The AP has just reported that Admiral James Stockdale has died. Historians shouldn't make predictions, but I'll guess that we'll never see a stranger debate performance than Stockdale's ("Who am I? Why am I here?") in the 1992 VP debate--as Stockdale himself admitted. Stockdale's uncomfortable nature was the subject of a variety of parodies; I recall watching the debate and worrying that he was going to suffer a heart attack, as he wandered into the screen behind Al Gore when Gore was speaking.

Stockdale was, of course, an American hero and POW during Vietnam. That he was chosen as a vice-presidential running mate, however, served as confirmation of Ross Perot's unfitness for the presidency.

Irfan Khawaja - 8/4/2006

Stockdale may have seemed clueless in his debate performance, but he was not so in print. I don't have the reference in front of me, but I used to teach one of his essays on the relation between his commitment to Stoicism and his experiences as a POW, and it was remarkably insightful and intelligent. He came across there as a man of remarkable strength and integrity, and he should be remembered that way, not for what he did during a few moments on TV.

Oscar Chamberlain - 7/6/2005

Thank you for the reminder. I had forgotten Stockdale. To the extent there was any remnant of him in my mind it was as a small part of the surrealism of American politics.

Yet I feel sad that a decent man's 15 minutes of fame was a curse. When Shakespeare had MacBeth do his soliloquy of life as a fruitless stage, I wonder if he had in mind actors and courtiers who stumbled in their big moments, found their lutes out of tune, and fumbled the witty lines that had sounded so good inside their heads.

From Stockdale's perspective, I hope his time on the political stage dwindled to insignificance, and that he got privately, at least, the appplause that he deserved.