Forrest Sherman
United States Navy Admiral and Chief of Naval Operations (1896-1951)
Forrest Percival Sherman (30 October 1896 – 22 July 1951) was an admiral in the United States Navy and the youngest man to serve as Chief of Naval Operations until Admiral Elmo Zumwalt did so in 1970.
Quotes
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- You can't get good marks if you're popular.
- On the need to focus on accomplishment rather than popularity, in a comment to his sister while in high school, quoted in "According to Plan" in Time magazine (13 March 1950)
Quotes about Sherman
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- "If you were CINCPAC, which would you take?"
"Sherman."- Dialogue between Rear Admiral John Henry Towers and Fleet Admiral (CINCPAC) Chester W. Nimitz, on the day Sherman was promoted to the CINCPAC staff, quoted in How They Won the War in the Pacific : Nimitz and His Admirals (2000) by Edwin Palmer Hoyt, p. 289
- His lifetime of service has touched the lives of every Sailor privileged to serve aboard this ship and will continue to do so for many years to come.
- US Senator Bill Nelson, at the commissioning of the Aegis guided-missile destroyer USS Forrest Sherman (28 January 2006)
- Sherman never hesitated when things looked worst. He's a realist without being a pessimist.
- US Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, quoted in "According to Plan" in Time magazine (13 March 1950)
- He was able. He was a patriotic American. He was a fine gentleman. The country's loss is great, and so is mine.
- US President Harry S. Truman, quoted in "Death in Naples" in Time magazine (30 July 1951)
- He was a grease-lightning operator, a box of brains. He always had a plan — never left anything to chance.
- Admiral Richmond K. Turner, quoted in "According to Plan" in Time magazine (13 March 1950)
- Right from the beginning, he knew precisely what he wanted. He wanted to get to the top. … Joe wasn't really cocky, he just wasn't uncertain, as most kids that age are.
- Annapolis roommate Merton Wade, quoted in "According to Plan" in Time magazine (13 March 1950)
- The man in the admiral's uniform spoke only occasionally, and then in a quiet voice, but the words were to the point, and the mind behind them forceful. Fellow members of the Joint Chiefs had learned to listen carefully to the Navy's Forrest Percival Sherman. The U.S., as the Joint Chiefs already knew, had found a fighting man of rare qualities: the man of action who is also reflective, studious, habitually unruffled.
The freshman member of the Joint Chiefs, he had stepped into his job four months ago when he became Chief of Naval Operations, in an atmosphere acrid with controversy and resentment. He had brought to the nation's highest military council something that had been too much forgotten in the jealous and unseemly interservice fights over unification — a grasp of international strategy, military history and geopolitics. … The Navy, which in the heat of change of command had whispered that Sherman was ambitious, cold and ruthless, was amazed and delighted. One officer, who had greeted Sherman's advent with "This is a dark day for the Navy," admitted later: "The Navy hasn't seen anything like him in a long time."
- In the Pentagon, Sherman had the reputation of never having lost an argument. Impressively learned in military history and geopolitics, he was freely acclaimed the J.C.S.'s best geopolitical brain.
