Connecticut (/kəˈnɛtɪkət/ (listen))[9] is the southernmost state in the New England region of the

Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the
north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capital is Hartford and its
most populous city is Bridgeport. Historically the state is part of New England as well as the
tri-state area with New York and New Jersey. The state is named for the Connecticut River
which approximately bisects the state. The word "Connecticut" is derived from various
anglicized spellings of "Quinnetuket”, a Mohegan-Pequot word for "long tidal river".[10]

Connecticut's first European settlers were Dutchmen who established a small, short-lived
settlement called House of Hope in Hartford at the confluence of the Park and Connecticut
Rivers. Half of Connecticut was initially claimed by the Dutch colony New Netherland, which
included much of the land between the Connecticut and Delaware Rivers, although the first
major settlements were established in the 1630s by the English. Thomas Hooker led a band of
followers from the Massachusetts Bay Colony and founded the Connecticut Colony; other
settlers from Massachusetts founded the Saybrook Colony and the New Haven Colony. The
Connecticut and New Haven colonies established documents of Fundamental Orders,
considered the first constitutions in America. In 1662, the three colonies were merged under a
royal charter, making Connecticut a crown colony. Connecticut was one of the Thirteen Colonies
which rejected British rule in the American Revolution. It was influential in the development of
the federal government of the United States.

Connecticut is the third smallest state by area,[11] the 29th most populous,[12] and the fourth
most densely populated[11] of the fifty states. It is known as the "Constitution State", the
"Nutmeg State", the "Provisions State", and the "Land of Steady Habits".[1] The Connecticut
River, Thames River, and ports along Long Island Sound have given Connecticut a strong
maritime tradition which continues today. The state also has a long history of hosting the
financial services industry, including insurance companies in Hartford County and hedge funds
in Fairfield County. As of the 2010 census, it has the highest per-capita income, second-highest
level of human development behind Massachusetts, and highest median household income in
the United States.[13][14]

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Hyman G. Rickover
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Hyman G. Rickover
Hyman Rickover 1955.jpg
Rickover pictured in 1955 as a rear admiral
Birth name Chaim Godalia Rickover
Nickname(s) "Father of the Nuclear Navy"; "The Kindly Old Gentleman," or simply "KOG"[1][2]
Born January 27, 1900
Maków Mazowiecki, Congress Poland
Died July 8, 1986 (aged 86)
Arlington, Virginia
Allegiance United States
Service/branch United States Navy
Years of service 1918–1982
Rank US Navy O10 infobox.svg Admiral
Commands held USS Finch
Naval Reactors
Battles/wars World War II
Cold War
Awards Navy Distinguished Service Medal (3)
Legion of Merit (2)
Congressional Gold Medal (2)
Presidential Medal of Freedom
Enrico Fermi Award
Spouse(s) Ruth D. Masters (1931–1972 (her death); 1 child)
Eleonore A. Bednowicz (1974–1986 (his death))
Hyman G. Rickover (January 27, 1900 – July 8, 1986) was an admiral in the U.S. Navy. He
directed the original development of naval nuclear propulsion and controlled its operations for
three decades as director of the U.S. Naval Reactors office. In addition, he oversaw the
development of the Shippingport Atomic Power Station, the world's first commercial pressurized
water reactor used for generating electricity. Rickover is also one of four people who have been
awarded two Congressional Gold Medals.

Rickover is known as the "Father of the Nuclear Navy," and his influence on the Navy and its
warships was of such scope that he "may well go down in history as one of the Navy's most
important officers."[3] He served in a flag rank for nearly 30 years (1953 to 1982), ending his
career as a four-star admiral. His years of service exceeded that of each of the U.S. Navy's
five-star fleet admirals—Leahy, King, Nimitz and Halsey—all of whom served on active duty for
life after their appointments. Rickover's total of 63 years of active duty service make him the
longest-serving naval officer, as well as the longest-serving member of the U.S armed forces in
history.[4][5][6]

Having become a Naval engineering duty officer (EDO) in 1937 after serving as both a surface
ship and submarine-qualified unrestricted line officer, his substantial legacy of technical
achievements includes the United States Navy's continuing record of zero reactor
accidents.[7][8]

Contents
1 Early life and education
2 Naval career through World War II
3 Naval Reactors and the Atomic Energy Commission
3.1 Safety record
3.2 Views on nuclear power
4 Focus on education
5 General Dynamics scandal
6 Forced retirement
7 Public image
8 Death
9 Honors
10 Awards
10.1 Warfare insignia
10.2 Decorations and medals
10.3 Foreign order
10.4 Other awards
11 Documentaries
12 Further reading
13 See also
14 References
15 External links
Early life and education
Rickover was born Chaim Godalia Rickover to Abraham and Rachel (Unger) Rickover, a Polish
Jewish family from Maków Mazowiecki in Congress Poland. His parents changed his name to
"Hyman" which is derived from Chayyim, meaning "life". He did not use his middle name
Godalia (a form of Gedaliah), but he substituted "George" when at the Naval Academy.[9]

Rickover made passage to New York City with his mother and sister in March 1906, fleeing
anti-Semitic Russian pogroms[10][11] during the Revolution of 1905. They joined Abraham, who
had made earlier trips there beginning in 1897 to become established.[12] Rickover's family
lived initially on the East Side of Manhattan but moved two years later to North Lawndale,
Chicago, which was a heavily Jewish neighborhood at the time, where Rickover's father
continued work as a tailor. Rickover took his first paid job at age nine, earning three cents an
hour (equivalent to $0.9 in 2021) for holding a light as his neighbor operated a machine. Later,
he delivered groceries. He graduated from grammar school at 14.[13][14]

Rickover attended John Marshall Metropolitan High School in Chicago and graduated with
honors in 1918. He then held a full-time job as a telegraph boy delivering Western Union
telegrams, through which he became acquainted with Congressman Adolph J. Sabath, a Czech
Jewish immigrant. Sabath nominated Rickover for appointment to the United States Naval
Academy. Rickover was only a third alternate for appointment, but he passed the entrance exam
and was accepted.[15][16]

Naval career through World War II

Rickover's naval career began in 1918 at the Naval Academy; at this time, attending military
academies was considered active duty service, due in part to World War I.[citation needed] On 2
June 1922, Rickover graduated 107th out of 540 midshipmen and was commissioned as an
ensign.[17] He joined the destroyer La Vallette on 5 September 1922. Rickover impressed his
commanding officer with his hard work and efficiency, and was made engineer officer on 21
June 1923, becoming the youngest such officer in the squadron.[18]

He next served on board the battleship Nevada before earning a Master of Science degree in
electrical engineering from Columbia University in 1930[19] by way of a year at the Naval
Postgraduate School[20] and further coursework at Columbia. At the latter institution, he met
Ruth D. Masters, a graduate student in international law, whom he married in 1931 after she
returned from her doctoral studies at the Sorbonne in Paris. Shortly after marrying, Rickover
wrote to his parents of his decision to become an Episcopalian, remaining so for the remainder
of his life.[21][22]

Rickover had a high regard for the quality of the education he received at Columbia, as
demonstrated in this excerpt from a speech he gave at the university some 52 years after
attending:

Columbia was the first institution that encouraged me to think rather than memorize. My
teachers were notable in that many had gained practical engineering experience outside the
university and were able to share their experience with their students. I am grateful, among
others, to Professors Morecroft, Hehre, and Arendt. Much of what I have subsequently learned
and accomplished in engineering is based on the solid foundation of principles I learned from
them.[23]

Rickover preferred life on smaller ships, and he also knew that young officers in the submarine
service were advancing quickly, so he went to Washington and volunteered for submarine duty.
His application was turned down due to his age, at that time 29 years. Fortunately for Rickover,
he ran into his former commanding officer from Nevada while leaving the building, who
interceded successfully on his behalf. From 1929 to 1933, Rickover qualified for submarine duty
and command aboard the submarines S-9 and S-48.[24] While aboard S-48 he was addressed
a letter of commendation from the Secretary of the Navy "for rescuing Augustin Pasis… from
drowning at the Submarine Base, Coco, Solo, Canal Zone."[25] While at the Office of the
Inspector of Naval Material in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1933, Rickover translated Das
Unterseeboot (The Submarine) by World War I German Imperial Navy Admiral Hermann Bauer.
Rickover's translation became a basic text for the U.S. submarine service.[9]

