Evening star., 1944-05-11
Quick Senate Approval
OF ForrestaI as NaV
Secretary Predicted
No Change in Policies
Expected; Production Will
Be His Chief Task
(Picture on pnUp AN
picture on Page A-4.)
By the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
l Speedy Senate approval was
predicted today for President
Roosevelt's promotion of Under
secretary James ". Forrestal to
be Secretary of the Navy.
At the Navy Department, where
Mr.. Forrestal had served with the
late Secretary Frank Knox for four
years, 1t was generally expected that
the main line of administrative poll
cies would continue unchanged.
Eighteen years Col. Knox's junior,
he will be one of the youngest men
in the Presidents cabinet
Mr.. Forrestal's chief task still will
be that of getting production and
delivery of ships, guns and supplies
on time, but to this he will have to
add the responsibility of being the
NaVy's principal spokesman to the
public, especially in advocacy of
such causes as that the fleet should
not be scrapped at the wars end.
Head of Production Task.
The production task was his whole
assignment as UnderSecretary. He
began work on it in August, 1910, in
a little back room of the Secretary's
suite at the time he was made Un-
dersecretary and had neither office
nor personnel to work with.
Not all of the 'front.' Office" posi-
ton may be to his liking, however.
A full burst of publicity brought on
by his nomination late yesterday
apparently has put him in this pre-
dicament:
Will his self-professed desire for
obscurity bear up under the weight
of so public an Office?
Mr., Forrestal's passion for ano-
nymity undoubtedly will have to be
forsaken now as he takes his place
as a top-tlight public official and
cabinet member.
In his response to public promi-
nence, in politics and in many other
ways Mr.. ForreStal stands in sharp
contrast to the man he succeeds.
Col. Knox was Republican; Mr..
Forrestal is Democrat. Col. Knox,
starting work as a newspaper re-
porter, was active in Journalism and
public affairs throughout his life.
Mr.. Forrestal, also a reporter at
first, went into business, developed
a buslneSsman'S desire for privacy
and emerged as leading figure in
his field only when he became pres
ident of Dillon, Read & Co., Wall
Street investment firm, in 1898.
Contrast to Knox.
Col. Knox was a great talker, an
outgoing man who coupled high
administrative abilities with con-
slant affability. Mr.. Forrestal, a
hard-driVing worker, is an econo-
mizer of words. He deals almost ex-
cluslvely in hard facts and insists
that those who work with him.
whether as admirals or civilian as
sociateS, deliver the facts concisely
and accurately when decisions are
to be made.
Friends and assistants describe
him, however, as extremely we'll
liked by the small circle of those
who know him we'll.
When he heard about plans for
the attack on the Marshall Islands,
at Kwajalein, early this year, he
called in his naval aide, Capt. John
Ginrich and said, Johnny, let's go
with them" They went. They had
two weeks on a battleship during
the action and they went ashore
on Namur ISlet into territory where
men still were being killed by enemy
snipers.
On the battleship. Mr.. Forrestal
had gun station like every one
else. One day a 5-inch shell Whistled
through the rigging directly over his
head He was up at 4:30 am. every
day and shared sandwiches and
(See FORRESTAL, Page A-4.)