Elmo Zumwalt Elmo Russell " Bud " Zumwalt , Jr . ( November 29 , 1920 – January 2 , 2000 ) was an American naval officer and the youngest man to serve as Chief of Naval Operations . As an admiral and later the 19th Chief of Naval Operations , Zumwalt played a major role in U . S . military history , especially during the Vietnam War . A decorated war veteran , Zumwalt reformed U . S . Navy personnel policies in an effort to improve enlisted life and ease racial tensions . After he retired from a 32 - year Navy career , he launched an unsuccessful campaign for the U . S . Senate . Early life and education . Zumwalt was born in San Francisco , California , the son of Elmo Russell Zumwalt , M . D . , and his wife , Frances ( Frank ) Zumwalt , M . D . , both country doctors . Frances was the daughter of Julius and Sarah Frank of Burlington , Vermont . Her family moved to Los Angeles , California , where she grew up . By marrying Elmo Zumwalt , she became estranged from her parents due to their extremely conservative Jewish views , and throughout the rest of her life she claimed she was adopted ( Elmo Russell Zumwalt , M . D . , was from a Christian background ) . Zumwalt , an Eagle Scout and recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award from the Boy Scouts of America , attended Tulare Union High School in Tulare , California , where he became the valedictorian , and Rutherford Preparatory School in Long Beach , California . Entrance into the US Navy . He had planned to become a doctor like his parents , but in 1939 , Zumwalt was accepted to the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis , Maryland . As a midshipman at the USNA , he was president of the Trident Society , vice president of the Quarterdeck Society and the two - time winner of the June Week Public Speaking Contest ( 1940 – 41 ) . Zumwalt also participated in intercollegiate debating and was a Company Commander ( 1941 ) and Regimental Three Striper ( 1942 ) . He graduated with distinction and was commissioned as an ensign on June 19 , 1942 . He also received an honorary degree from Texas Tech University . World War II . Zumwalt was assigned to USS " Phelps " ( DD - 360 ) , a destroyer . In August 1943 , " Phelps " was detached for instruction in the Operational Training Command - Pacific in San Francisco . In January 1944 , Zumwalt reported for duty onboard USS " Robinson " . On this ship , he was awarded the Bronze Star with Valor device for " heroic service as Evaluator in the Combat Information Center " . . . in action against enemy Japan ese battleship s during the Battle for Leyte Gulf , October 25 , 1944 . " After the end of World War II in August 1945 , Zumwalt continued to serve until December 8 , 1945 , as the prize crew officer of HIMJS " Ataka " , a 1 , 200 - ton Japanese river gunboat with a crew of 200 . In this capacity , he took the first American - controlled ship since the outbreak of World War II up the Huangpu River to Shanghai , China . There , they helped to restore order and assisted in disarming the Japanese . Marriage . While there , Zumwalt met and married Mouza Coutelais - du - Roche , whose French - Russian family was living in Shanghai . She returned with him to the United States . Command assignments . Zumwalt next served as executive officer of the destroyer USS " Saufley " , and in March 1946 , was transferred to the destroyer USS " Zellars " , as Executive Officer and Navigator . In January 1948 , he was assigned to the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps Unit of the University of North Carolina , where he remained until June 1950 . That same month , he assumed command of USS " Tills " , a destroyer escort that was commissioned in a reserve status . The Tillis was placed in full active commission at Charleston Naval Shipyard on November 21 , 1950 , and he continued to command her until March 1951 , when he joined the battleship USS " Wisconsin " as Navigator and served with the ship in operations in Korea . Detached from USS " Wisconsin " in June 1952 , he attended the Naval War College , Newport , Rhode Island , and in June 1953 , he reported as Head of the Shore and Overseas Bases Section , Bureau of Naval Personnel , Navy Department , Washington , D . C . He also served as Officer and Enlisted Requirements Officer , and as Action Officer on Medicare Legislation . Completing that tour of duty in July 