Leaders Must Be Independent Thinkers, Otherwise They Are Not Leaders
“Don’t join the book burners.
Don’t think you are going to conceal faults
by concealing evidence that they ever existed.
Don’t be afraid to go in your library and read every book….”
President and General and
1915 United States Military Academy graduate
Dwight David Eisenhower
at the Dartmouth College commencement exercises
in Hanover, New Hampshire on June 14, 1953
“What is built on the basis of force,
and not on the truth about the equal dignity
of every human being,
begins badly and will end badly.”
Pope Francis
The outstanding freshman Air Force ROTC cadet at the University of Miami, I was denied officer candidacy because I could not pass the required physical. Despite downing Michael Phelps-level calories and gallons of water, I was deemed “too skinny” to ever be commissioned.
Happily ensconced in law school while working fulltime as a newspaper reporter, my life spun 900 degrees - like an out-of-control Formula 1 race car on a black-iced track – when U.S. Army First Lieutenant Douglas Magruder, a Sigma Chi Fraternity pledge brother, was killed in Vietnam. Journalism and law school became unimportant – not unappealing, unimportant.
When the Vietnam draft came along, my number was way high and I was already in seminary and preparing for First Oath - religious vows.
Besides watching Neil Armstrong’s famous “one small step” in the basement of the massive seminary building, one of my clearest memories of years of preparation for priesthood comes from the Plaza 14th of September in Cochabamba, Bolivia. It was either a U.S. Army or a U.S. Navy band that performed in an open-air concert. At the Star-Spangled Banner, I cried unabashedly.
I cry and pray at the end of each year’s Army-Navy game (I try never to miss the end.) when the two teams stand together before their student bodies and sing their alma maters. (It is the most impressive moment in all of American sports.) I cry remembering those who have served and I pray for the future of the young men and women in the stands and on the field.
I am unreservedly proud of my father’ service on three New Mexico class battleships in World War II (He was so good that his captain took him with him every time the captain was transferred.) and my brother’s decades of Air Force Reserve service.
Thirteen years my junior, my Sigma Chi brother Sam D’Angelo was killed in the crash of his Air Force F-16 fighter jet on July 1, 1999; preaching his Air Force and Sigma Chi memorials was among the most difficult experiences of half-a-century of priesthood. His picture still stares up at me from beneath the glass of my desk.
I’m proud to be an American; I’m proud of the goodness, the kindness of so many of our people.
I’m simply ashamed of our current administration and legislative leaders.
How can one feel anything but shame when, mere hours after Christians across the nation read a Gospel account of the Crucifixion and Death of Jesus, Alaskan Senator Lisa Murkowski – a Republican for God’s sake – admitted she and other politicians across the country are “oftentimes very anxious” and “afraid” to speak out for fear of retaliation, fearful of a multiply-bankrupted, pseudo-real estate developer who relied on his daddy’s millions to become a “success” and his minions:
“We are all afraid. It’s quite a statement We’re in a time and place where — I don’t know, I certainly have not — I have not been here before. And I’ll tell you, I’m oftentimes very anxious myself about using my voice because retaliation is real. And that’s not right. But that’s what you’ve asked me to do and so I’m going to use my voice to the best of my ability.”
On April 17 and 18 the nation celebrated the 250th anniversary of the famous “midnight ride of Paul Revere” and the courage of the patriots of Lexington and Concord. By tradition, June 14th is also Flag Day, marking the 1777 adoption of the Stars and Strips as the official U.S. flag.
Somehow, that’s not quit enough for New York Republican Congresswoman Claudia Tenney, who, on February 14, 2025 (Valentine’s Day!!! Are you kidding us, Congresswoman?) introduced the Trump’s Birthday and Flag Day Holiday Establishment Act. A press release from her office grandiosely declared the new federal holiday would recognize Trump
“’as the founder of America’s Golden age… By designating Trump’s Birthday and Flag Day as a federal holiday, we can ensure President Trump’s contributions to American greatness and the importance of the American Flag are forever enshrined into law,’ said Congresswoman Tenney.”
One of America’s first oaths was that established by the Continental Congress in 1775 for soldiers and officers in the new Continental Army:
“I _____ have, this day, voluntarily enlisted myself, as a soldier, in the American continental army, for one year, unless sooner discharged: And I do bind myself to conform, in all instances, to such rules and regulations, as are, or shall be, established for the government of the said Army.”
George Washington took the Presidential Oath of Office in April 1789 and the military Oath was altered shortly thereafter; tweaks were made during the Civil War and in 1884; other slight changes in wording were made over time. The current Oath of Enlistment was established in 1959:
“I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.”
Young men and young women entering the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis swear or affirm their Oath:
“…solemnly swear (or affirm) that you will support and defend the constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that you will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that you take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which you are about to enter, so help you God?"
