Admiral Elmo Russell Zumwalt was born in California on 29 November 1920. He attended Tulare Union High School and Rutherford Preparatory Scholl and then he joined the U.S. Naval Academy and finished the Naval career in 1962 at National War College.
During, his student life Zumwalt has shown the qualities of leadership by being the President of Trident Society, Vice President of the Quarterback Society and he won two times in Weekly Public Speaking Contestbtween 1941 and 1942 held in June. He also participated in intercollegiate debating and he graduated with a distinction after which he progressed to the rank of Admiral from June 1942(Navy Office of Information, Washington DC).
Admiral Zumwalt served as an Eagle Scout in Turale Union High School and he was also served as a commander of USS Dewey which was the first ship to be made from keel as a guided missile ship. He was also given a prize as crew officer who captured Ataka which was a Japanese boat that was captured at River Yangtze’s mouth near the end of World War 1. He was promoted to a Rear Officer at the age of 44 becoming the youngest naval officer to have been promoted to this rank. He was at the age of 49years appointed as Chief of Naval Operations thus becoming the youngest Admiral in U.S. naval history. During his 37 years career Zumwalt, fought 3 wars and he committed his life to achieving equality for every one who served in the Navy. Admiral Zumwalt,, had spent his early life as junior officer in practicing the belief of equality for the Navy and he was able to implement it in the navy when he became the Chief of Navy Commander (Navy Office of Information, Washington DC).
Admiral Zumwalt’s leadership styles
Admiral Zumwalt was an intelligent leader and this can be demonstrated by his steep rise in career ladder and his participation in school life. He was visionary leader and he was able to improve the lives the Navy officers when he was appointed the Chief of Navy Commander. He was also able to mould and instill good discipline and culture among the navy and the changes he made are also evident in the navy to present day. At the time he was appointed the Chief of Navy Commander, Zumwalt, in herited a navy that was sailing to the verge of collapse. He used his courage, drive and enthusiasm and the love for sailors, respect for their abilities and integrity to bring back a strong navy. As a Chief Navy Commander, he was able to racially integrate the navy officers and also promoted the women in the navy to even command Navy warships. With his vision and courage Zumwalt, was able to restore U.S Navy to become one of the greatest navy in the world (Navy Office of Information, Washington DC).
Admiral Zumwalts contributions to the Navy
Zumwalt was a visionary leader and was very much committed to improve the quality lives of the navy officers and making the U.S. Navy a non –racial Navy. Those who benefited from the changes of Admiral Zumwalts' changes in the Navy were mainly the minority blacks groups whose professional growth within the Navy was restricted by their racial factor. Admiral Zumwalt worked intelligently and boldly to improve the service of all uniformed navy officers. Admiral Zumwalt, was selected by his superiors over 33 other more senior admirals because of he advocated for drastic and rapid changes in the way the Navy treated its officers.
When was appointed the CNO he undertook the following initiatives to make his advocacy a reality; improved the living conditions of the navy officers, promoted first women and black American to move up the ranks in the navy. He also allowed women to become commanders of Naval warships, he also opened the ranks of Filipino navies who could rank could not move from stewardship rating. He also managed to remove some demeaning and restrictive regulations in the U.S Navy that had affected the sailors attitude negatively and had not provided an alternative for enhancement of professional performance. The changes he made had a great impact on the re-enlistements rates in the U.S navy as compared to the time when he joined the navy as a Chief of Navy Commander in1970. The re-enlistements in the U.S Navy had tripled four year after he had retired.
After retiring from the Navy Commander Zumwalt, received many letters of congratulations from the sailors from the changes he had made in the navy and positively making it a career likable to many. When he was a commander in the U.S. Naval Forces in the Vietnam battle he believed that when the commander was responsible for leading the navy then his men would survive. In the U.S battle in Vietnam Admiral Zumwalt, ordered the use of Agent Orange which was a chemical that could reduce high casualty rates that were being suffered by his sailors. The chemical Agent Orange concealed the navy during enemy attacks and the U.S. Navy could make surprise attacks. Exposure the Agent Orange chemical improved the chances of survival for the U.S Navy during attacks although it ended up causing long-term health effects resulting to cancers to those exposed(Zumwalt, 1976).
Admiral Zumwalt, contributed in the instilling courage and vision in the navy and made it a model career where everyone could be selected on the basis of qualification. He also built a strong bond with the sailors and this helped to imprint on the Sailors character. Admiral Zumwalt, used his love, vision and leadership to make the reform the U.S Navy as it is today. Among the prominent assignments the Admiral Zumwalt, did were he served as commander of Cruise-Destroyer Flotilla Seven from 1965-1966. He served as director of System Analyst Group as Chief of Naval Operations where he in charge of organizing and directing the System Analysis Division. Between October 1968 and May 1970 he served as Commandeer of U.S Naval Forces in Vietnam and Chief of the Naval Advisory Group. He finally served as Chief of Naval Operations between July 1970 and July 1974 after his appointment by President Richard Nixon.
In 1998 Zumwalt, was given an award of USA highest civilian Award by Bill Clinton, the Presidential Medal of Freedom fro his service to his country and the Navy. Admiral Zumwalt, died on 2 January 2000 and in July the same year after his death he was honored by the U.S Navy by building a new class of warships to represent the technological advancement in ship building and the ship was named USS Zumwalt (Zumwalt, Foundation 2009).
References
Navy Office of Information, Washington DC.( 10 January 2000). CNO Remarks in honor of Admiral Elmo Russell Zumwalt Junior USN, ,Retrieved 03 February 2010, from <http://www.news.navy.mil/navydata/people/flags/johnson_j/speeches/zumw0110.txt>
Zumwalt, Elmo Jr. (1976). A Memoir. New York: Quadrangle /New York Times Book Co.
Zumwalt, Foundation.( 17 June 2009). James G.Zumwalt . Retrieved on 03 February 2010, from <http://tzfoundation.org/zumwalt_usps_support_letter.html>
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