Kind of a big deal by Stefan Beck

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Sep 06, 2008 04:37 AM

Kind of a big deal

by Stefan Beck

There’s nothing like the historical record for making today’s “conventional wisdom” seem dull and pious. James S. Robbins, the author of Last in Their Class: Custer, Pickett and the Goats of West Point, has a field day with the idea that John McCain’s low class ranking at the Naval Academy tells us anything about his fitness for the presidency—or, I should say, anything negative:

A recent Washington Post profile of John McCain’s years at the Naval Academy portrayed him as an unruly, fun-loving, under-achieving Midshipman struggling with his obligation to live up to his family’s brilliant military legacy. It was “a four-year course of insubordination and rebellion,” McCain later wrote. McCain graduated 894th out of 899 in 1958, five spots above the “Anchorman,” the lowest-ranking midshipman. In this respect he did uphold one family tradition; his similarly rebellious father Jack, who would rise to the rank of Admiral and was the Pacific Command CINC while his son was being held prisoner in Hanoi, had graduated 424th of 441.

Some have suggested that McCain’s low class ranking reflects negatively on his fitness to lead the country. But there is no clear relationship between Academy class rank and leadership qualities. . . . Seventeen class anchors have attained flag rank, and many low-ranking graduates have gone on to brilliant careers. This tracks with the thesis I developed in my book Last in Their Class; the bottom of the class tends to produce a different kind of leader than the top. Those who wind up at the foot are often there by choice. They could do better if they studied, but they would rather trade class ranking for other pursuits. They tend to be the risk takers, the innovators, usually very well liked and in their own way driven. They know how to get into trouble, and more importantly how to get out of it.

He goes on to describe the exploits of “anchormen” past—as well as Joe “Hoser” Satrapa, who “entered the Class of 1964 with the expressed goal of graduating as the anchorman” but who accidentally surpassed the competition. Robbins calls him “a fearless hunter in the skies over Vietnam who was a tireless advocate of guns over missiles, of close-in dog-fighting over long range engagement.” (Here’s what this guy is up to these days.) Is this a case of cherry-picking or selective memory? Perhaps—but I can name many remarkable classmates of mine, and the valedictorian sure isn’t one of them.

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