Vice Admiral James B. Stockdale, USN, Ret (1979-1980)
Admiral Stockdale was born in Abingdon, Illinois in 1923. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1946.
After graduation, he served for twenty years successively as carrier aviator, landing signal officer, test and fighter pilot, aircraft squadron commander, and air wing commander.
He was shot down in Vietnam and held prisoner of war for seven and a half years. After his release in 1973, he received the Medal of Honor and became Commander of the Anti-Submarine Warfare Wing of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. In 1977, he accepted the presidency of the Naval War College.
After retirement from the Navy in 1979, Admiral Stockdale became the President of The Citadel. He resigned in 1980 to join the Hoover Institute at Stanford University in California.
