The First Hero

The United States Navy in its 200-plus year history has had its share of heroes and great leaders (not necessarily the same thing, by the way). Only one man is recognized as "the father of the Navy," its first great hero. John Paul Jones wasn't a great leader, except aboard ship, despite his victories, although he was the author of respectability for the fledgling, badly mismanaged US Navy.

Evan Thomas has written the first full biography of Jones in almost fifty years (John Paul Jones: Sailor, Hero, Father of the American Navy, Simon and Schuster, 2003, available in hardcover and paperback). He draws extensively on Jones's letters and other first person source material, a bit of a departure from some of the recent popular history that has been written recently.

Jones had vision, initiative and an almost insane kind of courage. Jones wrote letters proposing a true ocean-going navy as the backbone of American defense, which didn't happen until the turn of the 20th century and also a Naval Academy, which wouldn't happen until the mid-19th century. What he did not have was the ability to work with people, especially those whom Jones considered intellectually inferior or had used him badly, which included a great number of influential people. He just wasn't a politician.

Thomas balances his admiration of Jones, who had left Scotland with nothing, gained an apprenticeship (a rare occurrence for one of his so-called low birth), become a ship captain at an early age, made a fortune, lost it, found a new country and a calling for which he was uniquely suited, with a near-repulsion at the lack of character which Jones demonstrated at times.

Despite his shortcomings as a man, Jones was the US Navy's only hero and example for many years. At a time when patronage, money and connections were what made a ship captain, Jones had the ability and strength of will to be able to wrangle a ship from the Continental Congress and its corrupt and in-fighting Naval Board, and then be the only captain to actually head out to take on the mighty British Navy at the height of its power. As remarkable as this was, more so was the fact that Jones won, not once, but three times.

Jones, of course, could not translate this into fortune or influence himself, although he had fame for a short time. His temper, selfishness and belief in total equality in a world where nobody is truly equal, fueled a simmering rage that wasted what he had won. His fighting spirit and courage, though, did encourage and develop a number of younger officers who would become Naval heroes in their own right, like Joshua Barney and Stephen Decatur (one of my personal favorites).

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