United States Navy - Notable Sailors

Notable Sailors

Main article: List of United States Navy people

Many past and present United States historical figures have served in the Navy. Notable officers include John Paul Jones, John Barry (Continental Navy officer and first flag officer of the United States Navy), James Lawrence (whose last words "don't give up the ship" are memorialized in Bancroft Hall at the United States Naval Academy), Stephen Decatur, Jr., David Farragut, David Dixon Porter, Oliver Hazard Perry, Commodore Matthew Perry (whose Black Ships forced the opening of Japan), and Chester Nimitz, Admiral of the Pacific Fleet in World War II.

A number of presidents served in the Navy before or early in their political careers, including John F. Kennedy (who commanded the famous PT-109), Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and George H.W. Bush. Both Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin D. Roosevelt were the Assistant Secretary of the Navy prior to their presidencies. Many members of Congress served in the Navy, notably U.S. Senators Bob Kerrey, John McCain, and John Kerry. Other notable former members of the U.S. Navy include astronauts, entertainers, authors, and professional athletes.

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Famous quotes containing the words notable and/or sailors:

    In one notable instance, where the United States Army and a hundred years of persuasion failed, a highway has succeeded. The Seminole Indians surrendered to the Tamiami Trail. From the Everglades the remnants of this race emerged, soon after the trail was built, to set up their palm-thatched villages along the road and to hoist tribal flags as a lure to passing motorists.
    —For the State of Florida, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)

    So far as inland discovery was concerned, the adventurous spirit of the English was that of sailors who land but for a day, and their enterprise the enterprise of traders.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)