Thomas Hinman Moorer

Thomas Hinman Moorer (February 9, 1912 – February 5, 2004) was an admiral and naval aviator in the United States Navy who served as the chief of naval operations from 1967 to 1970, and as the seventh chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1970 to 1974.

He was implicated in a spy ring within the White House during the Nixon administration, but never prosecuted.

Moorer was born in Mount Willing, Alabama on February 9, 1912.

His father, a dentist, named his son for his favorite professor at Atlanta-Southern Dental College, Dr. Thomas Hinman.

Moorer was raised in Eufaula, Alabama with his siblings, including his brother Joseph, who would also become a Navy Admiral.

Moorer graduated from the United States Naval Academy on June 1, 1933 and was commissioned an ensign.

After completing Naval Aviation training at the Pensacola Naval Air Station in 1936, he flew with fighter squadrons based on the aircraft carriers USS Langley (CV-1), USS Lexington (CV-2) and USS Enterprise (CV-6).

In addition to his carrier-based fighter experience, Moorer also qualified in seaplanes and flew with a patrol squadron in the early years of World War II.

Serving with Patrol Squadron Twenty-Two at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, when the Japanese Empire attacked on December 7, 1941 Moorer's account of Pearl Harbor attack has been published under the title "A Patrol in the wrong direction".

His squadron subsequently participated in the 1941–42 Dutch East Indies Campaign in the southwest Pacific, where he flew numerous combat missions.

Moorer received a Purple Heart after being shot down and wounded off the coast of Australia on 19 February 1942 and then surviving an attack on the rescue ship, SS Florence D. (1919), which was bombed and sunk the same day by enemy aircraft involved in the first Bombing of Darwin.

Moorer also received the Distinguished Flying Cross for his valor three months later when he braved Japanese air superiority to fly supplies into, and evacuate wounded out of, the island of Timor.

Promoted to vice admiral in 1962, and to admiral in 1964, Moorer served both as Commander-in-Chief of the United States Pacific Fleet and Commander-in-Chief of the United States Atlantic Fleet — the first Navy officer to have commanded both fleets.

Moorer was Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Fleet at the time of the Gulf of Tonkin incident and ordered an internal investigation into the conflicting reports which emerged following the event.

Moorer served as the Chief of Naval Operations between 1967 and 1970, at the height of U.S. involvement in Vietnam and worked closely with the most senior officers in the U.S. Military and Government.

Moorer came to the conclusion that the attack on the USS Liberty in 1967 was a deliberate act on the part of the Israelis and that President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered the cover-up to maintain ties with Israel.

Moorer stated that "Israel attempted to prevent the Liberty's radio operators from sending a call for help by jamming American emergency radio channels.[And that] Israeli torpedo boats machine-gunned lifeboats at close range that had been lowered to rescue the most-seriously wounded."

Moorer stated that there had been a conspiracy to cover up the event and asked whether "our government put Israel's interests ahead of our own? If so, Why? Does our government continue to subordinate American interests to Israeli interests?"

On March 31, 1970 he became a member of the Alabama Society of the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR).

He was assigned national SAR member number 99,634 and Alabama Society number 759.

He was later awarded the Society's Gold Good Citizenship Medal.

He was also a member of the Naval Order of the United States.

In a 1983 interview, Moorer said: "I've never seen a President - I don't care who he is-stand up to them [the Israelis]. It just boggles your mind.They always get what they want. The Israelis know what is going on all the time. I got to the point where I wasn't writing anything down. If the American people understood what a grip those people have got on our government, they would rise up in arms. Our citizens don't have any idea what goes on.”

Admiral Moorer was present at the Medal of Honor presentation ceremony for the Liberty’s commanding officer, Captain William L. McGonagle.

Captain McGonagle was presented the award by Secretary of the Navy Paul Ignatius away from the White House, which broke with longstanding tradition of such awards being presented by the President of the United States in a public ceremony (McGonagle’s Medal of Honor is the only one to be awarded in such a manner).

Admiral Moorer explained this was because the attack on the USS Liberty had been covered-up by the incumbent presidential administration.

Moorer told The Washington Post in 1991: "To suggest that they couldn’t identify the ship is…ridiculous…Anybody who could not identify the Liberty could not tell the difference between the White House and the Washington Monument."

Moorer remained an outspoken advocate for Liberty survivors: "It's ridiculous to say this was an accident. There was good weather, she was flying the U.S. flag and the planes and torpedo boats attacked over a long period of time. I think Congress should investigate the incident, even now."

On the 24th anniversary of the attack (in 1991), Moorer attended a ceremony at the White House meant to honor Liberty survivors.

Many were in attendance, including Captain William McGonagle.

Instead of President George H.W. Bush greeting the survivors, which was expected, White House Chief of Staff John H. Sununu and National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft greeted them.

Moorer described it as “very emotional.”

Moorer wrote in 1997: "I have never believed that the attack on the USS Liberty was a case of mistaken identity. That is ridiculous. I have flown over the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, thousands of hours, searching for ships and identifying all types of ships at sea. The Liberty was the ugliest, strangest-looking ship in the U.S. Navy. As a communications intelligence ship, it was sprouting every kind of antenna. It looked like a lobster with all those projections moving every which way. Israel knew perfectly well that the ship was American."

It took Moorer’s personal intervention to reverse a U.S. Naval Academy decision to not include the names of 2 Liberty crew members who were killed in action on a memorial wall at Bancroft Hall.

The crew members in question were Lieutenant Commander Philip Armstrong Jr. and Lieutenant Stephen Toth.

Moorer angrily commented on the Academy’s attempt to omit the names: “I intervened and was able to reverse the apparent idea that dying in a cowardly, one-sided attack by a supposed ally is somehow not the same as being killed by an avowed enemy.”

In 2003, Moorer headed an independent commission to investigate the details of the USS Liberty incident.

The commission determined, among other things, that the state of Israel had deliberately attacked an American ship in international waters, killing 34 U.S. sailors in the process and perpetrating an act of war.

Also participating in the commission was Marine General Raymond G. Davis, Rear Admiral Merlin Staring, and former U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia James E. Akins.

The so-called Moorer Commission submitted their findings to the United States government along with a request for a proper Congressional investigation of the attack.