On 17 July 1937, he reported aboard the minesweeper Finch at Tsingtao, China, and assumed
what would be his only ship-command with additional duty as Commander, Mine Division Three,
Asiatic Fleet. The Marco Polo Bridge Incident had occurred ten days earlier, and in August,
Finch stood out for Shanghai to protect American citizens and interests from the conflict
between Chinese and Japanese forces. On 25 September, Rickover was promoted to lieutenant
commander, retroactive to 1 July. In October, his designation as an engineering duty officer
became effective, and he was relieved of his three-month command of Finch at Shanghai on 5
October 1937.[26]
Rickover was assigned to the Cavite Navy Yard in the Philippines, and was transferred shortly
thereafter to the Bureau of Engineering in Washington, D.C. Once there, he took up his duties
as assistant chief of the Electrical section of the Bureau of Engineering on 15 August 1939.[27]

On 10 April 1942, after America's entry into World War II, Rickover flew to Pearl Harbor to
organize repairs to the electrical power plant of USS California.[28] Rickover had been
promoted to the rank of commander on 1 January 1942, and in late June of that year was made
a temporary captain. In late 1944 he appealed for a transfer to an active command. He was sent
to investigate inefficiencies at the naval supply depot at Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, then was
appointed in July 1945 to command of a ship repair facility on Okinawa.[29] Shortly thereafter,
his command was destroyed by Typhoon Louise, and he subsequently spent some time helping
to teach school to Okinawan children.[30]

Later in the war, his service as head of the Electrical Section in the Bureau of Ships brought him
a Legion of Merit and gave him experience in directing large development programs, choosing
talented technical people, and working closely with private industry. Time magazine featured
him on the cover of its January 11, 1954 issue. The accompanying article described his wartime
service:[31]

Sharp-tongued Hyman Rickover spurred his men to exhaustion, ripped through red tape, drove
contractors into rages. He went on making enemies, but by the end of the war he had won the
rank of captain. He had also won a reputation as a man who gets things done.[13]

Naval Reactors and the Atomic Energy Commission

See also: Naval Reactors

Admiral Rickover aboard USS Nautilus, the world's first nuclear-powered vessel. "I did not
recruit extraordinary people. I recruited people who had extraordinary potential—and then I
trained them."
In December 1945, Rickover was appointed Inspector General of the 19th Fleet on the west
coast, and was assigned to work with General Electric at Schenectady, New York, to develop a
nuclear propulsion plant for destroyers. In 1946, an initiative was begun at the Manhattan
Project's Clinton Laboratory (now the Oak Ridge National Laboratory) to develop a nuclear
electric generating plant. Realizing the potential that nuclear energy held for the Navy,[6]
Rickover applied. Rickover was sent to Oak Ridge through the efforts of his wartime boss, Rear
Admiral Earle Mills, who became the head of the Navy's Bureau of Ships that same year.[32]

Rickover became an early convert to the idea of nuclear marine propulsion, and was the driving
force for shifting the Navy's initial focus from applications on destroyers to submarines.[33]
Rickover's vision was not initially shared by his immediate superiors:[6] he was recalled from
Oak Ridge and assigned "advisory duties" with an office in an abandoned ladies' room in the
Navy Building. He subsequently went around several layers of superior officers, and in 1947
went directly to the Chief of Naval Operations, Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz, also a former
submariner. Nimitz immediately understood the potential of nuclear propulsion in submarines
and recommended the project to the Secretary of the Navy, John L. Sullivan. Sullivan's
endorsement to build the world's first nuclear-powered vessel, USS Nautilus, later caused
Rickover to state that Sullivan was "the true father of the Nuclear Navy."[34][35][36]

Subsequently, Rickover became chief of a new section in the Bureau of Ships, the Nuclear
Power Division reporting to Mills, and began work with Alvin M. Weinberg, the Oak Ridge
director of research, to initiate and develop the Oak Ridge School of Reactor Technology and to
begin the design of the pressurized water reactor for submarine propulsion.[37][38] In February
1949 he was assigned to the Atomic Energy Commission's Division of Reactor Development,
and then assumed control of the Navy's effort within the AEC as Director of the Naval Reactors
Branch.[39] This twin role enabled him to lead the effort to develop Nautilus.[40]

The decision to originally select Rickover as head of development of the nation's nuclear
submarine program ultimately rested with Admiral Mills. According to Lieutenant General Leslie
Groves, director of the Manhattan Project, Mills was anxious to have a very determined man
involved. He knew that Rickover was "not too easy to get along with" and "not too popular," but
in his judgement Rickover was the man on whom the Navy could depend "no matter what
opposition he might encounter".[41]

While his team and industry were completing construction of the Nautilus, Rickover was
promoted to the rank of rear admiral in 1953, however this was anything but routine, and
occurred only after an extraordinary chain of events:[42][43]

"[Rickover's] peers in the Navy’s engineer branch thought to get rid of him through failure of
promotion above captain. This would entail automatic retirement at the thirty-year mark. But
someone made the case to the U.S. Senate, charged by the Constitution with formal
confirmation of military promotions. In that year, 1953, two years before Nautilus first went to
sea, the Senate failed to give its usual perfunctory approval of the Navy admiral promotion list,
and the press was outraged because Rickover’s name was not on it. ... Ultimately an
enlightened Secretary of the Navy, Robert B. Anderson, ordered a special selection board to sit.
With some shuffling of feet it did what it had been ordered to do.... Ninety-five percent of Navy
captains must retire regardless of how highly qualified because there are only vacancies for 5
percent of them to become admirals, and although vindictiveness has sometimes played a part
in determining who shall fail of selection for promotion (thus also violating the system), never
before or since have pressures from outside the Navy overturned this form of
career-termination."[36]

Regardless of the challenges faced in developing and operating brand-new technology,

Rickover and the team did not disappoint: the result was a highly reliable nuclear reactor in a
form-factor that would fit into a submarine hull with no more than a 28-foot (8.5 m) beam.[44]
This became known as the S1W reactor. Nautilus was launched and commissioned with this
reactor in 1954.[45]
Later Rickover oversaw the development of the Shippingport Atomic Power Station, the first
commercial pressurized water reactor nuclear power plant. Kenneth Nichols of the AEC decided
that the Rickover-Westinghouse pressurized-water reactor was "the best choice for a reactor to
demonstrate the production of electricity" with Rickover "having a going organization and a
reactor project under way that now had no specific use to justify it." This was a reference to the
first core used at Shippingport originating from a cancelled nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.[46]
This was accepted by Lewis Strauss and the Commission in January 1954.[47]

Rickover was promoted to vice admiral in 1958, the same year that he was awarded the first of
two Congressional Gold Medals.[48] He exercised tight control for the next three decades over
the ships, technology, and personnel of the nuclear Navy, interviewing and approving or denying
every prospective officer being considered for a nuclear ship. Over the course of Rickover's
career, these personal interviews numbered in the tens of thousands; over 14,000 interviews
were with recent college-graduates alone. The interviewees ranged from midshipmen and newly
commissioned ensigns destined for nuclear-powered submarines and surface combatants, to
very senior combat-experienced Naval Aviator captains who sought command of
nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. The content of most of these interviews has been lost to
history, though some were later chronicled in several books on Rickover's career, as well as in a
rare personal interview with Diane Sawyer in 1984.[49][50][51][52][53]

In 1973, though his role and responsibilities remained unchanged, Rickover was promoted to
the rank of four-star admiral.[54] This was the second time (after Samuel Murray Robinson) in
the history of the U.S. Navy that an officer with a career path other than an operational line
officer achieved that rank. Also fairly uniquely—and because his responsibilities did not include
direct command and control of combatant naval units—technically he was appointed to the
grade of admiral on the retired list so as to provide some clarity on this issue. This was also
done to avoid affecting the maximum-authorized number of admirals (O-10) on the "active
list."[55]

As head of Naval Reactors, Rickover's focus and responsibilities were dedicated to reactor
safety rather than tactical or strategic submarine warfare training. However, this extreme focus
was well known during Rickover's era as a potential hindrance to balancing operational
priorities. One way that this was addressed after Rickover retired was that only the very
strongest, former at-sea submarine commanders have held Rickover's now unique eight-year
position as NAVSEA-08, the longest chartered tenure in the U.S. military.[56][57] From
Rickover's first replacement, Kinnaird R. McKee, to today's head of Naval Reactors, James F.
Caldwell Jr.,[58][59] all have held command of nuclear submarines, their squadrons and ocean
fleets, but none have been a long-term Engineering Duty Officer such as Rickover.[60] In
keeping with Rickover's promotion to four-star admiral, those who were subsequently selected
for assignment to Director, Naval Reactors are promoted to this same rank, but also on active
duty status.

