For a long time after that I only remembered Admiral Stockdale as the guy who had his hearing aid shut off during the debate. I didn't realize his history — he was a real intellectual, with a love of Stoic philosophy, but he determined on the active life of a Naval Aviator. He ejected over North Vietnam and was captured and subjected to torture. To avoid being used for propaganda, he disfigured himself by cutting his scalp with a razor and beating his face with a chair. When he gained information that could be used to reveal others' attempts to subvert the North Vietnamese, he slit his wrists to avoid being tortured into a confession. He conducted himself heroically in a war that was anything but, and earned the respect of his fellow-prisoners and his captors, and he gives credit to the philosophy of Epictetus, especially as contained in his
Enchiridion.
(And to be fair to Stockdale, he only was informed of the debate one week in advance. He was not a skilled debater, though, to be sure.)
