The U.S. Navy Should Name a Ship for Rep. Leo J. Ryan

     The United States Navy recently announced that it was naming a ship, a littoral combat ship, after former U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona. As I noted in my post in January Commentary on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' Resignation, http://www.williamcinfici.blogspot.com/2012/01/commentary-on-rep-gabrielle-giffords.html, she resigned from Congress last month in order to focus on her recovery from an attempted assassination attempt. An apparently insane gunman shot Giffords at a meeting with constituents, killing and wounding several others.  In that post, I expressed for the second time my hope that she recovers fully, noting that the shooting was an attack on representative government, even if by a madman.

     Individuals honored by having ships named for them usually have some connection to the Navy, either having served in it or in its civilian command, or having supported it significantly in Congress.  Giffords' husband is a Naval aviator who was also a Space Shuttle pilot.  The Navy customarily does not name ships after people who are still living.  The only exceptions in the last century and a half have been for individuals advanced in age.  Giffords, 41, expressed her hope to recover fully and return to Congress.  Because I hope that Giffords recovers fully and is able to return to public life, either in Congress or in some other capacity, I regard this high honor as premature and based upon an insufficient connection to the Navy.  In the meantime, I do believe that the federal government should honor her in some other significant way for her bravery for continuing to serve in Congress after her would-be assassination.

     Rep. Leo J. Ryan (D-CA) was the only member of Congress killed in the line of duty. He had served in the U.S. Navy during the Second World War and afterward as a submariner.  Ryan was assassinated in 1978 in Guyana by members of the Peoples Temple, led by Rev. Jim Jones, formerly of Ryan’s district. Jones and over 900 of his expatriate American followers in Jonestown committed mass suicide or were murdered immediately thereafter. Ryan was personally investigating reports that members of the cult were not free to leave. He was successfully facilitating the release of some of the members at the time of his murder.

     Ryan has been honored by the federal government in a number of ways, but if a Congressman who were wounded in an assassination attempt is honored by having a ship named for her, then one who was killed ought to be honored similarly, at least, especially one who was a Navy veteran.  A U.S. Navy submarine should be named the U.S.S. Leo J. Ryan.