Historian Francis Duncan, who for over eight years was granted generous access to diverse
numbers and levels of witnesses—including U.S. presidents—as well as Rickover himself,[61]
came to the conclusion that the man was best understood with respect to a guiding principle
that Rickover invoked foremost for both himself and those who served in the U.S. Navy's
nuclear propulsion program: "exercise of the concept of responsibility."[36] This is further
evidenced by Rickover listing responsibility as his first principle in his final-years paper and
speech, Thoughts on Man's Purpose in Life.[62][63][64]

Safety record
Rickover's stringent standards are largely credited with being responsible for the U.S. Navy's
continuing record of zero reactor accidents (defined as the uncontrolled release of fission
products to the environment resulting from damage to a reactor core).[8] He made it a point to
be aboard during the initial sea trial of almost every nuclear submarine completing its
new-construction period.[65] Following the Three Mile Island accident on March 28, 1979,
Admiral Rickover was asked to testify before Congress in the general context of answering the
question as to why naval nuclear propulsion had succeeded in achieving a record of zero
reactor-accidents, as opposed to the dramatic one that had just taken place.[8]

The accident-free record of United States Navy reactor operations stands in some very stark
contrast to those of the Soviet Union, which had fourteen known reactor accidents. As stated in
a retrospective analysis in October 2007:

U.S. submarines far outperformed the Soviet ones in the crucial area of stealth, and Rickover's
obsessive fixation on safety and quality control gave the U.S. nuclear Navy a vastly superior
safety record to the Soviet one.[66]

Views on nuclear power

Given Rickover's single-minded focus on naval nuclear propulsion, design, and operations, it
came as a surprise to many[67] in 1982, near the end of his career, when he testified before the
U.S. Congress that, were it up to him what to do with nuclear powered ships, he "would sink
them all." At a congressional hearing Rickover testified that:

I do not believe that nuclear power is worth it if it creates radiation. Then you might ask me why
do I have nuclear powered ships. That is a necessary evil. I would sink them all. I am not proud
of the part I played in it. I did it because it was necessary for the safety of this country. That's
why I am such a great exponent of stopping this whole nonsense of war. Unfortunately
limits—attempts to limit war have always failed. The lesson of history is when a war starts every
nation will ultimately use whatever weapon it has available. ... Every time you produce radiation,
you produce something that has a certain half-life, in some cases for billions of years. ... It is
important that we control these forces and try to eliminate them.

— Economics of Defense Policy: Hearing before the Joint Economic Committee, Congress of
the United States, 97th Cong., 2nd sess., Pt. 1 (1982)
A few months later, following his retirement, Rickover spoke more specifically regarding the
questions "Could you comment on your own responsibility in helping to create a nuclear navy?
Do you have any regrets?":
I do not have regrets. I believe I helped preserve the peace for this country. Why should I regret
that? What I accomplished was approved by Congress—which represents our people. All of you
live in safety from domestic enemies because of security from the police. Likewise, you live in
safety from foreign enemies because our military keeps them from attacking us. Nuclear
technology was already under development in other countries. My assigned responsibility was
to develop our nuclear navy. I managed to accomplish this.[68]

Focus on education

President Kennedy and Rickover, White House, February 11, 1963[69] "...in addition to the
multilateral POLARIS force, we discussed education and how he and I were brought up as
boys."[70]
When he was a child still living in Russian-occupied Poland, Rickover was not allowed to attend
public schools because of his Jewish faith. Starting at the age of four, he attended a religious
school where the teaching was solely from the Tanakh, i.e., Old Testament, in Hebrew.[71]
Following his formal education in the United States,[72] Rickover developed a decades-long and
outspoken interest in the educational standards of the US as being a national security issue,
particularly as compared during the Cold War era to Soviet Russia.[73]

An example of his passion for education from his 1959 Report on Russia[74] in the context of
comparative educational systems:

"There is no room here (in nuclear powerplant development) for lofty theories which do not work
out in practice. We would not get anywhere if we had the loose, hazy thinking you encounter
when you bring out the obvious failures of the American educational system. ... there are times
when it is irresponsible to avoid criticizing something which one knows to be wrong and
dangerous for the Nation as a whole. I feel that every one who has a position of responsibility in
this country and who can see and understand what is happening not only has the right, he has
the obligation and the duty to speak. ... This is why I feel so strongly about education—about
our failure to give our children as good an education as they deserve and need. ... It is my
considered opinion that there is no problem that faces the Congress or the country that is as
important."

Rickover believed that US standards of education were unacceptably low. His first book
centered on education was a collection of essays calling for improved standards of education,
particularly in math and science, entitled Education and Freedom (1959). In it, he stated that
"education is the most important problem facing the United States today" and "only the massive
upgrading of the scholastic standards of our schools will guarantee the future prosperity and
freedom of the Republic." A second book, Swiss Schools and Ours (1962) was a scathing
comparison of the educational systems of Switzerland and America. He argued that the higher
standards of Swiss schools, including a longer school day and year, combined with an approach
stressing student choice and academic specialization produced superior results.[75]
Recognizing that "nurturing careers of excellence and leadership in science and technology in
young scholars is an essential investment in the United States national and global future,"
following his retirement Rickover founded the Center for Excellence in Education in 1983.[76]
Additionally, the Research Science Institute (formerly the Rickover Science Institute), founded
by Rickover in 1984, is a summer science program hosted by the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology for high school seniors from around the world.[77]

General Dynamics scandal

In the early 1980s, structural welding flaws in submarines under construction were covered up
by falsified inspection records, and the resulting scandal led to significant delays and expenses
in the delivery of several submarines being built at the General Dynamics Electric Boat Division
shipyard in Groton, Connecticut. The yard tried to pass on the vast cost overruns to the Navy,
while Rickover demanded that the yard make good on its "shoddy" workmanship. The Navy
settled with General Dynamics in 1981, paying out $634 million of $843 million in Los
Angeles-class submarine cost overrun and reconstruction claims.[78][79] Secretary of the Navy
John Lehman was partly motivated to seek the agreement in order to continue to focus on
achieving President Reagan's goal of a 600-ship Navy. But Rickover was extremely bitter over
the General Dynamics yard being paid hundreds of millions of dollars,[80] and he lambasted
both the settlement and Secretary Lehman. This was not Rickover's first clash with the defense
industry; he was historically harsh in exacting high standards from defense contractors.[81] It
was later publicly announced by a former General Dynamics employee on 60 Minutes with Mike
Wallace that Rickover was right that General Dynamics was lying to the Navy, but by then
Rickover's public image was already damaged beyond repair.[citation needed]

A Navy Ad Hoc Gratuities Board determined that Rickover had received gifts from General
Dynamics over a 16-year period valued at $67,628, including jewelry, furniture, exotic knives,
and gifts that Rickover had in turn presented to politicians. Charges were investigated that gifts
were provided by General Electric and the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock, both
major nuclear ship contractors for the Navy. Secretary Lehman admonished him in a
non-punitive letter and stated that Rickover's "fall from grace with these little trinkets should be
viewed in the context of his enormous contributions to the Navy." Rickover released a statement
through his lawyer saying his "conscience is clear" with respect to the gifts. "No gratuity or favor
ever affected any decision I made."[82] Senator William Proxmire of Wisconsin, a longtime
supporter of Rickover, later publicly associated a debilitating stroke suffered by the admiral to
his having been censured and "dragged through the mud by the very institution to which he
rendered his invaluable service."[83]

Forced retirement
By the late 1970s, Rickover's position seemed stronger than it had ever been. Over many years,
powerful friends on both the House and Senate Armed Services Committees ensured that he
remained on active duty long after most other admirals had retired from their second
careers.[84] Jimmy Carter's admiration for Rickover was shown by the fact that the title of
Carter's autobiography was based on a question that Rickover had asked Carter when the latter
was in the Navy ("Why Not The Best?").[85][86] However, Secretary of the Navy John Lehman
felt that Rickover was hindering the well-being of the navy. As Lehman stated in his book,
Command of the Seas:

One of my first orders of business as Secretary of the Navy would be to solve ... the Rickover
problem. Rickover's legendary achievements were in the past. His present viselike grip on much
of the navy was doing it much harm. I had sought the job because I believed the navy had
deteriorated to the point where its weakness seriously threatened our future security. The navy's
grave afflictions included loss of a strategic vision; loss of self-confidence, and morale; a
prolonged starvation of resources, leaving vast shortfalls in capability to do the job; and too few
ships to cover a sea so great, all resulting in cynicism, exhaustion, and an undercurrent of
defeatism. The cult created by Admiral Rickover was itself a major obstacle to recovery,
entwining nearly all the issues of culture and policy within the navy.[87]

