Nimitz at War: Command Leadership from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay

by Craig L. Symonds

It was Nimitz’s particular gift to be able to impart to others the confidence that they could succeed.

because his father had died before he was born, Nimitz had been raised by his maternal grandfather, and one piece of advice his grandfather gave him was never to worry about things that were beyond his control.

“Learn all you can, then do your best, and don’t worry—especially about things over which you have no control.”

Nimitz might have pulled rank and ordered Bloch to toe the line. Instead, he invited Bloch to a discussion of Pacific strategy with his staff.

There, he outlined King’s vision of occupying and developing new bases across the Pacific both as a defensive barrier to continued Japanese expansion and as jumping-off points for an eventual American counteroffensive. He then asked the group how they could best execute that vision. By inviting Bloch’s input, Nimitz effectively co-opted him, and instead of being an obstructionist,

Bloch became a partner in base ...

“great results cannot be accomplished without a corresponding degree of risk.”

“The leader who awaits perfection of plans, material, or training, will wait in vain,”

Spruance was utterly unlike Halsey. He was composed, reserved, and self-disciplined to the point of asceticism.

Nimitz had demonstrated that humility, careful listening, calm assessment, patience, and the ability to recognize when to accept calculated risk, brought military success as well as the admiration of those who executed his orders.

Nimitz’s greatness lay less in his ability to do great things than in his facility to convince others that they could do great things.

Spruance, Lockwood, and Turner were better commanders because of their association with Chester Nimitz, and they knew it. That was true as well of Halsey and Mitscher, even Holland Smith. In that respect, Nimitz was a force multiplier in th...