the applause after the last question.

I also don't know if he was such a liability - that was certainly the media perception of him, from the people who score debates in terms of "zingers" and the like, but Perot/Stockdale still managed to get 19% of the vote - not bad for two men with no political experience on a newly-created third party ticket.

|7.11.05 @ 11:33AM|#

When you're Ross Perot's running mate, the "crazy" and "amateurish" labels stick to you very easily. Anything the slightest bit out of the ordinary was bound to be interpretted in that light.

A raw deal for a genuine good guy.

|7.11.05 @ 12:25PM|#

I agree totally with Joe's 11:33 comment.

|7.11.05 @ 12:49PM|#

"As for Phil Hartman, I hope somebody makes a hilarious sketch someday involving Hartman, his zany crackwhore girlfriend, and a 9mm."

Hartman irritated the hell out of me when he publicly apologized to Clinton for his impersonation of him, even though other routines he did were much more brutal. Oh, well. The greatest way to get back at your enemies is outliving them.

|7.11.05 @ 12:59PM|#

Stockdale was a great man and Perot unfairly used him. I read the transcript of the famous "Who am I? Why am here?" debate and honestly, I don't see what the big deal was. I don't remember watching the debate, but it seemed that this was the classic, take a clip out of context to smear a man routine.

I do remember actually watching the debate, especially that line. The line was unintentionally funny, because Stockdale looked absolutely dazed, like a deer in the studio lights. Only it really wasn't funny at all, because you immediately felt embarrassed and sorry for him. He seemed like a decent likable guy beneath what appeared to be painful shyness, and he seemed totally out of his element. It was impossible to imagine him as an admiral.

I can only liken it to watching a kindergarten presentation in an auditorium full of families, and seeing the sweetest, shiest, most likable little kid imaginable step up to the microphone to speak -- and then completely freeze. And just stand there helpless. And you want to say, "Come on kid, say your line, you can do it!" And then the kid wets his/her pants.

It seemed to me that commentators that evening, during the analyses afterward, treated him with uncommon gentleness. I mean, no one said, "God, that was fucking awful! He really flubbed it and probably cost Perot any chance he had." Instead it was more like, "He made a good effort, but he probably failed to project the kind of confidence that voters are looking for."

For years, that was my sole impression of Stockdale. I should say that I, probably like most voters, knew nothing about him before the debate, and thought little about him afterward. I never considered Perot a serious candidate, so I wasn't motivated to learn more about his VP candidate.

Thanks for the info, Jesse Walker. Stockdale deserves to be remembered with more than pity and empathetic embarrassment. I learned the guy had strength and courage were it really counted.

|7.11.05 @ 1:08PM|#

I was pretty apolitical back then (with lefty leanings), so I had no idea.

What a bad-ass that guy was. Those kind of folks are the kind of folks you can be proud of.

RIP.

|7.11.05 @ 1:25PM|#

I do remember actually watching the debate, especially that line. The line was unintentionally funny, because Stockdale looked absolutely dazed, like a deer in the studio lights. Only it really wasn't funny at all, because you immediately felt embarrassed and sorry for him.

Thanks for the POV Stevo. Though by reading the transcript, it wasn't a bad line and it worked for what he was trying to do. The crime of being bad on TV is one of the less forgivable sins a candidate can have.

I don't remember much about the 92 election outside of the major themes (Perot is insane, Clinton draft-dodging pot smoker, etc.). I didn't pay much attention as a h.s. freshman.

|7.11.05 @ 2:10PM|#

I don't remember much about the 92 election outside of the major themes (Perot is insane, Clinton draft-dodging pot smoker, etc.). I didn't pay much attention as a h.s. freshman.

Mo, you're a young punk bastard.

|7.11.05 @ 3:17PM|#

Jesse,
You sly dog! I salute that most admirable pun.

|7.11.05 @ 9:46PM|#

Pun? There's a pun there and I missed it? Where? I MUST HAVE THE PUN!!!

Kevin Carson|7.12.05 @ 2:48AM|#

I'll admit I've bought into the "Admiral Alzheimer's" stereotype about Stockdale, laughed at the SNL skits and "Where's the ejection button on this thing?" cartoons, etc.

This post makes me ashamed of having done so.