Secretary Lehman eventually attained enough political clout to enforce his decision to retire
Rickover. This was in part assisted by the admiral's nearly insubordinate stance against paying
the General Dynamics submarine construction claims, as well as his advanced age and waning
political leverage. On July 27, 1981, Lehman was handed the final impetus for ending Rickover's
career by way of an operational error on the admiral's part: a "moderate" loss of ship control and
depth excursion while performing a submerged "crash back" maneuver during the sea trials of
the newly constructed USS La Jolla. Rickover was the actual man-in-charge during this specific
performance test, and his actions and inactions were judged to have been the causal
factor.[88][89][90][91][92] On January 31, 1982, four days after his 82nd birthday, Rickover was
forced to retire from the Navy after 63 years of service under 13 presidents (Woodrow Wilson
through Ronald Reagan).[93] According to Rickover, he first learned of his firing when his wife
told him what she heard on the radio.[49][94]

According to former President Jimmy Carter, several weeks following his retirement, Rickover
"was invited to the Oval Office and decided to don his full dress uniform. He told me that he
refused to take a seat, listened to the president [Reagan] ask him to be his special nuclear
advisor, replied 'Mr. President, that is bullshit,' and then walked out."[95] The Navy's official
investigation of General Dynamics' Electric Boat division was ended shortly afterward.
According to Theodore Rockwell, Rickover's Technical Director for more than 15 years, more
than one source at that time stated that General Dynamics officials were bragging around
Washington that they had "gotten Rickover."[96]

On February 28, 1983, a post-retirement party honoring Admiral Rickover was attended by all
three living former U.S. Presidents at the time: Nixon, Ford, and Carter, all formerly officers in
the U.S. Navy. President Reagan was not in attendance.[97][98]

Public image
Rickover has been called "the most famous and controversial admiral of his era."[99] He was
hyperactive, blunt, confrontational, insulting, and a workaholic, always demanding of others
without regard for rank or position.[100] Moreover, he had "little tolerance for mediocrity, none
for stupidity."[101] Even while a captain, Rickover did not conceal his opinions, and many of the
officers whom he regarded as unintelligent eventually rose to be admirals and were assigned to
the Pentagon.[102] Rickover frequently found himself in bureaucratic combat with these senior
naval officers, to the point that he almost missed becoming an admiral; two selection boards
passed him over for promotion, and it took the intervention of the White House, U.S. Congress,
and the Secretary of the Navy before he was promoted.[13][103]

Rickover's military authority and congressional mandate were absolute with regard to the U.S.
fleet's reactor operations, but his controlling personality was frequently a subject of internal
Navy controversy. He was head of the Naval Reactors branch, and thus responsible for signing
off on a crew's competence to operate the reactor safely, giving him the power to effectively
remove a warship from active service, which he did on several occasions. The view became
established that he sometimes exercised power to settle scores.[104] Author and former
submariner Edward L. Beach Jr. referred to him as a "tyrant" with "no account of his gradually
failing powers" in his later years.[105]

Death

Headstone of Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, Arlington National Cemetery

Rickover died at his home in Arlington, Virginia, on July 8, 1986, at age 86. He was buried on
July 11 in a small, private ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.[106] On July 14, memorial
services were led by Admiral James D. Watkins at the Washington National Cathedral, with
President Carter, Secretary of State George Shultz, Secretary Lehman, senior naval officers,
and about 1,000 other people in attendance.[107] At the request of the admiral's widow,
President Carter read Milton's sonnet When I Consider How My Light is Spent.[108]

Secretary of the Navy Lehman said in a statement:

"With the death of Adm. Rickover, the Navy and this nation have lost a dedicated officer of
historic accomplishment. In his 63 years of service, Adm. Rickover took the concept of nuclear
power from an idea to the present reality of more than 150 U.S. naval ships under nuclear
power, with a record of 3,000 ship-years of accident-free operations."[54]

And the then-Chief of Naval Operations:

"Most important," Admiral Watkins said, "he was a teacher. He set the standards. They were
tough. That is the legacy and the challenge he left to all who study his contributions."[109]

Rickover is buried in Section 5 at Arlington National Cemetery.[110] His first wife Ruth is buried
with him and the name of his second wife Eleonore is inscribed on his gravestone.[111]
Eleonore passed away on July 5, 2021, and is to be buried in Arlington Cemetery.[112] Rickover
is survived by Robert Rickover, his sole son by his first wife.[111]

Honors
The Los Angeles-class submarine USS Hyman G. Rickover (SSN-709) was named for him. It
was commissioned two years before his death, and was, at that time, one of only two Navy
ships to be named after a living person since 1900 (there have been 16 more since). The
submarine was launched on August 27, 1983, sponsored by his second wife Eleonore,
commissioned on July 21, 1984, and deactivated on December 14, 2006. In 2015, the Navy
announced a Virginia-class submarine named USS Hyman G. Rickover (SSN-795) in his
honor.[113] The submarine's christening took place on July 31, 2021.[114][115][116][117]

Rickover Hall at the United States Naval Academy houses the departments of Mechanical
Engineering, Naval Architecture, Ocean Engineering, Aeronautical and Aerospace Engineering.
Rickover Center at Naval Nuclear Power Training Command is located at Joint Base
Charleston, where Navy personnel begin their engineering training. In 2011, the U.S. Navy
Museum included Rickover as part of the Technology for the Nuclear Age: Nuclear Propulsion
display for its Cold War exhibit, which featured the following quotation:

"Good ideas are not adopted automatically. They must be driven into practice with courageous
impatience."[118][119]

Other things named in his honor include the Admiral Hyman Rickover Fellowship at M.I.T.,[120]
Hyman G. Rickover Naval Academy,[121] and Rickover Junior High School.[122]

Awards

The second of two Congressional Gold Medals awarded to Rickover

Warfare insignia
U.S. Navy - Submarine Warfare Insignia (Gold Dolphins).gif Submarine Warfare Insignia
(Dolphins)[36]: 9 
Decorations and medals
Gold starGold star Navy Distinguished Service Medal with two 5⁄16" Gold Stars (1961, 1964,
1982)
Gold star Legion Of Merit with 5⁄16" Gold Star (1945, 1952)
Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (1945)
Army Commendation Medal (1949) (Conversion award from Letter of Commendation
from the Secretary of the Army in 1946.)
Presidential Medal of Freedom (1980)
World War I Victory Medal
China Service Medal
Bronze star American Defense Service Medal
American Campaign Medal
Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal
World War II Victory Medal
Navy Occupation Service Medal with "ASIA" clasp
Bronze star National Defense Service Medal with one 3⁄16" Bronze Star
Congressional Gold Medal – 2 awards (1958, 1982)
Foreign order
Honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire (1946)
In recognition of his wartime service, he was invested as an Honorary Commander of the
Military Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 1946 by King George
VI.[123]

Other awards
Admiral Rickover was twice awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for exceptional public
service; the first in 1958, and the second 25 years later in 1983, becoming one of only three
persons to be awarded more than one.[124] In 1980, President Jimmy Carter presented Admiral
Rickover with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States' highest non-military honor,
for his contributions to world peace.[125]

He also received 61 civilian awards and 15 honorary degrees, including the Enrico Fermi Award
"For engineering and demonstrative leadership in the development of safe and reliable nuclear
power and its successful application to our national security and economic needs."[126] Some
of the most notable other awards include:[127]

the Egleston Medal Award of Columbia University Engineering School Alumni Association
(1955)
the George Westinghouse Gold Medal from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers
(ASME) (1955)
the Michael I. Pupin 100th Anniversary Medal (1958)
the Golden Omega Award from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
(1959)
the Prometheus Award from the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) (1965)
the Newcomen Medal (1968)
the Washington Award from the Western Society of Engineers[128] (1970)
Some of his honorary degrees included:

Sc.D.: Colby College (1954);[129] Stevens Institute of Technology (1958);[130] Columbia

