REF ID:A43153 

U)~~ 

\4~.\0 

~e~. Marshall Called This Changing. W or Id 

The Right Man for Dangerous ~recedent Seen in Revision. 

Th W J b 'Of Security Act to·Give Marshall Post · 

e . fORg 0 B;, Coutanti-. Browtt after he ftr.lshed hls Job in World 

Shoultf Be ~.a med ·Head 

Of Joint Staff Chiefs, 

Columnist Contends 

War n. It wu his &ense of duty The maJorlt.7 of C01111'ess, Uke to his commander In chie! which 

the rest of tbe countrJ, indorses prompted hb to accept the thankheartll7 President. Truman's se- Jess-task of special IUl'bu.sador to 

lectlon of Gen. Ma.rsball u Sec- China. ":"he same 11t:nse of dul;J 

retarJ of De- induced mm to be:;ome Secretarr 

-B:v ·Darlitl Larllf'Ht:• f~ wave of of_ State for a short time. . · · · · _.,_. ltl 1 of . When Gen. Marshall left the · -President Truman has c ........ er c am state Department he had every 

back to service the rilht m~-but Louis Johnson's reason. to expect that he could 

for the Wl'Olll Job. ad :minlstratlon spend the rest of his clays quietly 

Gen: Marshall should have of~~ dep~ and away from new and heavy re-, 

been appointed chairman of the men recm sponsibWtles. Again !t was Presi-

'D'nlted States Joint Chiefs of Stair :::=a~~:'~ dent Truman's pressing request 

rather than SecretarJ of Defense. of tb which persuaded him to abandon I 

J'or-the 'D'nlted States Jomt Chiefs the rants e · his rest and accept the burdenof .~taff are prim.a~ responsible ~r:lecdhf~ some job as Secretary of De!ense. 

for the. debacle in Korea. Johmon fre- Gen. Marshall did not seek. his 

To put Mr. Marshall, a former quently handled new Job, _any more than he sought 

eomm•nder of our armed ae"ice~, w Ith a heavy the PoSitlon as special ambassador - 1n a civilian Job to receive advice hand c:.u&aatlu Bnwa to China or as Secretary of State. 

from a Joint Chiefs of Staff whoae whoa the passage of an am.end- But while all this 1s true, amendmlllta.rJ' knowledge and expertenee ment to the National Securlt.7 Act ment of tbe National Security 

1n global operations are no less to permit a memHI' of the armed Act, to permit members of the 

than bis own fa to throw confuaion forces to head the Defense De- armed forces to head the Defense 

Into. the whole de!ense establish- partment ls taken for granted, Department, ls. fraught with danment. . because of Gen. Marshall's pres- ger, unless Congress changes the 

J'Ullt where does the clvlllan tige, m&DJ' Congressmen wonder law evel'J'f;lm.e a new· secretary 1a 

3udlment and mWtary !n11uence whether It fa wise, particularly in appointed. 

of Mr. Marshall begin and end? these troubled times, to change 11Ur&"es" In 'lime of Stress. 

Where does the mWtary jud1- one of the fundamental principles Insofar as 1s known there are ment of the United States Joint of the law. no genera.ls or admirals. 1n the 

Ch!efs of Staff basin and end? "'Man on Bonebaek'' 1',eared. 'D'nlted States who have tendenWhat fa the line of demarcation? The National Security Act was cies toward Political dlctatorlhlp. 

Bow can Gem. Cqllins, Vanden- one of the most hotly debated But such "urges" appear 1enera]ly 

berg and Bradley, who served u piecu of les!slatlon when It was in times of great. national stress, 

1ubordlnates under Gen. Mar- presented to Congress bJ me ad- when things are going very badly 

aball, t.eU their former superior :minlstratlon. There were long for the country. 

what they would tell him tt be and well-thought out dfsc1Li11ons, Bfstory In other pai'ts of the 

were ·a clvllian o11lclal of the both 1n committee and on the world shows that some dictators 

OcWernment, u Congrea Intended ftoora of both hOU1e1. have been the best-intentioned and 

tbe Secretary ~ of Defense to be? The provision that ne o:IDcer most patriotic of men. Tbey sin1a Mllltarr. could be appointed Secretary oJ: cerel)' believed they were acting 

General Marshall 11 a mWtlu7 Defeme unless he had been re- unsel11shly and for the good of 

leader with an estimable per. tired from the armed forces for .their countrJ. While a civilian 

IOUllt.7. Mo one 1n public life at 1eut 10 1ear1, wu Jrut into the would have cWDcult;v lining up the 

tn recent . :rears hu earned aa law with the sPecUlc objective of armed forces beblnd him, the 

much rupect or won the attec- preventing a "man on horseback" SPlrit of dfsc1P11ne in all branches 

t.tOD of ID ml.DJ' people indde and from tbreatentns the democratic of the military service would comoutllde of cd!lclal life in Washlns- Institutions of this country· pel them-in the hypothetical 

t.on u hu Georp Jlarsball. -But It was an lm~ortant safeguard event of • coup d'etat-to follow 

i..1. 

