PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

Today More Than Ever Before

My fellow Navy Leaguers: I thank you for the very great honor--and privilege--you have bestowed on me in electing me your new national president. I pledge to do my very best during my term of office not only to support our nation's sea services--the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Coast Guard, and U.S.-flag Merchant Marine--but also to make the Navy League itself more effective, more productive, and more proactive in everything we do.

Supporting the sea services is, and always will be, our first priority. And, let there be no mistake about it, the sea services need our support today more than ever before. Although many Americans do not yet realize it, the complex new world order of the 21st century is in many ways more dangerous and more difficult than the bipolar Cold War world of the very recent past. Which means we must do even more to carry out our primary mission of educating the American people, the media, and the executive and legislative branches of government about the fact that the United States is a maritime nation and that our national defense and economic well-being depend on sea power, both naval and commercial.

To achieve that ambitious goal requires many things, including increasing the Navy League's membership and our financial resources, enhancing and upgrading our publications and public relations efforts, and expanding our other educational and sea-service support programs across the board--on the local as well as national levels. Following are some of my own thoughts on how we can do all this--but I welcome your ideas, suggestions, and recommendations as well, which I ask you to send to me at national headquarters.

Navy League Membership: Despite the post-Cold War reductions in our national-defense infrastructure I believe the potential exists for a truly explosive growth in membership not only in our councils but in the ranks of the Navy League's corporate members. First, though, we have to develop the right message, and then promote that message to the American people through, among other things, an aggressive marketing campaign.
Financial Resources: The Navy League's Centennial Capital Campaign, combined with our separate Property Development Plan, should give us the substantial increase in resources needed to carry out the Navy League's educational mission more effectively and to expand our already broad spectrum of sea-service support programs.

Educational Mission: Our goal should be to make the Navy League the "subject matter expert" on sea power for the American people, the media, and government leaders at all levels. Our principal publications, Sea Power Magazine and The Almanac of Seapower, are outstanding in their respective fields, but we can and should do much more in other areas. Through our national web site, for example. Through the broadcast media. Through a national advertising campaign featuring a publicly recognized national spokesperson for sea power and the Navy League. In addition, Navy League councils and individual Navy Leaguers from all over the country could serve as subject-matter experts on specific sea-service topics, and some of our more knowledgeable experts might even testify before Congress.

Youth Programs: The Naval Sea Cadet Corps program, which started less than four decades ago, has been one of the greatest success stories of any such program in our nation's history, and it continues to grow and to validate our faith in the fine young Cadets in the program. Many former Sea Cadets already are moving into senior leadership positions in the sea services and in the private sector. The NSCC program deserves our continued support--as do the NROTC and NJROTC programs, the Naval Academy, the Coast Guard Academy, and the state and federal maritime academies.

Navy League Councils: The councils do the most work and the best work in carrying out the Navy League's mission. They serve as our most effective interface with the sea services, with the U.S. House and Senate, and with their home communities. Our overseas councils also play an unofficial but highly important ambassadorial role, and support our nation's forward-deployed combat forces in numerous ways. To make the councils even more effective we must develop promising young leaders for the future, and we should consider placing professionals in the field to train council officers, to develop membership, and to improve retention programs. We also must strengthen the working relationships between national headquarters and the region, state, and council levels.

I plan to address each of these subjects, and many others, in considerably more detail in future issues of Sea Power, in various "all-hands" position papers, and in separate letters to council presidents, national directors, and other national officers. I promise only one thing: to always put forth my best efforts on your behalf for the Navy League, for the sea services, and for our nation. And I ask only one thing in return: That you make the same 100 percent effort--which I know you will.

I would be remiss if, before closing, I did not tell you how fortunate I am to follow in the footsteps of one of our greatest national presidents, John R. Fisher. I know I speak for all Navy Leaguers in thanking Jack and his lovely wife Kitson for all of their hard work and numerous sacrifices over the past two years. Jack will, of course, continue to serve the Navy, the nation, and the Navy League in his new post as chairman of our National Advisory Council--I intend to call on him often.

Jack and Kitson, God bless you and keep you. May you have fair winds and following seas for many years to come.