University (1960)[131]
Documentaries
Admiral Rickover – 60 Minutes interview by Diane Sawyer (1984)[132] with an excerpt from a
1957 interview with Edward R. Murrow[133]
Rickover: The Birth of Nuclear Power by Michael Pack – documentary screened at the GI Film
Festival in the District of Columbia on May 24, 2014,[134] and broadcast on December 9, 2014,
on PBS.[135]
Further reading
Hewlett, Richard G., and Francis Duncan. Nuclear Navy: 1946-1962. Chicago: The University of
Chicago Press, 1974. ISBN 0-226-33219-5.
See also
Operation Sandblast
President Jimmy Carter's naval career
Naval Nuclear Power School
Y-12 National Security Complex
References
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=y
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'Father of the Nuclear Navy'". UofL. University of Louisville. 25 (2). Archived from the original on
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2010. Retrieved December 12, 2014.
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Program Change of Command". Archived from the original on September 21, 2018. Retrieved
August 22, 2015.
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August 16, 2015.
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Propulsion Boss". Navy.mil. Archived from the original on June 26, 2019. Retrieved December
12, 2014.
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Barnes & Noble.
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Religion and International Affairs. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 10, 2018. Retrieved
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2022.
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2015. Retrieved December 12, 2014.
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Scientific Assembly of the Minnesota State Medical Association. St. Paul, MN. Archived from the
original on May 3, 2012. Retrieved March 21, 2009.
H. G. Rickover, "Report on Russia", US GPO 1959
https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=uE0vAAAAMAAJ&rdid=book-uE0vAAAAMAAJ&r
dot=1
Haran, William J. (1982). Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, USN: A Decade of Educational Criticism,
1955–64. Loyola University Chicago (Thesis).
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18, 2009. Retrieved March 21, 2009.
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abuse, 07/12/85. O'rourke, Foreign Affairs and National Defense Division.
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Machine Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive (Collection 1429). UCLA Library Special
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Hyman G. Rickover
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Hyman G. Rickover
Hyman Rickover 1955.jpg
Rickover pictured in 1955 as a rear admiral
Birth name Chaim Godalia Rickover
Nickname(s) "Father of the Nuclear Navy"; "The Kindly Old Gentleman," or simply "KOG"[1][2]
Born January 27, 1900
Maków Mazowiecki, Congress Poland
Died July 8, 1986 (aged 86)
Arlington, Virginia
Allegiance United States
Service/branch United States Navy
Years of service 1918–1982
Rank US Navy O10 infobox.svg Admiral
Commands held USS Finch
Naval Reactors
Battles/wars World War II
Cold War
Awards Navy Distinguished Service Medal (3)
Legion of Merit (2)
Congressional Gold Medal (2)
Presidential Medal of Freedom
Enrico Fermi Award
Spouse(s) Ruth D. Masters (1931–1972 (her death); 1 child)
Eleonore A. Bednowicz (1974–1986 (his death))
Hyman G. Rickover (January 27, 1900 – July 8, 1986) was an admiral in the U.S. Navy. He
directed the original development of naval nuclear propulsion and controlled its operations for
three decades as director of the U.S. Naval Reactors office. In addition, he oversaw the
development of the Shippingport Atomic Power Station, the world's first commercial pressurized
water reactor used for generating electricity. Rickover is also one of four people who have been
awarded two Congressional Gold Medals.

Rickover is known as the "Father of the Nuclear Navy," and his influence on the Navy and its
warships was of such scope that he "may well go down in history as one of the Navy's most
important officers."[3] He served in a flag rank for nearly 30 years (1953 to 1982), ending his
career as a four-star admiral. His years of service exceeded that of each of the U.S. Navy's
five-star fleet admirals—Leahy, King, Nimitz and Halsey—all of whom served on active duty for
life after their appointments. Rickover's total of 63 years of active duty service make him the
longest-serving naval officer, as well as the longest-serving member of the U.S armed forces in
history.[4][5][6]

Having become a Naval engineering duty officer (EDO) in 1937 after serving as both a surface
ship and submarine-qualified unrestricted line officer, his substantial legacy of technical
achievements includes the United States Navy's continuing record of zero reactor
accidents.[7][8]

Contents
1 Early life and education
2 Naval career through World War II
3 Naval Reactors and the Atomic Energy Commission
3.1 Safety record
3.2 Views on nuclear power
4 Focus on education
5 General Dynamics scandal
6 Forced retirement
7 Public image
8 Death
9 Honors
10 Awards
10.1 Warfare insignia
10.2 Decorations and medals
10.3 Foreign order
10.4 Other awards
11 Documentaries
12 Further reading
13 See also
14 References
15 External links
Early life and education
Rickover was born Chaim Godalia Rickover to Abraham and Rachel (Unger) Rickover, a Polish
Jewish family from Maków Mazowiecki in Congress Poland. His parents changed his name to
"Hyman" which is derived from Chayyim, meaning "life". He did not use his middle name
Godalia (a form of Gedaliah), but he substituted "George" when at the Naval Academy.[9]

Rickover made passage to New York City with his mother and sister in March 1906, fleeing
anti-Semitic Russian pogroms[10][11] during the Revolution of 1905. They joined Abraham, who
had made earlier trips there beginning in 1897 to become established.[12] Rickover's family
lived initially on the East Side of Manhattan but moved two years later to North Lawndale,
Chicago, which was a heavily Jewish neighborhood at the time, where Rickover's father
continued work as a tailor. Rickover took his first paid job at age nine, earning three cents an
hour (equivalent to $0.9 in 2021) for holding a light as his neighbor operated a machine. Later,
he delivered groceries. He graduated from grammar school at 14.[13][14]

Rickover attended John Marshall Metropolitan High School in Chicago and graduated with
honors in 1918. He then held a full-time job as a telegraph boy delivering Western Union
telegrams, through which he became acquainted with Congressman Adolph J. Sabath, a Czech
Jewish immigrant. Sabath nominated Rickover for appointment to the United States Naval
Academy. Rickover was only a third alternate for appointment, but he passed the entrance exam
and was accepted.[15][16]

Naval career through World War II

Rickover's naval career began in 1918 at the Naval Academy; at this time, attending military
academies was considered active duty service, due in part to World War I.[citation needed] On 2
June 1922, Rickover graduated 107th out of 540 midshipmen and was commissioned as an
ensign.[17] He joined the destroyer La Vallette on 5 September 1922. Rickover impressed his
commanding officer with his hard work and efficiency, and was made engineer officer on 21
June 1923, becoming the youngest such officer in the squadron.[18]

He next served on board the battleship Nevada before earning a Master of Science degree in
electrical engineering from Columbia University in 1930[19] by way of a year at the Naval
Postgraduate School[20] and further coursework at Columbia. At the latter institution, he met
Ruth D. Masters, a graduate student in international law, whom he married in 1931 after she
returned from her doctoral studies at the Sorbonne in Paris. Shortly after marrying, Rickover
wrote to his parents of his decision to become an Episcopalian, remaining so for the remainder
of his life.[21][22]

Rickover had a high regard for the quality of the education he received at Columbia, as
demonstrated in this excerpt from a speech he gave at the university some 52 years after
attending:

Columbia was the first institution that encouraged me to think rather than memorize. My
teachers were notable in that many had gained practical engineering experience outside the
university and were able to share their experience with their students. I am grateful, among
others, to Professors Morecroft, Hehre, and Arendt. Much of what I have subsequently learned
and accomplished in engineering is based on the solid foundation of principles I learned from
them.[23]

Rickover preferred life on smaller ships, and he also knew that young officers in the submarine
service were advancing quickly, so he went to Washington and volunteered for submarine duty.
His application was turned down due to his age, at that time 29 years. Fortunately for Rickover,
he ran into his former commanding officer from Nevada while leaving the building, who
interceded successfully on his behalf. From 1929 to 1933, Rickover qualified for submarine duty
and command aboard the submarines S-9 and S-48.[24] While aboard S-48 he was addressed
a letter of commendation from the Secretary of the Navy "for rescuing Augustin Pasis… from
drowning at the Submarine Base, Coco, Solo, Canal Zone."[25] While at the Office of the
Inspector of Naval Material in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1933, Rickover translated Das
Unterseeboot (The Submarine) by World War I German Imperial Navy Admiral Hermann Bauer.
Rickover's translation became a basic text for the U.S. submarine service.[9]

On 17 July 1937, he reported aboard the minesweeper Finch at Tsingtao, China, and assumed
what would be his only ship-command with additional duty as Commander, Mine Division Three,
Asiatic Fleet. The Marco Polo Bridge Incident had occurred ten days earlier, and in August,
Finch stood out for Shanghai to protect American citizens and interests from the conflict
between Chinese and Japanese forces. On 25 September, Rickover was promoted to lieutenant
commander, retroactive to 1 July. In October, his designation as an engineering duty officer
became effective, and he was relieved of his three-month command of Finch at Shanghai on 5
October 1937.[26]
Rickover was assigned to the Cavite Navy Yard in the Philippines, and was transferred shortly
thereafter to the Bureau of Engineering in Washington, D.C. Once there, he took up his duties
as assistant chief of the Electrical section of the Bureau of Engineering on 15 August 1939.[27]

