Background
James Bond Stockdale was born on December 23, 1923, in Abingdon, Illinois, United States. He was the son of Vernon Beard and Mabel Edith (Bond) Stockdale.
1965
James Stockdale, taking pre-flight notes shortly before the day he was shot down on September 9, 1965.
1973
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20500, United States
Rear Admiral Captain James Bond Stockdale with then-President of the United States Nixon.
1976
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20500, United States
Medal of Honor recipient Rear Admiral James B. Stockdale chats with guests on March 4, 1976.
1977
James Bond Stockdale sits during ceremonies when he took over command of the Naval War College.
1979
686 Cushing Rd, Newport, RI 02841, United States
James Bond Stockdale as president of the Naval War College.
1991
450 Serra Mall, Stanford, CA 94305, United States
Former Navy commander-prisoner of war James Bond Stockdale standing on the campus of Stanford University.
1991
450 Serra Mall, Stanford, CA 94305, United States
Former Navy commander-prisoner of war in Vietnam, James Bond Stockdale, then a researcher at the Hoover Institute, speaking on the telephone in the office on campus at Stanford University.
1991
James Bond Stockdale with his wife, Sybil, at home.
1992
H. Ross Perot and James Bond Stockdale at election night rally after defeat by Dem. Bill Clinton.
1992
United States
James Stockdale at Ross Perot's news conference.
1996
Vice Admiral James Stockdale and his wife, Sybil Stockdale.
The Medal of Honor that James Bond Stockdale received on March 4, 1976.
The Navy Distinguished Service Medal that James Bond Stockdale was awarded.
The Silver Star Medal that James Bond Stockdale was awarded.
The Legion of Merit that James Bond Stockdale was awarded.
The Distinguished Flying Cross that James Bond Stockdale was awarded.
The Bronze Star Medal that James Bond Stockdale was awarded.
The Purple Heart that James Bond Stockdale was awarded.
The Air Medal that James Bond Stockdale was awarded.
The Navy Unit Commendation bronze star that James Bond Stockdale was awarded.
The American Campaign Medal that James Bond Stockdale was awarded.
The World War II Victory Medal that James Bond Stockdale was awarded.
The Navy Occupation Service Medal that James Bond Stockdale was awarded.
The National Defense Service Medal that James Bond Stockdale was awarded.
The Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal that James Bond Stockdale was awarded.
The Vietnam Service Medal that James Bond Stockdale was awarded.
The Republic of Vietnam Meritorious Unit Citation that James Bond Stockdale was awarded.
The Vietnam Campaign Medal that James Bond Stockdale was awarded.
The Navy Pistol Marksmanship Medal that James Bond Stockdale was awarded.
121 Blake Rd, Annapolis, MD 21402, United States
The United States Naval Academy where James Bond Stockdale received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1946.
450 Serra Mall, Stanford, CA 94305, United States
Stanford University where James Bond Stockdale received a Master of Arts degree in 1962.
James Bond Stockdale exiting his A-4 fighter-bomber weeks before becoming a prisoner of war.
22783 Cedar Point Rd, Patuxent River, MD 20670, United States
The United States Naval Test Pilot School where James Bond Stockdale received additional training from January to July 1954.
705 Thompson Dr, Abingdon, VA 24210, United States
Abingdon High School where James Bond Stockdale studied.
700 E Broadway, Monmouth, IL 61462, United States
Monmouth College where James Bond Stockdale studied.
(Admiral Stockdale looks back at his ten years in Vietnam....)
Admiral Stockdale looks back at his ten years in Vietnam. Ranging in subject from methods of communication in prison to military ethics to the principles of leadership, the thirty-four selections contained in this volume are a unique record of what their author calls a "melting experience," a pressure-packed existence that forces one to grow.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0817981527/?tag=2022091-20
1984
(A former Vietnam War POW and his wife recount their life ...)
A former Vietnam War POW and his wife recount their life together and their separate agonies during his imprisonment.
https://www.amazon.com/Love-War-Familys-Sacrifice-Vietnam/dp/0060153180
1984
(When physical disability from combat wounds brought about...)
When physical disability from combat wounds brought about Jim Stockdale's early retirement from military life, he had the distinction of being the only three-star officer in the history of the navy to wear both aviator wings and the Congressional Medal of Honor. His writings have been many and varied, but all converge on the central theme of how a man can rise with dignity to prevail in the face of adversity.
https://www.amazon.com/Courage-Under-Fire-Epictetuss-Laboratory/dp/0817936920
1993
(Thoughts on issues of character, leadership, integrity, p...)
Thoughts on issues of character, leadership, integrity, personal and public virtue, and ethics, the selections in this volume converge around the central theme of how a man can rise with dignity to prevail in the face of adversity – lessons just as valid for the challenges of present-day life as they were for the author's Vietnam experience.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0817993924/?tag=2022091-20
1995
aviator educator naval officer writer
James Bond Stockdale was born on December 23, 1923, in Abingdon, Illinois, United States. He was the son of Vernon Beard and Mabel Edith (Bond) Stockdale.
