Talk:Frank Freyer

"Naval" Governor

What is the difference between a "regular" Governor of a territory and a "Naval Governor?" Where is this distinction spelled out in Wikipedia? Thanks. Student7 (talk) 01:32, 18 January 2011 (UTC)

I don't really think that I can point to a place on Wikipedia where any distinction is spelled out; the real reason I refer to them as "Naval Governors" is because reliable sources refer to them as such. For example, Guampedia, a source run by the University of Guam and written by experts in the field of Guamanian history, refers to this specific era as one of "naval governors" and distinguishes between them and territorial ones. Other histories of the island also use the term, as in "first naval governor", etc. かんぱい！ Scapler (talk) 07:04, 18 January 2011 (UTC)

Not having read the refs, do they share power with territorial ones? It seemed to me that they did not; that whatever governance Guam had, was performed by this governor. I can't imagine what status they held over "naval" facilities except maybe as the equivalent of "District Commandant" or something. But what would the civilians do in the meantime? Really a peculiar title IMO. Student7 (talk) 22:38, 18 January 2011 (UTC)

My understanding is that the governors concurrently held the positions of Governor of Guam and Commandant of Naval Base Guam. The real difference that I can see is that, as opposed to the current elected governors and the later Presidentially-appointed civilian governors, these Naval Governors were actually appointed by the Secretary of the Navy. かんぱい！ Scapler (talk) 23:00, 18 January 2011 (UTC)

!! (lightbulb). Sounds good. Thanks. Student7 (talk) 18:27, 20 January 2011 (UTC)

I noticed that some, maybe not all, of these "naval governors" were "acting," including Freyer. I wonder if indeed they should be labeled and counted as governors, in numeric order, at all? Student7 (talk) 18:31, 20 January 2011 (UTC)

Well, ironically, some of these "acting" governors served longer than the officially appointed ones, and given the nature of a military governorship, they exercised as much authority in the position as those who got the appointment order from the Secretary, and while they were never "appointed", either command structure or temporary orders did actually land them with the position of commandant/governor. Really though, I am just defaulting back to outside sources again. All of the histories of Guam (woefully few) that I have found detailing the governors include these men in the list of governors, including those lists that are numbered. かんぱい！ Scapler (talk) 23:32, 20 January 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for all your research.

Just discovered that most of the governors until WWII were navy, including one LTCDR! So hardly any civilians except at first and then virtually none until after WWII when it was treated more like a commonwealth territory than a naval base. Student7 (talk) 20:02, 22 January 2011 (UTC)