For the next four years, they’ll prepare to
“…support and defend the constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic…”
Before they’ve reached their mid-twenties, they will be expected to put their lives on the line to support and defend of the Constitution and people of the United States – everything good about our country. But the present administration – including Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (The guy with all tattoos that are supposed to make us think he’s muy macho) – doesn’t trust them to think or reason.
Anticipating an impending visit by Hegseth and responding (reacting?) to anti-Diversity-Equity-Inclusion (DEI) edicts emanating from the White House, Naval Academy officials – responsible for the training of men and women who will one day command battleships and fly the world’s most powerful war planes – removed 381volumes from the Nimitz Library. Of course, Maya Angelou’s 1969 I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings – an autobiographic account of growing up in and triumphing in an America marred by racism, prejudice and sexual abuse – was one of the first books pulled from the shelves.
[Only ten percent of applicants – high schoolers in the top 20 percent of their graduating classes with a 3.75 or higher GPA and SAT scores above the 1200-1400 range - even qualify for admission to Annapolis. God forbid that in 2025 young men and young women who meet these criteria read a book that’s probably been on the Nimitz shelves since the 1970s.]
On April 16, NBC News reported:
“Army and Air Force libraries have been told to go through their stacks to find books related to diversity, equity and inclusion, according to new memos obtained by The Associated Press.
“The orders from service leaders come about two weeks after the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, removed nearly 400 books from its library after being told by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s office to get rid of those that promote DEI…
“Books on the Holocaust, histories of feminism, civil rights and racism, as well as Maya Angelou’s famous autobiography, ‘I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,’ were among the 381 books that were removed from the U.S. Naval Academy’s Nimitz Library.
The Army memo was sent to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, the Army War College in Pennsylvania and several other service departments. It says they must review their collections and any books promoting DEI, gender ideology and critical race theory ‘in a manner that subverts meritocracy and unity’ must be removed ‘pending additional guidance…’”
Upon her death in 2014, Former President George W. Bush called Angelou “…among the most talented writers of our time. Her words inspired peace and equality and enriched the culture of our country.”
Left on the shelves: The Camp of Saints, promoted by white supremacists, and Hitler’s Mein Kampf.
Removed: Memorializing the Holocaust by Janet Jacobs looks at how women victims of the Holocaust are portrayed in memorials and National Book Award winner Ibram X. Kendi’s 2019 How to Be an Antiracist.
On April 14, an hour before author and philosopher Ryan Holiday was scheduled to give a lecture on stoicism and the pursuit of virtue and excellence to Annapolis midshipmen, something he has done more than half a dozen times since 2019, he was asked by Academy officials to delete from his presentation any mention of the removal of books from the Nimitz Library. He declined.
ABC’s KTEN News reported:
“’I actually agree that the Academy should be apolitical,’ Holiday told CNN. ‘That’s what makes this political meddling in their access to books so troubling. And then to suppress criticism of that obvious mistake is to model even poorer moral leadership to the midshipman.’
“The presentation Holiday had prepared focused on US Naval Academy student James Stockdale, who studied Marxist theory at Stanford in the 1960’s not because he was a Marxist but in order to better understand the adversary.
“‘The same principle should apply to today’s future military leaders,’ Holiday thought. The slides in his presentation, which CNN reviewed, urged students to
‘read critically, read dangerously,’ and ‘read like a spy in an enemy’s camp’ — a quote from the Stoic philosopher Seneca.
“The presentation also included quotes from Stockdale, former President Dwight D. Eisenhower, former Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis and former Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley — who Trump has criticized — urging students to read extensively, even if the ideas in some books made them uncomfortable.
‘Leaders must be independent thinkers, otherwise they are not leaders,’ read one slide.
“The presentation also included a screenshot of a New York Times article about the books’ removal from Naval Academy shelves, and a photo of the front of Holiday’s Texas bookstore, which is emblazoned with lyrics from a Rage Against the Machine song: ‘They don’t gotta burn the books, they just remove ‘em.’
“Holiday told CNN he had sent his presentation over to the school the night before the lecture to get it loaded up onto projectors, not for prior approval. But the day he was scheduled to talk, he was asked to remove the slides mentioning the book ban after they were reviewed by senior academy leadership.
Holiday said he is concerned about the message the censorship is sending to future military leaders.
“’If you can’t be trusted around Stacey Abrams’ memoir or Maya Angelou, you probably have no business being a Navy SEAL or holding an assault rifle or flying a fighter jet,’ Holiday said. ‘You’re either an adult or you’re not.’”
The Nimitz Library
Shame on Congresswoman Claudia Tenney!
Shame on her!
Her preproposal to “honor” a man who is afraid of books and thoughts and ideas dishonors my Sigma Chi pledged brother whose death changed the course of my life; dishonors those midshipmen and cadet football players who leave every bit of their energy on the field and then join together to sing each others’ alma maters; dishonors Sam D’Angelo; dishonors my father and brother; dishonors all who have solemnly sworn to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”
Shame on her!