176 HEREDITY AND DEVELOPMENT OF NAVAL OFFICERS. 



sideration of the requirements of each case but undeterred by the tremendous 

 personal danger involved. As his biographer says, there was "in him an entire 

 absence of bodily fear." 



Porter was a marked hyperkinetic. He was "self-confident, self-reliant, 

 filled with the courage of his convictions" 1 (p. 48). He had "an irrepressible 

 good humor, a positive exhilaration of spirits, at tunes an almost boyish jocu- 

 larity." 2 He had a jesting, easy way of taking the most perilous situations. 3 His 

 was a curious vein of humor, almost sardonic in its character, never malicious, 

 but rising at times to the level of an impish audacity. 4 He had a boyish fondness 

 for skylarking which he never entirely outgrew. Perhaps the most compre- 

 hensive term to describe in a word his peculiar temperament is buoyancy. He 

 was never discouraged. No matter how bad the conditions, no matter how much 

 circumstances seemed to make against him, his spirits rose in adversity and carried 

 him lightly over what would have been to other men the most dismal prospects 

 of disaster. 6 He had an impulsive frankness of expression which not infrequently 

 carried him beyond the bounds of prudence. He always had a ready command 

 of expletive which he did not hesitate to use. 6 



"He was, in his youth, full of alertness and dash." There was about him all 

 his life a certain quality, "lawless or dare-devil " - - that went far to make the strong 

 personality of the future admiral. 7 Porter's bold plans were conceived by a mind 

 "essentially original, lawless, dare-devil." 8 



"In temperament Porter was restless, eager, energetic. He had the mental 

 make-up of a born fighter, of an officer who finds his true opportunity only in war 

 and in struggle, who before and during the contest had but one idea to whip 

 the enemy and who bends all his ingenuity and resource, all his mental and 

 physical force to that end without too much regard to the risk of consequences 

 either to himself, his ship, or his men. He was not only alert and daring in battle, 

 but he had the temperament which makes the battle everything for the moment, 

 and which seems to develop instantly within the man who has all the qualities of 

 mind and heart that the battle demands." 9 "The actual moments of fighting 

 have for him an uncommon zest which showed itself plainly in his high spirits and 

 more intense mental activity." 10 



Like most hyperkinetics, Porter was very attractive to others. All of the 

 officers who served under him showed a personal devotion to him. 11 It is said 

 that, among other things, "his directness of speech, his independence of routine 

 and contempt for red tape, and last, but perhaps not least, his strong vein of boy- 

 ish humor, which he never took pains to repress all attracted the President." 12 



His books, which he seemed impelled to write, were not of "any marked 

 importance, for the admiral was not a man of letters but a man of action, and 

 he had no faculty of literary construction or expression." 13 



Executive ability. - - Porter had not only dash but also self-control enough to 

 plan and carry out details. "But that which distinguished him from others was 

 that ... he had to an uncommon degree those qualities of independent judg- 

 ment, boldness, energy, and tenacity combined with a rapid and instinctive stra- 



1 Soley, 1903, p. 48. Ibid., p. 472. 8 Ibid., p. 59. u Ibid., p. 258. 



* Ibid., p. 474. Ibid., p. 476. Ibid., p. 63. Ibid., p. 232. 



' Ibid., p. 478. Ibid., p. 40. 10 Ibid., p. 475. l3 Ibid., p. 463. 

 Ibid., p. 476. 