1955 , he assumed command of the destroyer USS " Arnold J . Isbell " , participating in two deployments with the U . S . Seventh Fleet . In this assignment , he was commended by the Commander , Cruiser - Destroyer Forces , U . S . Pacific Fleet , for winning the Battle Efficiency Competition for his ship and for winning Excellence Awards in Engineering , Gunnery , Anti - Submarine Warfare , and Operations . In July 1957 , he returned to the Bureau of Naval Personnel for further duty . In December 1957 , he was transferred to the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy ( Personnel and Reserve Forces ) , and served as Special Assistant for Naval Personnel until November 1958 , then as Special Assistant and Naval Aide until August 1959 . Ordered to the first ship built from the keel up as a guided missile frigate , USS " Dewey " ( DLG - 14 ) , built at the Bath ( Maine ) Iron Works , he assumed command of that frigate at her commissioning in December 1959 and commanded her until June 1961 . During this period of his command , Dewey earned the Excellence Award in Engineering , Supply , Weapons , and was runner - up in the Battle Efficiency Competition . He was a student at the National War College , Washington , D . C . , during the 1961 - 1962 class year . In June 1962 , he was assigned to the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense ( International Security Affairs ) , Washington , D . C . , where he served first as Desk Officer for France , Spain and Portugal , then as Director of Arms Control and Contingency Planning for Cuba . From December 1963 until June 21 , 1965 , he served as Executive Assistant and Senior Aide to the Honorable Paul H . Nitze , Secretary of the Navy . For duty in his tour in the offices of the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of the Navy , he was awarded the Legion of Merit . Flag assignments . Vietnam . After his selection for the rank of Rear Admiral , Zumwalt assumed command in July 1965 of Cruiser - Destroyer Flotilla Seven . In September 1968 , he became Commander Naval Forces , Vietnam , and Chief of the Naval Advisory Group , U . S . Military Assistance Command , Vietnam , and was promoted to Vice Admiral in October 1968 . Vice Admiral Zumwalt was the Navy adviser to General Creighton Abrams , the commander of all US Forces . Zumwalt always spoke very highly of Abrams , and said that Abrams was the most caring officer he had ever known . Zumwalt ' s command was not a blue - water unit , like the Seventh Fleet ; it was a brown - water unit : he commanded the flotilla of Swift Boats that patrolled the coasts , harbors , and rivers of Vietnam . Among the swift - boat commanders were his son , Elmo Russell Zumwalt III , and later future Senator and US Secretary of State John Kerry . During this time , the elder Zumwalt had an opportunity to safeguard the men who served under his command from the Viet Cong who hid in the jungle and ambushed American and ARVN ( Army of the Republic of Vietnam ) patrols at will . Zumwalt ' s son , Elmo Zumwalt III , died in 1988 , aged 42 ; Zumwalt ' s grandson ( born 1977 ) suffers from a congenital dysfunction that confuses his physical senses . Zumwalt ' s son said in 1986 that " ' I am a lawyer and I don ' t think I could prove in court , by the weight of the existing scientific evidence , that Agent Orange is the cause of all the medical problems - nervous disorders , cancer and skin problems - reported by Vietnam veterans , or of their children ' s severe birth defects . But I am convinced that it is . " Chief of Naval Operations . President Richard M . Nixon nominated Zumwalt to be Chief of Naval Operations in April 1970 . Upon being relieved as Commander Naval Forces , Vietnam , on May 15 , 1970 , he was awarded a second Navy Distinguished Service Medal for exceptionally meritorious service . He assumed duties as Chief of Naval Operations and was promoted to full Admiral on July 1 , 1970 , and quickly began a series of moves intended to reduce racism and sexism in the Navy . These were disseminated in Navy - wide communications known as " Z - grams " . These included orders authorizing beards ( sideburns , mustaches , and longer groomed hair were also acceptable ) and introducing beer - dispensing machines to barracks . Not all of these changes were well received by senior naval personnel . The measures to reduce discrimination