Fall From Glory: The Men Who Sank the U.S. Navy [Paperback]

Gregory Vistica (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 26, 1997

From the prizewinning journalist who broke the Tailhook scandal comes a no-holds barred expose of the scandals, corruption, and avoidable deaths that have blackened the reputation of the U.S. Navy. photo insert.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A common political belief is that increased defense spending means increased defense, and this book puts the lie to it. Through extensive reporting and documentary research (which included fighting for and winning access to the 22 boxes of Reagan Secretary of the Navy John Lehman's private papers that are in Navy custody), Vistica tells the story of the scheming, often dishonest Navy leadership that led to tactically irrelevant spending in the 80s and 90s, and to the utter breakdown in decency and chain of command known as Tailhook. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Touchstone (February 26, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684832267
• ISBN-13: 978-0684832265
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #843,930 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars X-Rated, April 20, 2003

By 

Bert Ruiz "Author" (Pleasantville, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fall From Glory: The Men Who Sank the U.S. Navy (Paperback)

"Fall From Glory: The Men Who Sank the U.S. Navy," by Gregory L. Vistica is a powerful journalistic examination of the political manipulation of American taxpayer dollars and the disgraceful treatment of women who had answered the nation's call to service. However, be warned...it is also filled with excessive and graphic X-Rated pornagraphic narratives.

The author does a worthy service in documenting how Secretary of the Navy John Lehman, a President Ronald Reagan appointee in 1981 orchestrated the largest peacetime naval buildup in the nation's history. Vistica explains how the rallying cry for building the fleet had been the Soviet bogeyman. Moreover, he documents how the Navy had known all along that the Soviet Fleet was defensive in nature and not a threat to the United States. Consequently, the American taxpayer paid the bill for an excessive expansion that included a "six hundred ship Navy" that was not needed and mothballed at great expense.

This book also focuses on the role of women in the Navy and gives a step by step account of the hidden dirty laundry at the prestigious U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Vistica also displays intimate details of the infamous Navy and Marine aviators Tailhook Association annual gatherings in Las Vegas. Vistica is a first class researcher and an enormously talented writer who must be credited for being meticulous in detail. Nevertheless, he displays an amazing lack of maturity for lowering himself into the gutter and reporting news not fit to print.

Bert Ruiz

20 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars For the book burners: Someone had to write this book!, July 28, 1999

By 

A Customer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fall From Glory: The Men Who Sank the U.S. Navy (Paperback)

Someone had to tell this story. I searched the WEB for information on the Tailhook Scandal and the only book I could find having anything to say about how the Navy got into that situation is "Fall from Glory." All books have factual errors but I'm very glad this book was written. I was a naval aviator, attack pilot, in the 1960 and 1970s. 500 carrier landings A1 and A4. I've witnessed the scene at the Cubi Point Officers club. I can separate truth from fiction. What disgusts me most about these events is the lying, the cover ups, the protection of men who deserve to be courts martialed, and the sexual escapades.

I have some of the same reservations that many military men have about women in the service. I think they have an important roll. I have a problem with their being on aircraft carriers flying fighter planes but space is limited so I'll leave out the numerous reasons why I have these reservations. But young men who harass women at the Naval Academy far beyond the norms of hazing, people who ostracize others who tell the truth, are, in my opinion, cowards and scum. And men who think it's funny grabbing at women in a "gauntlet" are not the men I want leading our Navy. I notice that some of the reviewers speak of the Reagan Administration, Secretary Lehman, etc. as if they are the chief offenders or the cause. Bull! Every individual from admiral on down is responsible for his/her actions. Too many naval officers did nothing!

19 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Complete and Balanced, January 13, 2001

By 

Chapulina R (Tovarischi Imports, USA/RUS) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fall From Glory: The Men Who Sank the U.S. Navy (Paperback)

I've read numerous articles by Gregory L. Vistica in the newspaper and in Newsweek Magazine, and am always impressed by the quality of his research and reporting. His writings on military matters are free from political bias and personal agenda.

I read "Fall From Glory" particularly for its coverage of conditions in the gender-integrated Navy. Vistica presents a very balanced view of the Tailhook Scandal, beginning with the circumstances which led up to it. The Navy had overlooked gross sexual misconduct for many years -- from Subic Bay's "hostitutes" for servicemen to "Tomcat Follies" and convention "TailHookers" for male aviators. It was inevitable that such a permissive atmosphere culminated in the drunken debauchery and assaults at Tailhook 91. Perhaps the real tragedy of Tailhook was that careers were destroyed over conduct which had been condoned and even encouraged in the past. (Nor does Vistica place the entire blame on male officers and command. Many female Naval attendees participated in the revelry with equal licentiousness.) Ironically, the Navy's attempted coverup in the aftermath of Tailhook provided the impetus for the long overdue promotion of female aviators to the Fleet. Vistica relates the struggle of those aviators to overcome military sexism and media sensationalism over the fatal crash of a pioneer F-14 aviatrix. While acknowledging deficiencies in the accelerated training of that pilot, Vistica reveals a Navy policy of keeping "an inordinate number of mediocre and poor male pilots, many of whom are less qualified than [she] was... The Navy never released the details of accidents in which inferior male pilots killed themselves and others while flying... They were allowed to keep flying despite serious deficiencies because of the 'good old boy network' that is still so prevalent in naval aviation."

But "Fall From Glory" contains much more than just information relevent to women in the Navy. The book details the abuses of power of the Navy's top Admirals and Secretary Lehman during the Reagan Administrations. How they manipulated the President and misled Congress into appropriating billions of dollars -- for an unecessary fleet buildup to counter a greatly-exaggerated threat from the Soviet navy -- is the real eye-opener. From Lehman's scheming and Reagan's astonishing gullibility, to Clinton's wishy-washy compromises on gays in the Navy, Vistica's thorough documentation leaves no sacred ox ungored. This will not endear his book to liberal or right-wing readers seeking validation of their political agendae. But it is a book which should be read by everyone who really cares about the US Navy and is concerned about its fall from its former glory.