Milford chronicle., 1943-10-01
Milford, Friday, October 1, 1913

term in the White House because
it would be unwise to swap COM
manders-in-chief in the middle of
a war is heard frequently these
days.
Usually it is put forward by
Office holders who want to stay
on the Federal payroll and who
believe that. for them, the best
form of job insurance would be
the reelection of Mr.. Roosevelt.
For the same reason they could be
counted upon to favor a fifth and
sixth and seventh term.
But the argument has taken a
certain superficial plausibility
which might influence some un-
thinking voters who are not feed
ing at Government trough. So let's
back off and take good long look
at this commander-in-chief busi-
ness and try to figure out what it
really means.
There isn't any doubt, of course,
that the President is really the
commander-in-ch That is spe-
Gifted by the Constitution. If he
chose to do so, Mr.. Roosevelt to-
morrow could take command of
American forces in Italy or in the
Southwest Pacific; he could board
any American battleship and take
personal command of the entire
United States fleet.
But-nO President in all Ameri-
can history has ever taken person
al command of the armed forces in
the field and it was never intended
by the trainers of the Constitution
that any President should do so.
In the first place-with such
very few exceptions as Washington
and Grant-Presidents usually do
not have the technical qualifica-
tions for active command of arm
les or fleets. 1t is no disparagement |
of Mr.. Roosevelt to say that he is
no exception to that rule-he sim
ply was not trained as an Army
or Naval officer any more than he
was trained to be a surgeon-and
one profession is just as technical
as the other
In the second place, even in the
case of a President who possessed
the requisite technical qualifica-
tions for active command, there
would be little likelihood that he
would tako to the field in time of
war because he would have plenty
of other duties to occupy his tai
ents in Washington. Most certain
ly that situation prevails with re-
spect to Mr. Roosevelt today and
will prevail with respect to who
ever may be President after jan
uary, 1945.
In the third place the cOnstitu-
tional provision making the Presi- I
dent commander-in-chief had one
very definite purpose-to make ,
sure that the military should al :
ways be subject to the civil gov ,
ernment of the United States. The \
men who framed the Constitution :
had seen too many instances of the +
dangers caused by irresponsible i
power; by the rule of the T
man on horseback. v
They were seeking to prevent
for all time in the United States
such evils as are illustrated in
Japan today, where the Army and u
Navy are independent of the civil 1
government and responsible to the o
alone (meaning, in prac- e
lice, that the emperor is a puppet n
Of the war-loards). q
So firmly intrenched and so per- II
5istently adhered to has been the u
tradition against military domi- Ii
nance that only a very few pro- s.
'essional military or naval officers D
lave been elected to the Presidency u
md only a small handful have been 81
appointed as Secretaries of War or n
he Navy. X
The provisions making the Pres
dent commander-in-chief was not u
Intended to make the President a IL
soldier-it was in ID
ended to make the professional D.
oldiers subservient to the civil VI
ower. ID
Hence it is highly unlikely that 81
change in Presidents resulting "
rom next years election would IL
ave any appreciable effect upon "A
he military direction of the war. oi
/ is true that the President must
lake final decisions on problems Ju
+ grand strategy. But it is equally al
rue that he makes those decisions 10
n the advice of qualified military e'
nd naval officers. nj
tn
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