~ - fa mnt•·- and 1t 1nlerted Into a law which Con- one of their own comm.anders. ,. ..... ~ _,,, sreu had reason to believe WO\'lld · · ~never Intended bJ' Conll'UI--: remain on tbe lJDited states .It was this very remote _poaaar II It 1n keepins with Amerlc&n statute boob for a Ions time It slbWt;v which decided our lawtracU*lml-that cdvilian eantrol was the Intention of both the •

1..-. makers to put -into the law the over the mllltlu7 establlshment fsJatlve and the executive braaches very de1lnite and .formal problbilhould be llUl'l'endered even 1n of the IJOV8l'IUDeDt to avotcl the ttcm that no military man could 

t.tme of ~ - Po181blll'7, however remote, that a head tbe armed semces unless he 

Tbe Constttuttcm deslgna~ a hlsh·ranlcfns omcer, who could had been separated from the erolvlllan and not a mll1tlu7 man command the obedlence of the vice for 10 years. · to be the. Commander-In-Chief of armed :forcu, IOD18 daJ would be- It will thus be necessary for 

om: Arm:J' and ~aVJ, What Is- come tile foremolt PGWer In this Congress to revile ra.d.1calbr ·the 

happenllls todQ-fa that Prealdent counv, National Security Act of llM'l to 

Truman, : aenaltlve t.o criticism. This tbousht does not ·appq to enable President Truman to ap- beaaUBe he has fallen down on Gen. llaDbaJI, of aoune. The point Gen. Marshall as Defense 

his own Job, fa fiZJ'!ns to cmircom.e wartime Arm)' Chlel of staft had secretary. This ma1 estabDsh a that · "11.tlclsm. bJ' ll!leat1ns a man hoped to lta7 out of the llmellsht dangerous precedent. to whom be now wm. Wrtaa]ly dele- · pt.a bis .poet u CObqllander-ID· Chle:f. . 
REF ID:A43153 

Tb11 m1.1 1at11t1 JJOHtlcal n· 

Qulrement.a for a few weelrl be· 

fore the Congreulonal electlcme, 

but It wW not last lOJll u a IOlutlon. The new 1et-up wW 

demoralize the ArmJ, Na'IJ and 

Air Poree on the civilian llde. 

Pot how can the BecretarJ of the 

NaVJ', the Secreta.l'J' of Ult Arnt1 

and the secretary of the Air Poree 

match their Judgment of what 

ought to be done In civilian mat- , 

tera related to defense if the boul' la a mllltaey man who tel.Ill them 

what to do? 

President Truman could have 

•PPointed Gordon Grqr, former/ 

Secretary of the Army, t.o be Sec· 

reta.ry· of Defense and Oen. 

Ma.rllhall to be chairman of the 

1 

Joint Chiefs of Sta.ft'. That would 

have been an Ideal aet-up. ll'ew 

cMllana who have served at the 

Pentagon have the practical knowledge and breadth of vision Polaeued b:v Mr. Gray. The President, 

on the other hand, might have 

selected for the defense p0st 

:Representative Carl Vinson of 

Oeorlla, Democrat, who II chair- man of the House Armed Services 

Committee, and who knows more detallll of the defense problem 

than an1 other man In WMhlnst.on. So it wun•t '°' lack of 1 material that Mr. Truman turned· 

to Oen. Marshall. ~ 

Llkm to Dele1aCe Power. 

The Pnllldent likes to delegate 

to cablllet omcera complete power 

and dlY81t attention from ·hll own 

tllOrtaamlnla. Then, when theJ 

mate Dllatake1, as did LouJI JohnIOD, he let.a ·them take all the 

ldame for decisions which, In 

tbe b-1 anaJ7111, he lhould have 

made himself. · . BecretarJ' JohlllOJl did make 

Mrloua mlltaku. Thia corres- pondent in· the put bu p0inted 

them. out. But, so far as Korn 

ii concerned, Mr. Johmon la the 

llCapetoat for the mistakes made 

b1' tbe Unlted Sta.tea Joint Chiefs 

of Staff who by their votes 1euttled tile Marine Corpa, acuttled 

t&e overseas bales needed for Par 

ZUtern operations and 1pent 80 

bllllona fn the last four J'l!arl on a narrow theory-a rlak that the 

ODlJ' Wf.'1 wan would be fought In 

the future would be from the air. 

The error In concept which has 

UPlet .America's defense p1·ogram, 

dem.onatrated In Korea, wu not 

that of Loula Johnson. It was the atrateglc concept of the United. 

Stat.ea Joint Chiefs of Staff, dominated by Gens. Bradley and 

Vandenberg, which hu been 

found wantJng. 

To put Oen. Marshall In as Becretar:v of Defense Is perhaps 

to solve some delicate problems 

in the relatl.ona between the De-

:fenae Department and the State 

Department and to make easier the 

proposed tiandonment of China 

to the Communists. But it wUl 

not bollter the morale of the three 

civilian secretaries who are now 

made aubordlnatel! of a military man. Nor will It aid the broad cauae of unlflcatlon under clvillan 

control. It Is a mistake that can be rect1tled onl:v by maldnc 

Oen. Marshall the mlllta.rf head 

of our armed aervlcm, where he 

ean serve be.st. 

U Congre.u amends the Jaw 

permitting a military man to con- trol our whole defense set-up, lt 

will be setting a precedent that 

WW PIUUe .America for 1eneratlonl. 

Oluroduetlon Rlsllt1 Re1erYed.) ·