On 10 April 1942, after America's entry into World War II, Rickover flew to Pearl Harbor to
organize repairs to the electrical power plant of USS California.[28] Rickover had been
promoted to the rank of commander on 1 January 1942, and in late June of that year was made
a temporary captain. In late 1944 he appealed for a transfer to an active command. He was sent
to investigate inefficiencies at the naval supply depot at Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, then was
appointed in July 1945 to command of a ship repair facility on Okinawa.[29] Shortly thereafter,
his command was destroyed by Typhoon Louise, and he subsequently spent some time helping
to teach school to Okinawan children.[30]

Later in the war, his service as head of the Electrical Section in the Bureau of Ships brought him
a Legion of Merit and gave him experience in directing large development programs, choosing
talented technical people, and working closely with private industry. Time magazine featured
him on the cover of its January 11, 1954 issue. The accompanying article described his wartime
service:[31]

Sharp-tongued Hyman Rickover spurred his men to exhaustion, ripped through red tape, drove
contractors into rages. He went on making enemies, but by the end of the war he had won the
rank of captain. He had also won a reputation as a man who gets things done.[13]

Naval Reactors and the Atomic Energy Commission

See also: Naval Reactors

Admiral Rickover aboard USS Nautilus, the world's first nuclear-powered vessel. "I did not
recruit extraordinary people. I recruited people who had extraordinary potential—and then I
trained them."
In December 1945, Rickover was appointed Inspector General of the 19th Fleet on the west
coast, and was assigned to work with General Electric at Schenectady, New York, to develop a
nuclear propulsion plant for destroyers. In 1946, an initiative was begun at the Manhattan
Project's Clinton Laboratory (now the Oak Ridge National Laboratory) to develop a nuclear
electric generating plant. Realizing the potential that nuclear energy held for the Navy,[6]
Rickover applied. Rickover was sent to Oak Ridge through the efforts of his wartime boss, Rear
Admiral Earle Mills, who became the head of the Navy's Bureau of Ships that same year.[32]

Rickover became an early convert to the idea of nuclear marine propulsion, and was the driving
force for shifting the Navy's initial focus from applications on destroyers to submarines.[33]
Rickover's vision was not initially shared by his immediate superiors:[6] he was recalled from
Oak Ridge and assigned "advisory duties" with an office in an abandoned ladies' room in the
Navy Building. He subsequently went around several layers of superior officers, and in 1947
went directly to the Chief of Naval Operations, Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz, also a former
submariner. Nimitz immediately understood the potential of nuclear propulsion in submarines
and recommended the project to the Secretary of the Navy, John L. Sullivan. Sullivan's
endorsement to build the world's first nuclear-powered vessel, USS Nautilus, later caused
Rickover to state that Sullivan was "the true father of the Nuclear Navy."[34][35][36]

Subsequently, Rickover became chief of a new section in the Bureau of Ships, the Nuclear
Power Division reporting to Mills, and began work with Alvin M. Weinberg, the Oak Ridge
director of research, to initiate and develop the Oak Ridge School of Reactor Technology and to
begin the design of the pressurized water reactor for submarine propulsion.[37][38] In February
1949 he was assigned to the Atomic Energy Commission's Division of Reactor Development,
and then assumed control of the Navy's effort within the AEC as Director of the Naval Reactors
Branch.[39] This twin role enabled him to lead the effort to develop Nautilus.[40]

The decision to originally select Rickover as head of development of the nation's nuclear
submarine program ultimately rested with Admiral Mills. According to Lieutenant General Leslie
Groves, director of the Manhattan Project, Mills was anxious to have a very determined man
involved. He knew that Rickover was "not too easy to get along with" and "not too popular," but
in his judgement Rickover was the man on whom the Navy could depend "no matter what
opposition he might encounter".[41]

While his team and industry were completing construction of the Nautilus, Rickover was
promoted to the rank of rear admiral in 1953, however this was anything but routine, and
occurred only after an extraordinary chain of events:[42][43]

"[Rickover's] peers in the Navy’s engineer branch thought to get rid of him through failure of
promotion above captain. This would entail automatic retirement at the thirty-year mark. But
someone made the case to the U.S. Senate, charged by the Constitution with formal
confirmation of military promotions. In that year, 1953, two years before Nautilus first went to
sea, the Senate failed to give its usual perfunctory approval of the Navy admiral promotion list,
and the press was outraged because Rickover’s name was not on it. ... Ultimately an
enlightened Secretary of the Navy, Robert B. Anderson, ordered a special selection board to sit.
With some shuffling of feet it did what it had been ordered to do.... Ninety-five percent of Navy
captains must retire regardless of how highly qualified because there are only vacancies for 5
percent of them to become admirals, and although vindictiveness has sometimes played a part
in determining who shall fail of selection for promotion (thus also violating the system), never
before or since have pressures from outside the Navy overturned this form of
career-termination."[36]

Regardless of the challenges faced in developing and operating brand-new technology,

Rickover and the team did not disappoint: the result was a highly reliable nuclear reactor in a
form-factor that would fit into a submarine hull with no more than a 28-foot (8.5 m) beam.[44]
This became known as the S1W reactor. Nautilus was launched and commissioned with this
reactor in 1954.[45]
Later Rickover oversaw the development of the Shippingport Atomic Power Station, the first
commercial pressurized water reactor nuclear power plant. Kenneth Nichols of the AEC decided
that the Rickover-Westinghouse pressurized-water reactor was "the best choice for a reactor to
demonstrate the production of electricity" with Rickover "having a going organization and a
reactor project under way that now had no specific use to justify it." This was a reference to the
first core used at Shippingport originating from a cancelled nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.[46]
This was accepted by Lewis Strauss and the Commission in January 1954.[47]

Rickover was promoted to vice admiral in 1958, the same year that he was awarded the first of
two Congressional Gold Medals.[48] He exercised tight control for the next three decades over
the ships, technology, and personnel of the nuclear Navy, interviewing and approving or denying
every prospective officer being considered for a nuclear ship. Over the course of Rickover's
career, these personal interviews numbered in the tens of thousands; over 14,000 interviews
were with recent college-graduates alone. The interviewees ranged from midshipmen and newly
commissioned ensigns destined for nuclear-powered submarines and surface combatants, to
very senior combat-experienced Naval Aviator captains who sought command of
nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. The content of most of these interviews has been lost to
history, though some were later chronicled in several books on Rickover's career, as well as in a
rare personal interview with Diane Sawyer in 1984.[49][50][51][52][53]

In 1973, though his role and responsibilities remained unchanged, Rickover was promoted to
the rank of four-star admiral.[54] This was the second time (after Samuel Murray Robinson) in
the history of the U.S. Navy that an officer with a career path other than an operational line
officer achieved that rank. Also fairly uniquely—and because his responsibilities did not include
direct command and control of combatant naval units—technically he was appointed to the
grade of admiral on the retired list so as to provide some clarity on this issue. This was also
done to avoid affecting the maximum-authorized number of admirals (O-10) on the "active
list."[55]

As head of Naval Reactors, Rickover's focus and responsibilities were dedicated to reactor
safety rather than tactical or strategic submarine warfare training. However, this extreme focus
was well known during Rickover's era as a potential hindrance to balancing operational
priorities. One way that this was addressed after Rickover retired was that only the very
strongest, former at-sea submarine commanders have held Rickover's now unique eight-year
position as NAVSEA-08, the longest chartered tenure in the U.S. military.[56][57] From
Rickover's first replacement, Kinnaird R. McKee, to today's head of Naval Reactors, James F.
Caldwell Jr.,[58][59] all have held command of nuclear submarines, their squadrons and ocean
fleets, but none have been a long-term Engineering Duty Officer such as Rickover.[60] In
keeping with Rickover's promotion to four-star admiral, those who were subsequently selected
for assignment to Director, Naval Reactors are promoted to this same rank, but also on active
duty status.

