Most of the regular readers of FriarMusings either know or have deduced that I am a graduate of the US Naval Academy – Class of 1974 to be exact. As a loyal alumni I follow the Academy via various channels and outlets. Recently the school made national news when it was reported that, at the direction of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, some 381 books were removed from the school library. Removing these books was part of the current administration’s effort to eliminate DEI content from federal agencies and in this case from government military schools. Which books were removed? Hard to say as no list has been published – and, in any case, this post is not a comment about the action. The US Naval Academy is not a private university. It is a military installation with a base commander and all the midshipmen (students) are on active duty in the US Navy. In other words, they were given valid orders.

The Academy, as part of an ongoing lecture series, invited Ryan Holiday to speak to the midshipmen on April 14th.  Mr. Holiday had spoken at the Academy several times before. 

Ryan Holiday is … well he has been several things. Early in his career he was a bit of a gadfly focusing on exposing flaws in journalistic vetting. He later moved on to marketing and promotion.  Along the way he began to write books and became a bestselling philosopher. His books like The Obstacle Is the Way, Ego Is the Enemy, The Daily Stoic, and Stillness Is the Key appear in more than 40 languages and have sold more than 5 million copies. Together, they’ve spent over 300 weeks on the bestseller lists. As you might discern, his work focuses on the Stoic philosophers and their teachings.  His 2024 book, “Right Thing, Right Now” is described as 

For the ancients, everything worth pursuing in life flowed from a strong sense of justice—or one’s commitment to doing the right thing, no matter how difficult. In order to be courageous, wise, and self-disciplined, one must begin with justice.  The influence of the modern world often tells us that acting justly is optional. Holiday argues that that’s simply untrue—and the fact that so few people today have the strength to stand by their convictions explains much about why we’re so unhappy.

In Right Thing, Right Now, Holiday draws on fascinating stories of historical figures such as Marcus Aurelius, Florence Nightingale, Jimmy Carter, Gandhi, and Frederick Douglass, whose examples of kindness, honesty, integrity, and loyalty we can emulate as pillars of upright living. Through the lives of these role models, readers learn the transformational power of living by a moral code and, through the cautionary tales of unjust leaders, the consequences of an ill-formed conscience.

The Stoics never claimed that living justly was easy, only that it was necessary. And that the alternative—sacrificing our principles for something lesser—was considered only by cowards and fools. Right Thing, Right Now is a powerful antidote to the moral failures of our modern age, and a manual for living virtuously.

The content of his books are, it seems to me, well suited to the formation of Naval Officers who will lead and command in a complex world in which one’s moral compass needs to be well formed.

Part of his April 14th presentation included reference to the order to remove books from the school library. In a later posting, Mr Holiday wrote:

I was supposed to give a talk at the U.S. Naval Academy in Maryland on April 14. I found out about 20 minutes before I was due to go onstage that it wasn’t going to happen. The lecture was about wisdom and how to cultivate it. It was a staunch defense of reading widely, perhaps especially, books you don’t agree with. The Naval Academy’s leadership had learned I was going to challenge the terribly sad fact that this wonderful institution had banned 381 books from the academy’s Nimitz Library, on the orders of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

They asked me to delete this part of the speech. I declined. My lecture was canceled.

Look, I understand the impossible position that the good folks at the Naval Academy are in. Any Naval Academy employee who defied the edict would have risked their job security or pension. But I’m a private citizen. Nobody suggested that there would be serious consequences for me, but there was a heaviness to the demand nonetheless, an expectation that I could not come back if I didn’t play ball.

My intention is not to embarrass anyone or cause trouble. In fact, if anyone was afraid of controversy, they would have been disappointed, which is sort of the point. We have gotten to a place where even a basic defense of intellectual freedom is now considered “too political” for a government institution. Still, I could not in good conscience deliver a lecture about wisdom and not address the fact of the removal of books from a library a few hundred yards away. It would have undermined the messages of my three previous lectures at the Naval Academy on the subjects of courage, discipline, and doing the right thing.

You can read the full content of his lecture by clicking the button below. The content follows the life of Vice Admiral James Stockdale USN, Medal of Honor recipient, and a member of the US Naval Academy Class of 1947.  His life is a living example of courage, discipline, and doing the right thing. Far from controversial, his life is inspiring – and he explored widely intellectual thought with which he strongly disagreed.

I am sympathetic to the US Naval Academy in following orders. It is sad to think about the climate they found themselves in when they canceled  the lecture. 

What brought all this to mind? In my time, 1973, when I was a midshipman, as part of the Forrestal Lecture Series, the entire brigade was required to attend a lecture by Gloria Steinham.  Comparing the two moments, the irony is evident.