against women and racial minorities were adamantly opposed by some . Zumwalt instituted the ' Mod Squad ' - Destroyer Squadron 26 and later 31 - to give promising young officers early command experience . Billets were a rank lower than normal . Zumwalt reshaped the Navy ' s effort to replace large numbers of aging World War II - era vessels , a plan called " High - Low . " Instituted over the resistance of Admiral Hyman Rickover and others , High - Low sought to balance the purchase of high - end , nuclear - powered vessels with low - end , cheaper ones — - such as the Sea Control Ship — that could be bought in greater numbers . Rickover , the Father of the Nuclear Navy , preferred buying a few major ships to buying many ordinary ones . Zumwalt proposed four kinds of warships to fit the plan ; in the end , only the " Pegasus " class of missile patrol boats and the " Oliver Hazard Perry " ( FFG 7 ) class of guided missile frigates became reality , and only six out of the planned 100 + " Pegasus " class hydrofoils were built . But the " Perrys " stood as the most populous class of U . S . warships since World War II until the advent of the " Arleigh Burke " ( DDG 51 ) destroyers . He was the last Chief of Naval Operations to live in Number One Observatory Circle before it became the official residence to the vice president . For Zumwalt , not pleased with the choice , this was reason enough to challenge Virginia Senator Harry Byrd in the 1976 Senate election in Virginia . Elmo Zumwalt Jr . retired from the Navy on July 1 , 1974 , aged 53 . Later years . In 1976 , he unsuccessfully ran as a Democratic candidate for the United States Senate from Virginia , being defeated by incumbent senator Harry F . Byrd , Jr . . Later , he held the presidency of the American Medical Building Corporation in Milwaukee , Wisconsin . Family and home life . In his later years , Elmo Zumwalt , Jr . resided in Arlington County , Virginia . He and his wife , the former Mouza Coutelais - du - Roche of Harbin , Manchuria , China , had four children : Elmo R . Zumwalt III ( died of cancer in 1988 , possibly due to Agent Orange exposure ) , James Gregory Zumwalt ; Ann F . Zumwalt Coppola and Mouzetta C . Zumwalt - Weathers . During his son ' s illness in the early 1980s , Admiral Zumwalt was very active in lobbying Congress to establish a national registry of bone marrow donors . Such donors serve patients who do not have suitably matched bone marrow donors in their families . This was ultimately a disinterested act , since his son was able to receive a transplant from his own sister , but many patients don ' t have close relatives who are able and willing to help in this heroic way . His efforts were a major factor in the founding of the National Marrow Donor Program ( NMDP ) in July 1986 . Admiral Zumwalt was the first chairman of the NMDP ' s Board of Directors . Admiral Zumwalt said he felt his son ' s cancer was most definitely due to Agent Orange . He also mentioned that his grandson Russell suffered from very severe learning disabilities that could possibly be traced to it as well . Admiral Zumwalt , along with his son and writer John Pekkanen , authored a book called " My Father , My Son " , published by MacMillan in September 1986 , where they discussed the family tragedy of his son ' s battle with cancer . Although at the time of writing " My Father , My Son " , the results of the treatment were promising , he died in 1988 at age 42 . " My Father , My Son " was adapted for a TV movie in the same name , starring Karl Malden as the elder Zumwalt and Keith Carradine as his son . Books . After he retired , Admiral Zumwalt wrote " On Watch : a Memoir , " published by Quadrangle Books in 1976 . It reviews his Navy career and includes reprints of all the Z - Grams he issued as CNO . Death . Zumwalt died on January 2 , 2000 , aged 79 , at the Duke University Medical Center in Durham , North Carolina , from a rare form of lung cancer called pleural mesothelioma . Most likely , at some time in his naval career , Zumwalt was exposed to asbestos , which was widely used on naval vessels until its hazards became known . In recent decades , it has largely gone out of use . Legacy . The United States Navy ' s DD ( X ) guided missile destroyer program has been named the Zumwalt class in his honor , and its lead ship will bear his name USS " Zumwalt " by Navy tradition .