Bush Praises Adm. Crowe for ‘Lifetime of Quiet Valor’

President Bush and the armed forces bade farewell Friday to Adm. William J. Crowe Jr., retiring chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who pioneered personal contacts between the superpowers’ military leaders.

Praising Crowe for “a lifetime of quiet valor,” Bush thanked the 64-year-old admiral for instituting “a series of ice-breaking visits” with his Soviet counterpart, Marshal Sergei Akhromeyev.

“That’s Bill Crowe,” Bush said at a ceremony at the U.S. Naval Academy, where Crowe’s career began 43 years ago. “A no-nonsense toughness, a resolve when it comes to defending America and a warm heart for what makes America worth fighting for.”

Recalls Soviet Tribute

When Crowe visited the Soviet Union last June, Bush said, a Soviet naval band paid tribute to the visiting American admiral by playing the “Star Spangled Banner.”

“Moments like that are rare, not only in the lifetime of men but in the lifetimes of nations,” Bush said.

Crowe, reflecting on the series of personal exchanges with the Soviets that he set in motion, called them “an opportunity to clear away some of the underbrush” of hostility and misperceptions built up by years of mutual suspicion.

“I instinctively believe that increasing military contacts between our two organizations is worthwhile,” Crowe said. “Every meeting I have with my Soviet counterpart, the environment gets better.”

At the same time, Crowe warned that it is “way too early to say (the Soviets) are going to be successful (with their reform movement), how fast they’re going to achieve it, or if they’re going to achieve it.”

Crowe said he had been reluctant to leave his post while the challenges of the world’s transition are still under way.

“We’re getting mixed signals, and that’s the trouble with transition,” complained Crowe, who earned a doctorate in politics at Princeton University during his naval career. “Everything’s in flux. It’s interesting, but it isn’t going to be easy.”

The Oklahoma native offered U.S. policy-makers a bit of homespun advice drawn from the lessons of the barnstorming wing walkers of fairground air shows. “Obey the first rule of wing walking,” he said. “Never let go of something until you’ve got hold of something else.”

On Sunday, Crowe turns over the chairmanship of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to Gen. Colin L. Powell, a 52-year old Army infantry officer who served as national security adviser to former President Ronald Reagan. Powell is expected to carry on the exchanges with senior Soviet officers, including a visit this fall to the United States by the chief of the Soviet Air Force, Marshal Aleksandr N. Yefimov.

Crowe’s retirement comes on the eve of a first-ever visit to the United States by a Soviet defense minister, Marshal Dmitri T. Yazov, who arrives Sunday in Washington. The Soviet defense minister’s five-day visit is part of a broad exchange of high-level military leaders set in motion by Crowe and Akhromeyev.

Crowe and Akhromeyev, who retired as chief of the Soviet general staff last spring, will continue to hold positions as senior advisers to President Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev.

In a recent television interview, Crowe called Akhromeyev, with whom he corresponds regularly, “a friend.” In a message to Crowe received Friday, Akhromeyev extended best wishes and reminisced about the work the two had begun in fostering better relationships between their armed forces.