American politics is a vicious affair in which the currents can lift the reputations of the lowest, while dragging down the best. Vice Admiral James Stockdale was such a man.
Certainly, there was no person who appeared on a national ticket for the office of vice president who was a greater philosopher and thinker than Stockdale — with the possible exception of Thomas Jefferson. There was never anyone more heroic, loving or tough than him. He was among the most exceptional leaders that the nation ever produced, but he was turned into a punchline by graceless skits that made a mockery of a great man’s disability, rendering judgments about his character.
When he passed away in 2005, The New York Times headline was a travesty, but represented perfectly the narrow worldview of the institution:
Though he had a distinguished military career, Admiral Stockdale is perhaps best remembered as Mr. Perot's running mate in the 1992 campaign. Mr. Stockdale was first selected as a stand-in on the ticket, since Mr. Perot needed to name a vice presidential candidate in order to qualify for the ballot in several states. Mr. Perot later kept Mr. Stockdale on after he fired his professional advisers, who wanted him to run a more conventional campaign with a better-known and more experienced running mate.
Mr. Perot and Admiral Stockdale received 19 percent of the popular vote.
Admiral Stockdale seemed out of his league in the debate with the major party vice presidential candidates, Dan Quayle and Al Gore. He startled the audience and those watching on television with his opening remarks: "Who am I? Why am I here?"
While the statement transformed him into the butt of jokes from late-night comedians, he later wrote in The World & I magazine that he had chosen his words deliberately to showcase his basic view of himself that "I am a philosopher."
In the article, Admiral Stockdale said he drew his inspiration from the writings of Epictetus, a former Roman slave who was an adherent to the teachings of the Stoics. "Stoics belittle physical harm, but this is not braggadocio," Admiral Stockdale wrote. "They are speaking of it in comparison to the devastating agony of shame they fancied good men generating when they knew in their hearts that they had failed to do their duty vis-à-vis their fellow men or God."
Indeed. “Though he had a distinguished military career…Epictetus, a former Roman slave who was an adherent to the teachings of the stoics.” Well, not exactly, but ok.
First, it was more than a distinguished military career, and Epictetus was among the greatest of the stoic philosophers, which made him a teacher and a student — not an adherent.