Historian Francis Duncan, who for over eight years was granted generous access to diverse
numbers and levels of witnesses—including U.S. presidents—as well as Rickover himself,[61]
came to the conclusion that the man was best understood with respect to a guiding principle
that Rickover invoked foremost for both himself and those who served in the U.S. Navy's
nuclear propulsion program: "exercise of the concept of responsibility."[36] This is further
evidenced by Rickover listing responsibility as his first principle in his final-years paper and
speech, Thoughts on Man's Purpose in Life.[62][63][64]

Safety record
Rickover's stringent standards are largely credited with being responsible for the U.S. Navy's
continuing record of zero reactor accidents (defined as the uncontrolled release of fission
products to the environment resulting from damage to a reactor core).[8] He made it a point to
be aboard during the initial sea trial of almost every nuclear submarine completing its
new-construction period.[65] Following the Three Mile Island accident on March 28, 1979,
Admiral Rickover was asked to testify before Congress in the general context of answering the
question as to why naval nuclear propulsion had succeeded in achieving a record of zero
reactor-accidents, as opposed to the dramatic one that had just taken place.[8]

The accident-free record of United States Navy reactor operations stands in some very stark
contrast to those of the Soviet Union, which had fourteen known reactor accidents. As stated in
a retrospective analysis in October 2007:

U.S. submarines far outperformed the Soviet ones in the crucial area of stealth, and Rickover's
obsessive fixation on safety and quality control gave the U.S. nuclear Navy a vastly superior
safety record to the Soviet one.[66]

Views on nuclear power

Given Rickover's single-minded focus on naval nuclear propulsion, design, and operations, it
came as a surprise to many[67] in 1982, near the end of his career, when he testified before the
U.S. Congress that, were it up to him what to do with nuclear powered ships, he "would sink
them all." At a congressional hearing Rickover testified that:

I do not believe that nuclear power is worth it if it creates radiation. Then you might ask me why
do I have nuclear powered ships. That is a necessary evil. I would sink them all. I am not proud
of the part I played in it. I did it because it was necessary for the safety of this country. That's
why I am such a great exponent of stopping this whole nonsense of war. Unfortunately
limits—attempts to limit war have always failed. The lesson of history is when a war starts every
nation will ultimately use whatever weapon it has available. ... Every time you produce radiation,
you produce something that has a certain half-life, in some cases for billions of years. ... It is
important that we control these forces and try to eliminate them.

— Economics of Defense Policy: Hearing before the Joint Economic Committee, Congress of
the United States, 97th Cong., 2nd sess., Pt. 1 (1982)
A few months later, following his retirement, Rickover spoke more specifically regarding the
questions "Could you comment on your own responsibility in helping to create a nuclear navy?
Do you have any regrets?":
I do not have regrets. I believe I helped preserve the peace for this country. Why should I regret
that? What I accomplished was approved by Congress—which represents our people. All of you
live in safety from domestic enemies because of security from the police. Likewise, you live in
safety from foreign enemies because our military keeps them from attacking us. Nuclear
technology was already under development in other countries. My assigned responsibility was
to develop our nuclear navy. I managed to accomplish this.[68]

Focus on education

President Kennedy and Rickover, White House, February 11, 1963[69] "...in addition to the
multilateral POLARIS force, we discussed education and how he and I were brought up as
boys."[70]
When he was a child still living in Russian-occupied Poland, Rickover was not allowed to attend
public schools because of his Jewish faith. Starting at the age of four, he attended a religious
school where the teaching was solely from the Tanakh, i.e., Old Testament, in Hebrew.[71]
Following his formal education in the United States,[72] Rickover developed a decades-long and
outspoken interest in the educational standards of the US as being a national security issue,
particularly as compared during the Cold War era to Soviet Russia.[73]

An example of his passion for education from his 1959 Report on Russia[74] in the context of
comparative educational systems:

"There is no room here (in nuclear powerplant development) for lofty theories which do not work
out in practice. We would not get anywhere if we had the loose, hazy thinking you encounter
when you bring out the obvious failures of the American educational system. ... there are times
when it is irresponsible to avoid criticizing something which one knows to be wrong and
dangerous for the Nation as a whole. I feel that every one who has a position of responsibility in
this country and who can see and understand what is happening not only has the right, he has
the obligation and the duty to speak. ... This is why I feel so strongly about education—about
our failure to give our children as good an education as they deserve and need. ... It is my
considered opinion that there is no problem that faces the Congress or the country that is as
important."

Rickover believed that US standards of education were unacceptably low. His first book
centered on education was a collection of essays calling for improved standards of education,
particularly in math and science, entitled Education and Freedom (1959). In it, he stated that
"education is the most important problem facing the United States today" and "only the massive
upgrading of the scholastic standards of our schools will guarantee the future prosperity and
freedom of the Republic." A second book, Swiss Schools and Ours (1962) was a scathing
comparison of the educational systems of Switzerland and America. He argued that the higher
standards of Swiss schools, including a longer school day and year, combined with an approach
stressing student choice and academic specialization produced superior results.[75]
Recognizing that "nurturing careers of excellence and leadership in science and technology in
young scholars is an essential investment in the United States national and global future,"
following his retirement Rickover founded the Center for Excellence in Education in 1983.[76]
Additionally, the Research Science Institute (formerly the Rickover Science Institute), founded
by Rickover in 1984, is a summer science program hosted by the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology for high school seniors from around the world.[77]

General Dynamics scandal

In the early 1980s, structural welding flaws in submarines under construction were covered up
by falsified inspection records, and the resulting scandal led to significant delays and expenses
in the delivery of several submarines being built at the General Dynamics Electric Boat Division
shipyard in Groton, Connecticut. The yard tried to pass on the vast cost overruns to the Navy,
while Rickover demanded that the yard make good on its "shoddy" workmanship. The Navy
settled with General Dynamics in 1981, paying out $634 million of $843 million in Los
Angeles-class submarine cost overrun and reconstruction claims.[78][79] Secretary of the Navy
John Lehman was partly motivated to seek the agreement in order to continue to focus on
achieving President Reagan's goal of a 600-ship Navy. But Rickover was extremely bitter over
the General Dynamics yard being paid hundreds of millions of dollars,[80] and he lambasted
both the settlement and Secretary Lehman. This was not Rickover's first clash with the defense
industry; he was historically harsh in exacting high standards from defense contractors.[81] It
was later publicly announced by a former General Dynamics employee on 60 Minutes with Mike
Wallace that Rickover was right that General Dynamics was lying to the Navy, but by then
Rickover's public image was already damaged beyond repair.[citation needed]

A Navy Ad Hoc Gratuities Board determined that Rickover had received gifts from General
Dynamics over a 16-year period valued at $67,628, including jewelry, furniture, exotic knives,
and gifts that Rickover had in turn presented to politicians. Charges were investigated that gifts
were provided by General Electric and the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock, both
major nuclear ship contractors for the Navy. Secretary Lehman admonished him in a
non-punitive letter and stated that Rickover's "fall from grace with these little trinkets should be
viewed in the context of his enormous contributions to the Navy." Rickover released a statement
through his lawyer saying his "conscience is clear" with respect to the gifts. "No gratuity or favor
ever affected any decision I made."[82] Senator William Proxmire of Wisconsin, a longtime
supporter of Rickover, later publicly associated a debilitating stroke suffered by the admiral to
his having been censured and "dragged through the mud by the very institution to which he
rendered his invaluable service."[83]

Forced retirement
By the late 1970s, Rickover's position seemed stronger than it had ever been. Over many years,
powerful friends on both the House and Senate Armed Services Committees ensured that he
remained on active duty long after most other admirals had retired from their second
careers.[84] Jimmy Carter's admiration for Rickover was shown by the fact that the title of
Carter's autobiography was based on a question that Rickover had asked Carter when the latter
was in the Navy ("Why Not The Best?").[85][86] However, Secretary of the Navy John Lehman
felt that Rickover was hindering the well-being of the navy. As Lehman stated in his book,
Command of the Seas:

One of my first orders of business as Secretary of the Navy would be to solve ... the Rickover
problem. Rickover's legendary achievements were in the past. His present viselike grip on much
of the navy was doing it much harm. I had sought the job because I believed the navy had
deteriorated to the point where its weakness seriously threatened our future security. The navy's
grave afflictions included loss of a strategic vision; loss of self-confidence, and morale; a
prolonged starvation of resources, leaving vast shortfalls in capability to do the job; and too few
ships to cover a sea so great, all resulting in cynicism, exhaustion, and an undercurrent of
defeatism. The cult created by Admiral Rickover was itself a major obstacle to recovery,
entwining nearly all the issues of culture and policy within the navy.[87]

