Details

Item details

Date

September 15, 2023 7:00PM

Name

World War II Lecture: Nimitz and Eisenhower in 1943

Description

Only days after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt tapped Chester W. Nimitz to assume command of the Pacific Fleet. Over the next four years, Nimitz transformed the defeated Pacific fleet into the most powerful and commanding force in Naval history. Much like Dwight D. Eisenhower, Nimitz faced countless challenges during his command, including competing strategic objectives, overseeing independent personalities and commanders, and coordinating Army and Navy operations in a theater of massive size and scale. He had to navigate the expectations of a nation impatient for revenge and eventual victory. 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.

In this program, Dr. Symonds will be looking at the leadership traits that enabled Nimitz's success, and the many similarities in leadership style and personality shared between Nimitz and Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Dr. Craig L. Symonds is Professor of History Emeritus at the United States Naval Academy where he taught for thirty years and served as Department Chair. From 2017 to 2020 he was the Ernest J. King Professor of Maritime History at the U.S. Naval War College. He is the author of seventeen books, the most recent of which is Nimitz at War (2022). He has been awarded the Lincoln Prize, the Roosevelt Prize, the Morison Prize, and the Barondess Prize, as well as the Dudley Knox Medal for Lifetime Achievement and the Pritzker Military Museum & Library Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing.

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