Navy League of the United States: Civilians Supporting the Sea Services for More Than a Century

Founded with the support of President Theodore Roosevelt in 1902, the Navy League of the United States quickly became a powerful voice advocating a strong maritime component to the national defense. In this book Richard Wright describes the Navy League and its activities and explores its history, from the League’s founding to 2005. He pays particular attention to the tumultuous period since the 1950s, when the Navy League asserted itself as the “civilian arm of the Navy”; through the contentious 1960s, when the Navy League supported the service personnel in Vietnam but not the war; and to the end of the Cold War. Wright also covers events since 2001, particularly the Navy League’s support of the sea services in the war on terrorism.

This tribute will delight readers interested in the last hundred years of development of the Navy, the Marines, the Coast Guard, and the U.S.-flag merchant marine. For them in particular, Wright addresses all the issues concerning the politics of defense, recruiting, shipbuilding, and educating the public about the importance of maintaining a strong national defense based on maritime superiority—that is, on sea power.