Secretary Lehman eventually attained enough political clout to enforce his decision to retire
Rickover. This was in part assisted by the admiral's nearly insubordinate stance against paying
the General Dynamics submarine construction claims, as well as his advanced age and waning
political leverage. On July 27, 1981, Lehman was handed the final impetus for ending Rickover's
career by way of an operational error on the admiral's part: a "moderate" loss of ship control and
depth excursion while performing a submerged "crash back" maneuver during the sea trials of
the newly constructed USS La Jolla. Rickover was the actual man-in-charge during this specific
performance test, and his actions and inactions were judged to have been the causal
factor.[88][89][90][91][92] On January 31, 1982, four days after his 82nd birthday, Rickover was
forced to retire from the Navy after 63 years of service under 13 presidents (Woodrow Wilson
through Ronald Reagan).[93] According to Rickover, he first learned of his firing when his wife
told him what she heard on the radio.[49][94]

According to former President Jimmy Carter, several weeks following his retirement, Rickover
"was invited to the Oval Office and decided to don his full dress uniform. He told me that he
refused to take a seat, listened to the president [Reagan] ask him to be his special nuclear
advisor, replied 'Mr. President, that is bullshit,' and then walked out."[95] The Navy's official
investigation of General Dynamics' Electric Boat division was ended shortly afterward.
According to Theodore Rockwell, Rickover's Technical Director for more than 15 years, more
than one source at that time stated that General Dynamics officials were bragging around
Washington that they had "gotten Rickover."[96]

On February 28, 1983, a post-retirement party honoring Admiral Rickover was attended by all
three living former U.S. Presidents at the time: Nixon, Ford, and Carter, all formerly officers in
the U.S. Navy. President Reagan was not in attendance.[97][98]

Public image
Rickover has been called "the most famous and controversial admiral of his era."[99] He was
hyperactive, blunt, confrontational, insulting, and a workaholic, always demanding of others
without regard for rank or position.[100] Moreover, he had "little tolerance for mediocrity, none
for stupidity."[101] Even while a captain, Rickover did not conceal his opinions, and many of the
officers whom he regarded as unintelligent eventually rose to be admirals and were assigned to
the Pentagon.[102] Rickover frequently found himself in bureaucratic combat with these senior
naval officers, to the point that he almost missed becoming an admiral; two selection boards
passed him over for promotion, and it took the intervention of the White House, U.S. Congress,
and the Secretary of the Navy before he was promoted.[13][103]

Rickover's military authority and congressional mandate were absolute with regard to the U.S.
fleet's reactor operations, but his controlling personality was frequently a subject of internal
Navy controversy. He was head of the Naval Reactors branch, and thus responsible for signing
off on a crew's competence to operate the reactor safely, giving him the power to effectively
remove a warship from active service, which he did on several occasions. The view became
established that he sometimes exercised power to settle scores.[104] Author and former
submariner Edward L. Beach Jr. referred to him as a "tyrant" with "no account of his gradually
failing powers" in his later years.[105]

Death

Headstone of Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, Arlington National Cemetery

Rickover died at his home in Arlington, Virginia, on July 8, 1986, at age 86. He was buried on
July 11 in a small, private ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.[106] On July 14, memorial
services were led by Admiral James D. Watkins at the Washington National Cathedral, with
President Carter, Secretary of State George Shultz, Secretary Lehman, senior naval officers,
and about 1,000 other people in attendance.[107] At the request of the admiral's widow,
President Carter read Milton's sonnet When I Consider How My Light is Spent.[108]

Secretary of the Navy Lehman said in a statement:

"With the death of Adm. Rickover, the Navy and this nation have lost a dedicated officer of
historic accomplishment. In his 63 years of service, Adm. Rickover took the concept of nuclear
power from an idea to the present reality of more than 150 U.S. naval ships under nuclear
power, with a record of 3,000 ship-years of accident-free operations."[54]

And the then-Chief of Naval Operations:

"Most important," Admiral Watkins said, "he was a teacher. He set the standards. They were
tough. That is the legacy and the challenge he left to all who study his contributions."[109]

Rickover is buried in Section 5 at Arlington National Cemetery.[110] His first wife Ruth is buried
with him and the name of his second wife Eleonore is inscribed on his gravestone.[111]
Eleonore passed away on July 5, 2021, and is to be buried in Arlington Cemetery.[112] Rickover
is survived by Robert Rickover, his sole son by his first wife.[111]

Honors
The Los Angeles-class submarine USS Hyman G. Rickover (SSN-709) was named for him. It
was commissioned two years before his death, and was, at that time, one of only two Navy
ships to be named after a living person since 1900 (there have been 16 more since). The
submarine was launched on August 27, 1983, sponsored by his second wife Eleonore,
commissioned on July 21, 1984, and deactivated on December 14, 2006. In 2015, the Navy
announced a Virginia-class submarine named USS Hyman G. Rickover (SSN-795) in his
honor.[113] The submarine's christening took place on July 31, 2021.[114][115][116][117]

Rickover Hall at the United States Naval Academy houses the departments of Mechanical
Engineering, Naval Architecture, Ocean Engineering, Aeronautical and Aerospace Engineering.
Rickover Center at Naval Nuclear Power Training Command is located at Joint Base
Charleston, where Navy personnel begin their engineering training. In 2011, the U.S. Navy
Museum included Rickover as part of the Technology for the Nuclear Age: Nuclear Propulsion
display for its Cold War exhibit, which featured the following quotation:

"Good ideas are not adopted automatically. They must be driven into practice with courageous
impatience."[118][119]

Other things named in his honor include the Admiral Hyman Rickover Fellowship at M.I.T.,[120]
Hyman G. Rickover Naval Academy,[121] and Rickover Junior High School.[122]

Awards

The second of two Congressional Gold Medals awarded to Rickover

Warfare insignia
U.S. Navy - Submarine Warfare Insignia (Gold Dolphins).gif Submarine Warfare Insignia
(Dolphins)[36]: 9 
Decorations and medals
Gold starGold star Navy Distinguished Service Medal with two 5⁄16" Gold Stars (1961, 1964,
1982)
Gold star Legion Of Merit with 5⁄16" Gold Star (1945, 1952)
Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (1945)
Army Commendation Medal (1949) (Conversion award from Letter of Commendation
from the Secretary of the Army in 1946.)
Presidential Medal of Freedom (1980)
World War I Victory Medal
China Service Medal
Bronze star American Defense Service Medal
American Campaign Medal
Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal
World War II Victory Medal
Navy Occupation Service Medal with "ASIA" clasp
Bronze star National Defense Service Medal with one 3⁄16" Bronze Star
Congressional Gold Medal – 2 awards (1958, 1982)
Foreign order
Honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire (1946)
In recognition of his wartime service, he was invested as an Honorary Commander of the
Military Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 1946 by King George
VI.[123]

Other awards
Admiral Rickover was twice awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for exceptional public
service; the first in 1958, and the second 25 years later in 1983, becoming one of only three
persons to be awarded more than one.[124] In 1980, President Jimmy Carter presented Admiral
Rickover with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States' highest non-military honor,
for his contributions to world peace.[125]

He also received 61 civilian awards and 15 honorary degrees, including the Enrico Fermi Award
"For engineering and demonstrative leadership in the development of safe and reliable nuclear
power and its successful application to our national security and economic needs."[126] Some
of the most notable other awards include:[127]

the Egleston Medal Award of Columbia University Engineering School Alumni Association
(1955)
the George Westinghouse Gold Medal from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers
(ASME) (1955)
the Michael I. Pupin 100th Anniversary Medal (1958)
the Golden Omega Award from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
(1959)
the Prometheus Award from the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) (1965)
the Newcomen Medal (1968)
the Washington Award from the Western Society of Engineers[128] (1970)
Some of his honorary degrees included:

Sc.D.: Colby College (1954);[129] Stevens Institute of Technology (1958);[130] Columbia

University (1960)[131]
Documentaries
Admiral Rickover – 60 Minutes interview by Diane Sawyer (1984)[132] with an excerpt from a
1957 interview with Edward R. Murrow[133]
Rickover: The Birth of Nuclear Power by Michael Pack – documentary screened at the GI Film
Festival in the District of Columbia on May 24, 2014,[134] and broadcast on December 9, 2014,
on PBS.[135]
Further reading
Hewlett, Richard G., and Francis Duncan. Nuclear Navy: 1946-1962. Chicago: The University of
Chicago Press, 1974. ISBN 0-226-33219-5.
See also
Operation Sandblast
President Jimmy Carter's naval career
Naval Nuclear Power School
Y-12 National Security Complex
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External links

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Image of Thurgood Marshall, Hyman Rickover and Newton Minow at convocation "Prospects for
Democracy" at Beverly Hilton, California, 1963. Archived February 24, 2021, at the Wayback
Machine Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive (Collection 1429). UCLA Library Special
Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
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