Nation: A Comer Arrives

All his life, Thomas H. Moorer has been a comer. He was valedictorian of his high school class at 15, then had to wait two years before he could pick up his appointment and sail through Annapolis in the class of '33. At Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked, he survived to pilot Navy reconnaissance planes again and pick up a fistful of medals, from the Purple Heart to the Distinguished Flying Cross. Since then, he has had some of the toughest jobs in the Navy, including commander of the Seventh Fleet and, most recently, the tricky triple-hatted post of unified commander of all troops in the Atlantic area, boss of all Atlantic naval ships and planes, and NATO's Supreme Allied Commander, Atlantic. For years fellow officers have predicted that Moorer, 55, would be a likely choice some day for Chief of Naval Operations. Last week the four-star admiral finally arrived. President Johnson announced that he would nominate Moorer to succeed David L. McDonald, 60, who has headed the Navy for the past four years and is retiring Aug. 1.