James D. Hornfischer Quote

Even Admiral Raymond Spruance, Nimitz’s chief of staff and widely considered one of the Navy’s most capacious minds, had taken lumps for what some critics deemed his excessive caution in the Battle of Midway. The experience soured him on second-guessing: I have always hesitated to sit in judgment of the responsible man on the spot, unless it was obvious to me at the time he was making a grave error in judgment. Even in that case I wanted to hear his side of the matter before I made any final judgment.

James D. Hornfischer

Even Admiral Raymond Spruance, Nimitz’s chief of staff and widely considered one of the Navy’s most capacious minds, had taken lumps for what some critics deemed his excessive caution in the Battle of Midway. The experience soured him on second-guessing: I have always hesitated to sit in judgment of the responsible man on the spot, unless it was obvious to me at the time he was making a grave error in judgment. Even in that case I wanted to hear his side of the matter before I made any final judgment.

Related Quotes

About James D. Hornfischer

James D. Hornfischer (November 18, 1965 – June 2, 2021) was an American literary agent, author, and naval historian.
A one-time book editor at the publishing company HarperCollins in New York, Hornfischer was later president of Hornfischer Literary Management, a literary agency in Austin, Texas.