He was present at the August 4, 1964 Gulf of Tonkin Incident, spent 71⁄2 years under torture as a POW in North Vietnam, later became President of The Citadel, and eventually ran for Vice-President of the United States with Ross Perot heading the ticket.

When Stockdale's husband James was shot down in 1965 over North Vietnam, the U.S. government had a "keep-quiet" policy, asking relatives of POWs to not raise a fuss about mistreatment of prisoners.

[2] The Nixon Administration had ended the "keep quiet" policy and allegations of torture of U.S. prisoners became fully public, with Sybil a forceful spokeswoman.

[2] In 1970, Stockdale, along with her husband's 1992 running mate, H. Ross Perot, testified before the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Four Medal of Honor recipients and seven former prisoners of war attended the ceremony that marked a milestone in construction of the 9,200-ton ship named for her late husband.

In the book James and Sybil Stockdale wrote alternating chapters describing their experiences of the Vietnam war.