James Bond Stockdale studied at Abingdon High School and excelled in both academics and sports. He briefly attended Monmouth College and later studied at the United States Naval Academy where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1946. Later Stockdale received additional training at the United States Naval Test Pilot School from January to July 1954. He also received additional training at Naval Air Station Norfolk in Virginia from October 1950 to January 1951. Stockdale studied at Stanford University from 1959 to 1962 where he received a Master of Arts degree.
James Stockdale also was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Brown University in 1979 and an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1980.
James Stockdale started his career as an assistant gunnery officer aboard the destroyer minesweeper USS Carmick where he served from June to October 1946. After that, he served aboard the USS Thompson, the USS Charles H. Roan, and the USS Deming from 1946 to 1949. Later he was accepted for flight training and in 1950 Stockdale became a naval aviator. In 1954, he enrolled in the test pilot school at the Naval Air Station Patuxent River, in Maryland, where he also served as a flight instructor. Later he was sent to Stanford University in order to study international relations.
James Stockdale was sent to Vietnam in command of a fighter squadron on the USS Ticonderoga, flying an F-8 Crusader in 1962. On August 5, 1964, then-President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered a reprisal mission in response to North Vietnamese patrol torpedo (PT) boat attacks on American destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin. On August 6, 1964, Stockdale was ordered to lead the first raid of the war on North Vietnamese oil refineries. On his third tour in Vietnam in 1965, Stockdale commanded the air wing on the USS Oriskany. Returning from a mission on September 9, his plane was hit by antiaircraft fire. Stockdale ejected, breaking a bone in his back. Upon landing in a small village, he badly dislocated his knee. For the next seven and a half years Stockdale was a prisoner of war, mostly in the notorious Hoa Lo prison, known as the Hanoi Hilton.
While being in Hoa Lo prison, James Stockdale also was the leader of American resistance against Vietnamese attempts to use prisoners for propaganda purposes. Despite being kept in solitary confinement and torture he organized a system of communication and developed a cohesive set of rules governing prisoner behavior. Stockdale's courage and decisive leadership was an inspiration to prisoners of war. In the fall of 1969, Stockdale smashed a window in his cell and used the shards of glass to cut his wrists. His willingness to court death rather than break under torture largely convinced the North Vietnamese that their harsh methods were of little use on the Americans, and at length, the abuse abated.
Stockdale was freed three years later on February 12, 1973. After that, he served as president of the Naval War College from 1977 to 1979. From 1979 to 1980, he was also president of the Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina. In 1981, Stockdale became a fellow at the Hoover Institution, a conservative think tank at Stanford University, where he would spend the next fifteen years writing and teaching, particularly on the role of personal character in the military. He wrote such books as A Vietnam Experience: Ten Years of Reflection, Thoughts of a Philosophical Fighter Pilot, and In Love and War: The Story of a Family's Ordeal and Sacrifice During the Vietnam Years. Between 1981 and 1988, Admiral Stockdale also served as chair of the White House Fellows under the Reagan administration. In 1992, he graciously agreed to the request from his old friend H. Ross Perot to stand in as the vice-presidential candidate of the Reform Party. Stockdale spent his retirement in Coronado, California.
(Thoughts on issues of character, leadership, integrity, p...)
1995(When physical disability from combat wounds brought about...)
1993(A former Vietnam War POW and his wife recount their life ...)
1984(Admiral Stockdale looks back at his ten years in Vietnam....)
1984On March 30, 1992, Ross Perot announced that he had asked Stockdale to be his provisional Vice Presidential nominee on Ross Perot's 1992 independent ticket. Stockdale agreed, however, he was not ready for the vice-presidential debate. He had no formal preparation for the debate, unlike his opponents Al Gore and Dan Quayle, and did not discuss any political issues with Perot beforehand. Stockdale opened the debate by saying, "Who am I? Why am I here?" when responding to a request for an opening statement from the debate moderator. His unfocused style for the rest of the debate made him appear confused and almost disoriented.
Perot and Stockdale received 19 percent of the vote in the 1992 presidential election, one of the best showings by an independent ticket in U.S. electoral history, although they did not carry any states.
During his time at the Hoover Institution, Stockdale's primary focus was on ancient Stoicism and the Roman slave-turned-philosopher Epictetus. Also, Stockdale credited Epictetus' lessons, captured in The Enchiridion, with providing him with strength during his ordeals as a prisoner in the Hanoi Hilton.
Quotations:
"You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end – which you can never afford to lose – with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be."
"A life not put to the test is not worth living."
"Leadership must be based on goodwill. Goodwill does not mean posturing and, least of all, pandering to the mob. It means obvious and wholehearted commitment to helping followers."
"Great leaders gain authority by giving it away."
James Stockdale was a member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, the Society of Cincinnati, the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, the Bohemian Club, and the board of directors of the Rockford Institute.
Those who knew James Stockdale said that he was a man of courage and a true stoic. He also disliked the glare of publicity.
Physical Characteristics: James Stockdale suffered from Alzheimer's disease in his later life.
James Stockdale married Sybil Bailey on June 28, 1947. The marriage produced four sons.