Forty-One.

This is coolbert:

Within the context of the previous blog entry also consider those American naval warships of the Cold War era as deemed "Forty-one for Freedom".

Those Polaris missile firing submarines the namesakes of "Eminent Americans".

Freedom more correctly described as national independence?

Eminent Americans EACH AND EVERYONE and recognized so during their lifetimes, advocates of liberty, freedom and independence but not necessarily so extending those concepts of "liberty, freedom and independence" to everyone.
 
"'Eminent Americans - Namesakes of the Polaris Submarine Fleet'  – 1972 by H. G. Rickover. With the start of the Polaris submarine program in 1959, not only were these boats named after historical figures, but Rickover now began to include a brief biography of the man for whom the ship was named. He did this for all 41 submarines in the Polaris Fleet (A.K.A. - '41 for Freedom.')"

"The '41 for Freedom' nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) were armed with submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) to create a deterrent force against the threat of nuclear war with any foreign power threatening the United States during the Cold War."

Those Polaris missile firing submarines:

USS George Washington   SSBN-598 Washington a slave owner 
USS Patrick Henry SSBN-599  Henry a slave owner 
USS Theodore Roosevelt SSBN-600
USS Robert E Lee  SSBN-601 Lee a Confederate general, slave owner   [3]  [7]
USS Abraham Lincoln SSBN-602
USS Ethan Allen   SSBN-608    
USS Sam Houston   SSBN-609     Houston a slave owner 
USS Thomas A Edison SSBN-610
USS John Marshall   SSBN-611    Marshall a slave owner  
USS Thomas Jefferson   SSBN-618   Jefferson a slave owner  
USS Lafayette     SSBN-616    Lafayette a slave owner     [4]
USS Alexander Hamilton    SSBN-617   Hamilton a slave owner    [2]
USS Andrew Jackson   SSBN-619    Jackson a slave owner 
USS John Adams  SSBN-620
USS James Monroe   SSBN-622   Monroe a slave owner  
USS Nathan Hale   SSBN-623    
USS Woodrow Wilson SSBN-624
USS Henry Clay  SSBN-625    Clay a slave owner   
USS Daniel Webster     SSBN-626   
USS James Madison   SSBN-627    Madison a slave owner  
USS Tecumseh    SSBN-628     [4]  [6]  
USS Daniel Boone   SSBN-629    Boone a slave owner  
USS John C Calhoun   SSBN-630    Calhoun a slave owner  
USS Ulysses S Grant  SSBN-631    Grant a slave owner    [3]
USS Von Steuben    SSBN-632      [4]
USS Casimir Pulaski   SSBN-633     [4]
USS Stonewall Jackson    SSBN-634    Jackson a Confederate general, slave owner     [7]
USS Sam Rayburn SSBN-635
USS Nathaniel Greene SSBN-636     Greene a slave owner 
USS Benjamin Franklin   SSBN-640   Franklin a slave owner 
USS Simon Bolivar   SSBN-641  Bolivar a slave owner      [4]
USS Kamehameha   SSBN-642    The King a possible slave owner?   [1]   [4]
USS George Bancroft    SSBN-643  
USS Lewis and Clark  SSBN-644     Lewis and Clark both slave owners  [8]
USS James K Polk   SSBN-645    Polk a slave owner 
USS George C Marshall  SSBN-654
USS Henry L Stimson SSBN-655
USS George Washington Carver    SSBN-656      [5]
USS Francis Scott Key   SSBN-657    Key a slave owner 
USS Mariano G Vallejo   SSBN-658    [4]
USS Will Rogers SSBN-659

1. King Kamehameha I [The Great]. King of Hawaii. Slavery abolished in Hawaii not until 1852. The King a great conqueror and it having been observed that slavery the normal result for the vanquished during a time of war in Hawaii. To what extent the King outright owned slaves I cannot find a reference.

2. Hamilton an owner of a single slave through inheritance BUT NEVER TAKING POSSESSION OF!!

3. Grant and Lee both in a strictly legalistic manner owning slaves but only through their wives according to the laws of inheritance as was according to the period.

4. From a strictly legal viewpoint almost all these men foreign nationals and not American citizens. Vallejo a citizen of Mexico prior to 1850. Von Steuben a citizen of Prussia but American from the time of American independence onward. Pulaski killed in action during the Revolutionary War.

5. G. W. Carver born a slave, emancipated as a child.

6. Tecumseh an American Indian war chief. American Indians also engaging in the practice of slavery but no reference can be found as to Tecumseh owning slaves.

7. Lee and Jackson both additionally general officers in the army of the Confederacy.

8. Lewis and Clark both owning slaves but counting as one person for this analysis.

From that list of the forty-one eminent Americans:

* Slightly greater than half [twenty-two] owned slaves.
* Two it could not be determined if they ever owned slaves.
* Ten not owning slaves living in the period before 1865.
* Seven living in that time after 1865, slave ownership not possible.

Recognizing that those many "eminent Americans" IN THEIR OWN TIME understanding the contradiction of speaking of freedom and liberty while denying that right to others a problem for which they did have a practical solution.

That response of Admiral Rickover to all this would be what exactly?

coolbert.