EnemiesList.info

Nixon Enemies List entry for
LaRocque, Rear Adm. Gene (Retired):

List and position:Second, #28
Name as originally listed:LaRocque, Rear Adm. Gene (Retired)

Comments

Name/Date:Joe RileyJun 3, 2009 12:00am
Comment:Admiral LaRocque had been on the Pentagon's Strategic Planning Board during the Vietnam war (he even received a medal or commendation for strategic planning) but soon became convinced that the U.S. couldn't "win" in Vietnam and came out against U.S. involvement in Vietnam. After retiring from the Navy in 1972, he started the Center for Defense Information, a military watchdog agency, with help from both Stewart Mott (also on the enemies list) and the Fund for Peace in New York City. Admiral LaRocque was born in 1918, in Illinois. A so-called "black shoe" admiral (i.e. one who didn't attend the U.S. Naval Academy) LaRocque served with distinction throughout his naval career, but especially during World War II. He was at Pearl Harbor serving on the destroyer U.S.S. MacDonough when the Japanese attacked on December 7th, 1941, and was credited with getting the MacDonough under way and saved it from being sunk.

Fellow "enemies list" member Paul Newman was on the Center for Defense Information along with his wife, actress Joanne Woodward.

Admiral LaRocque is a longtime friend of former Senator George McGovern, who ran against President Nixon in 1972.

Admiral LaRocque told me many times that,as a result of being on Nixon's "enemies list", he was audited by the Internal Revenue Service. The result was that the Federal Government owed Admiral LaRocque a refund on his taxes.

Like his friend, Paul Newman, Admiral LaRocque regarded being on Nixon's "enemies list" as a source of personal pride.
Name/Date:Jonathan SkeanJun 22, 2009 9:57am
Comment:The term "Black shoe Navy" has nothing to do with the Naval Academy. It means non-aviator. Aviators were called "Brown shoes" because that is what they wore with kakhi uniforms. Other officers wore black shoes with kakhi. The terms were very commonly used to distinguish the affiliation of all hands, Seaman Recruit to Fleet Admiral, although First Class Petty Officers and below did not actually wear kakhis at all. I well remember frequently hearing Adm. LaRocque on Pacifica Network radio programs. He seemed pretty far Left to me. ("Not that there's anything wrong with that.")

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