Forrest Sherman

"You can't get good marks if you're popular."

"The survival of this country depends upon letting the world know we have the power and the ability to use it if the occasion demands."

"If you were CINCPAC, which would you take?" "Sherman."

"His lifetime of service has touched the lives of every Sailor privileged to serve aboard this ship and will continue to do so for many years to come."

"Sherman never hesitated when things looked worst. He's a realist without being a pessimist."

"He was able. He was a patriotic American. He was a fine gentleman. The country's loss is great, and so is mine."

"He was a grease-lightning operator, a box of brains. He always had a plan — never left anything to chance."

"Right from the beginning, he knew precisely what he wanted. He wanted to get to the top. … Joe wasn't really cocky, he just wasn't uncertain, as most kids that age are."

"The man in the admiral's uniform spoke only occasionally, and then in a quiet voice, but the words were to the point, and the mind behind them forceful. Fellow members of the Joint Chiefs had learned to listen carefully to the Navy's Forrest Percival Sherman. The U.S., as the Joint Chiefs already knew, had found a fighting man of rare qualities: the man of action who is also reflective, studious, habitually unruffled. The freshman member of the Joint Chiefs, he had stepped into his job four months ago when he became Chief of Naval Operations, in an atmosphere acrid with controversy and resentment. He had brought to the nation's highest military council something that had been too much forgotten in the jealous and unseemly interservice fights over unification — a grasp of international strategy, military history and geopolitics. … The Navy, which in the heat of change of command had whispered that Sherman was ambitious, cold and ruthless, was amazed and delighted. One officer, who had greeted Sherman's advent with "This is a dark day for the Navy," admitted later: "The Navy hasn't seen anything like him in a long time.""

"In the Pentagon, Sherman had the reputation of never having lost an argument. Impressively learned in military history and geopolitics, he was freely acclaimed the J.C.S.'s best geopolitical brain."