[catpuppy]

Valid point, Jim, about congressmen perhaps not belonging on the list with Lexington, Saratoga and Coral Sea. I guess the other side would argue that without Vinson we might all be speaking German or Japanese. Or at a minimum, there probably would not have been built U.S. Navy ships worthy of the great names you list.

As for your comment regarding JFK, I agree. Those who list him among the great presidents come up short when listing his accomplishments which were few indeed and which illustrate mediocrity rather than merit, even when his considerable failures are ignored.

[RANGERAIRBORNE]

I will agree with you that Carl Vinson was a strong pro-Defense Congressman- but so were a whole LOT of others over the life of this Republic. My point was that, once you start naming everything in sight for politicians, there is no end to it. A prime example is the insult the Navy took when a nuclear submarine was named for Jimmy "the Wimp" Carter!

I also don't think that JFK was a "great" President by any measure- he was a very good public speaker, nice personality- perhaps he should have gone into talk radio, or hosted a TV game show...

But I lived through his failed Presidency, and served in the war that he left as his "legacy", and I hate to see ANYTHING named for this over-rated playboy.

But when you start naming things after politicians, you get the JIMMY CARTER and the JOHN F. KENNEDY, along with the ones that we might like to see memorialized. (See how neatly I tied these two topics together???