Halsey retained a fund of goodwill with his colleagues and superiors, for whom the disasters and emergencies of 1942 remained fresh in memory. Often in the past, his fearless and rousing leadership had seemed reckless, but it had succeeded. He had earned the right to a few mistakes. Relieving him of command would only draw unwelcome attention to the near-disaster in Leyte Gulf. And who would replace him? Four-star officers who possessed the requisite seniority and were qualified for the job were vanishingly few. Mitscher could have been fleeted up, but he was overdue for a long rest, and his
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