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Not that I'm out looking to throw cold water on the reputation of an unquestionably great military man, but I do feel a compulsion to mention that Admiral Ernest King was responsible for scapegoating Captain Charles McVay of the USS Indianapolis, after King's orders regarding the nonreporting of arriving ships was interpreted as also applying to nonarriving ships -- thus leading to the sinking of that ship. Attempting to divert the attention from himself, King ordered the military to court-martial McVay for the sinking, even though no skipper had been court-martialed in the entire course of the war for losing a ship, and even though McVay had not been told that Japanese submarines would be in the area (the Navy knew this information but did not tell him). King ordered the court-martial even though an investigating committee had not yet released its findings. McVay was found guilty by a jury that was chosen by, and depended on promotions from, Admiral King.

Asked about the case many years later, the great Naval historian Samuel Eliot Morison responded with a quote from Voltaire: "It is thought good, from time to time, to kill one admiral to encourage the others."

King's performance as an admiral in the Pacific Theater was unusually brilliant -- he is largely responsible for the superior performance of American troops in that area. For that he deserves great credit -- he undoubtedly saved a great number of American lives. But we should not flinch from additionally confronting one of the dishonorable acts of his career -- the court-martial and conviction of Captain Charles McVay, skipper of the doomed USS Indianapolis.