Wednesday, July 6th, 2005...6:41 am
James Bond Stockdale
I read this morning that Vice Admiral James Bond Stockdale died. The guy was a Republican, but I really admired him. When he was a prisoner of war at the infamous Hanoi Hilton (the same place where Senator John McCain was held), he actually wounded himself, almost dying in the process, so that he and his fellow prisoners would not be used for propoganda purposes. The story goes that when the North Vietnamese saw this, they were so taken by his courage that they ceased torturing the prisoners. For this, Stockdale was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.
H. Ross Perot picked him as his running mate durring the 1992 election. People don’t remember that at one point, Perot was ahead in national polls, meaning Stockdale was almost vice-president.
I was never a fan of Perot, but he lost any possibility of respect from me when he put Stockdale out on to the stage with Vice President Quayle and then-Senator Al Gore totally unprepared. Perot and his aides apparently didn’t think that Stockdale needed any briefings and instructed him to just go out there and it would work out (it was this sort of attitude that led serious and experienced aides like Ed Rollins to quit the campaign). This man, an genuine American hero, ended up looking like a buffoon. Most of you reading this probably still think of the “Who am I?” line or Phil Hartman’s impression, rather than the incredible life this man led.
He was an accomplished historian and was an avid reader of philosophy, particularly the stoics. This, no doubt, is what got him through his experience in Hanoi. When he returned, he told his wife that his leg injuries gave his walk “a certain sense of style.”
I saw one interview with Stockdale’s wife, Sybil. Well, she wasn’t the one being interviewed, but she showed up and pushed James aside and started answering questions. I saw that and loved it,we had a campaign with three strong spouses. She and James wrote a book together called “In Love and War” that was made into a TV movie.
Stockdale was played by James Woods in that 1987 TV movie, Perot was played by Richard Crenna in a 1986 mini-series. If that doesn’t prove Stockdale was cooler, I don’t know what does.
And yes, his middle name really was “Bond.”
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