Evening star., 1945-04-14
A Great War Leader
BY Maj. George Fielding Eliot

land and Iceland. In July japanese ag-
gression in French Indo-China brought
the cutting of of oil supplies to Japan.
In August the dramatic mid-Atlantic
meeting between the President and
Prime Minister Churchill electrified the
world and brought new hope to millions
of hearts.
The actual coming OF war-with the
treacherous Japanese attack on Pearl
Harbor-found this Nation better pre-
pared than for any other war in our
history. We were not, of course, fully
prepared, or even we'll prepared. But
comparison with the past shows how
much had been accomplished by the
foresight and determination of the
President
AS Commander in Chief, the Presi-
dent was Immediately confronted by
the necessity for a fundamental de-
cision: Should the power of this country
be thrown first against Germany, or
against Japan? Obviously we could
not divide our forces, or we risked defeat
everywhere by trying to be strong every
where. This basic military principle, we
may thank God, the President under
stood. He chose Germany as the most
dangerous and the nearest enemy, and
events have proven that he chose
rightly
At the same time. 1t was necessary to
coordinate our efforts with those OF
our British Commonwealth Allies, and
for this purpose there was created
largely at the Presidents instigation-
the most successful agency for the
higher conduct of an Allied war that
military history records: The COM
bined chiefs of staff, which from then
oA, almost without friction or disagree
ment. has directed the employment all
over the world of all the resources and
power of the American and British
Nations as though they were one. Unity
of purpose and effort. implemented by
unity of command, is the key to victory
in war That lesson. too, the President
understood and applied.
He chose his military leaders we'll. and
he supported them with answering
loyalty. Never in our history have our
armies and fleets been so ably COM
manded from the very outset OF war.
Never have we had such an unbroken
record of victory piled up on victory
as we have in this war, after our first
dismal setbacks in the Pacific. That
the President was wholly the author
of these victories, he would be the
last to wish that any one should assert;
but he made them possible by mis- wise
choice of leaders, by his clear under
standing of the basic principles OF
strategy. and by his ability to mobilize
behind the fighting forces the full re-
sources of the American Nation.
Now, in the very hour of victory over
his most dangerous foe, in the bright
promise of victory in the Pacific as we'll,
our great war President is taken from
us. The God who has watched over the
destinies of this republic from its earliest
davs has, in his infinite wisdom, thought
best to call his servant home to rest.
But the republic lives on. 1t lives be-
cause it is. and has always been. greater
than any single man. 1t survived the
loss of Abraham Lincoln in another
hour of victory and trial. 1t will survive
the loss of Franklin Roosevelt in this
strangely similar hour.
Lincoln gave his life that the Union
might be preserved: he died before he
knew that from the wreck of war
a stronger and more enduring Union
would arise. Franklin Roosevelt gave
his life that a greater union-a union of
all peace-loving peoples to achieve peace
and guard the hard-won heritage of
freedom-might rise from the desolation
of more terrible war than Lincoln ever
imagined. He, too, died before he saw
the fulfilment of his vision. To us who
remain behind. he left the heritage and
the responsibility of that vision, that
bright hope from which his purpose
never turned aside.
He gave us victory. We shall not fail
to harvest the fruits of victory-the
Just and enduring peace which shall
forever be his shining monument in
the hearts and memories of freemen
throughout the world.
tCopyright, 1a451