United States Navy admiral
Rear Admiral
John Geraerdt Crommelin Jr.
(2 October 1902 ? 2 November 1996) was a prominent
American naval officer
and later a frequent
political
candidate who championed
white supremacy
.
Early life and naval career
[
edit
]
Born in
Montgomery, Alabama
as eldest of five brothers, he graduated from the
United States Naval Academy
in
Annapolis, Maryland
in 1923. He grew up in Montgomery and in
Elmore County, Alabama
.
[
citation needed
]
He saw combat at the
Pacific
during
World War II
. All of his brothers also graduated from the US Naval Academy and two of them were killed in action during World War II.
[
citation needed
]
Crommelin earned a reputation as a courageous and skillful naval aviator and the nickname "bomb-run John". He served as an executive officer as well as air officer aboard the
Enterprise
and was chief of staff aboard the carrier
Liscome Bay
when it was sunk in the Makin Island campaign off the
Gilbert Islands
.
[
citation needed
]
In 1946, Captain Crommelin was given command of the light carrier
USS
Saipan
.
[1]
In 1949, he was transferred to Navy headquarters in
The Pentagon
at the rank of
captain
during the period of time of military budget reductions and unification of the command of the services.
In Washington Captain Crommelin became a vocal critic of military politics, warning of the dangers of concentrating military authority in the hands of a few, despite being in active service. He publicly complained that the Defense Department was scuttling naval air power and showing improper favor to the Air Force and that "a Prussian General Staff system of the type employed by Hitler" was being imposed on the armed forces under unification.
[2]
During this
Revolt of the Admirals
, he made public some of the confidential correspondence of top Navy commanders who were critical of the Defense Departments designs to defund the Navy. Crommelin's opposition to the civilian political authority decisions to reduce the Navy and increase reliance on the Air Force placed him in a politically untenable position. Crommelin was publicly reprimanded by Navy
Chief of Naval Operations
Forrest P. Sherman
and was transferred to
San Francisco, California
.
[2]
Crommelin was furloughed by Admiral Sherman at half pay, beginning early in 1950. Crommelin retired from active duty with the rank of Rear Admiral in May 1950, after 30 years of service. He went to operate a part of his family plantation, named Harrogate Springs, in Elmore County, raising a variety of crops.
[2]
Political activity
[
edit
]
Although he was widely praised and credited for his courage in speaking out for his views and for his previous distinguished combat career, Crommelin's reputation suffered from his later political involvement. He was an open and unapologetic
racist
,
segregationist
and
anti-Semite
even when such sentiments were becoming less fashionable in Alabama.
Crommelin generally finished last or second-last in any election. He was nominated for
Vice President
in 1960 by the minor, far-right, white supremacist
National States' Rights Party
(not to be confused with the slightly more moderate
States' Rights Democratic Party
of 1948), as the running mate of
Orval Faubus
, the
Governor of Arkansas
.
One of the few times that he didn't finish last in an election came in 1964, when he ran in the Democratic primary for
Alabama's 2nd congressional district
, his home district, against 14-term incumbent
George M. Grant
. He was only the third substantive primary opponent that Grant had ever faced. While Crommerlin lost the primary by a 2-to-1 margin, Grant himself was routed in the general election in a backlash to the federal Democrats passing the
Civil Rights Act of 1964
.
During the
United States presidential election of 1968
he ran for the Democratic nomination in the
New Hampshire
primary, winning only 186 (0.34%) of the votes.
Legacy and personal life
[
edit
]
Crommelin married Lillian E. Tapley in 1930. They had two daughters and one son.
USS
Crommelin
,
commissioned
in 1983 as the twenty-eighth ship of the
Oliver Hazard Perry
class
of guided-missile
frigates
, is named for John G. and his four brothers. The brothers are the only group of five siblings to graduate from the US Naval Academy, further highlighted by all five serving combat duty in World War II.
Electoral history
[
edit
]
Alabama United States Senate election, 1950
- J. Lister Hill
(D) (inc.) – 125,534 (76.54%)
- John G. Crommelin (Independent) – 38,477 (23.46%)
Democratic
primary for the U.S. Senate from Alabama, 1956
- J. Lister Hill
(inc.) – 247,519 (68.20%)
- John G. Crommelin – 115,440 (31.81%)
1958 Alabama gubernatorial election
(Democratic primary)
- John Malcolm Patterson
– 196,859 (31.82%)
- George Wallace
– 162,435 (26.26%)
- Jimmy Faulkner
– 91,512 (14.79%)
- A.W. Todd – 59,240 (9.58%)
- Laurie Battle
– 38,955 (6.30%)
- George Hawkins – 24,332 (3.93%)
- C.C. Owen – 15,270 (2.47%)
- Karl Harrison – 12,488 (2.02%)
- Billy Walker – 7,963 (1.29%)
- W.E. Dodd – 4,753 (0.77%)
- John G. Crommelin – 2,245 (0.36%)
- Shearen Elebash – 1,177 (0.19%)
- James Gulatte – 798 (0.13%)
- Shorty Price
– 655 (0.11%)
Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate from Alabama, 1960
- John Sparkman
(inc.) – 335,722 (86.68%)
- John G. Crommelin – 51,571 (13.32%)
1960 United States presidential election
Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate from Alabama, 1962
- J. Lister Hill
(inc.) – 363,613 (73.71%)
- Donald G. Hallmark – 72,855 (14.77%)
- John G. Crommelin – 56,822 (11.52%)
Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate from Alabama, 1966
- John Sparkman
(inc.) – 378,295 (56.98%)
- Frank E. Dixon – 133,139 (20.05%)
- John G. Crommelin – 114,622 (17.26%)
- Margaret E. Stewart – 37,889 (5.71%)
1968 United States presidential election
(Democratic primaries)
- Eugene McCarthy
– 2,914,933 (38.73%)
- Robert F. Kennedy
– 2,305,148 (30.63%)
- Stephen M. Young
– 549,140 (7.30%)
- Lyndon B. Johnson
– 383,590 (5.10%)
- Thomas C. Lynch
– 380,286 (5.05%)
- Roger D. Branigin
– 238,700 (3.17%)
- George Smathers
– 236,242 (3.14%)
- Hubert Humphrey
– 166,463 (2.21%)
- Unpledged – 161,143 (2.14%)
- Scott Kelly – 128,899 (1.71%)
- George Wallace
– 34,489 (0.46%)
- Richard Nixon
(write-in) – 13,610 (0.18%)
- Ronald Reagan
(write-in) – 5,309 (0.07%)
- Ted Kennedy
– 4,052 (0.05%)
- Paul C. Fisher
– 506 (0.01%)
- John G. Crommelin – 186 (0.00%)
Citations
[
edit
]
Bibliography
[
edit
]
- Barlow, Jeffrey G.
Revolt of the Admirals: The Fight for Naval Aviation, 1945?1950
. Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Center, 1994.
ISBN
0-16-042094-6
.
- McFarland, Keith (1980).
"The 1949 Revolt of the Admirals"
(PDF)
.
Parameters: Journal of the US Army War College Quarterly Vol. XI, No. 2
. pp. 53?63. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 26 January 2017
. Retrieved
28 April
2014
.
- Potter, E. B.
(2005).
Admiral Arliegh Burke
. U.S. Naval Institute Press.
ISBN
978-1-59114-692-6
.
External links
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]
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