Evening star., 1945-11-12
Frantic Publicity Seen
Part Of Merger Drive

F0Tr OF merger Drlve
Observer Questions. Attitude Of
Hurry in Incessant Pressure
By Dapid Laurence
II one were to drop into Washington
from far-on land out OF communica-
tions with the rest Of the world, one
might get the definite impression that
the Allies have just lost war due to
failure to have single department Of
defense In the United States. and that
there Is another war just around the
corner.
Something of panic seems to have
seized large number of our military
leaders and stats In the Army, Navy
and Air Corps. It's a panic that pre-
sents phenomenon wholly unparalleled
in so-called postwar periods of our his
tory.
Having been given billions of dollars
OF the taxpayers money to fight the
war, and being accustomed to things on
q large military scale, 1t is perhaps diff
let go Of their wartime spending habits
and reconvert themselves to something
normal, hitherto called peacetime.
Ever since We day there has been a
frantic reaching for publicity, with in
cessant pressure on the public and on
Congress. The big parades of generals
and admirals, for instance, were spon-
taneol1x celehro fio,,r so F.~ -. A. -
serving people were concerned but be-
hind these events were the big publicity
machines of the armed services. The
purpose-other than to extend deservd
recognition for job well done-was con-
sidered legitimate, toto build UP the
prestige of the generals and admirals so
that names of the military spokesmen
would be big enough to impress Congress
and the country when they talked to
legislators and the press.
Air Publicity Heavy.
The Army Air Forces have been most
energetic In presenting their case in
pamphlets and booklets and reports with
four-colored printing and fancy maps
and drawings, all calculated to prove
perhaps that, while the infantry and
artillery or even the Navy incidentally
had something to do with the war, it
was really won by the Army Air Forces
In Europe and in the Pacific.
If one looks through these supposedly
impartial surveys of how we won the
war, he finds perhaps few sentences
devoted to the other armed services and
999 per cent Of the wordage devoted to
a boast Of how that particular service
won the war.
The publicity campaign isn't intended
to glorify any one Individual. 1t isn't
really personal. As a matter of fact,
these military men back of the drive
sincerely believe they must get Congress
to continue appropriating billions SO as
to save the country from the horrors of
another war in which America may be
caught unprepared. They pay lip serv-
ice to the United Nations Charter be.
cause that's tactful. They speak con-
temptuously of the atomic bomb as not
having won the war. If the Air Forces
had been allowed to do 1t, says Maj. de
Seversky-one of their spokesmen sent
abroad by Secretary Patterson to con.
duct surveys on what air bombing did
why the Army Air Forces, of course,
could have won the japanese war with
out the atomic bomb.
Irksome to Navy. ~
!. AL this irks the Navy men, who think
they really had something to do with
winning the big bases from which the
AAF few their planes, including the two
planes with the atomic bombs. There
are some cemeteries with white crosses
on Tarawa, Saipan, Guam Two Jima,
Guadalcanal. New Guinea and the Phil
ippines where lie the ground troops of
the Army and the Marine Corps who
paid with their lives to capture objec-
tives needed by the AAF.
Today the publicity drive is being
concentrated on the idea of a single de-
partment of national defense. The
Army and the Army Air Forces want
It, The Navy does not. As matter of
fact, there Is merit in some phases of
the proposal but this has been obscured
to large extent by suspicion voiced
in Navy Department circles that the
whole thing is just scheme to give the
De Seversky school of thought complete
control Of strategy and planning, and
that 1t means the scrapping of battle
ships, cruisers, destroyers and aircraft
carriers and the reliance of the United
States on the AAF to dominate the
single department of defense.
Disunity Feared.
Anybody who goes to the Navy De-
partment and talks five minutes on
this subject with officers can feel the
hostility and suspicion, and also hear
expressed sincere fear that far from
improving our defense setup, We shall
wreck it by disunity and disregard for
tho specialization of the Navy and
Marine Corps.
But the innocent observer will won.
der: What's the hurry, is another war
imminent The War Department
spokesmen insist on immediate action
and accuse the Navy of wanting to
delay decision. It's hurry, hurry, hurry,
as If the danger were next week or
year. Surely Secretary Byrnes of the
State Department hasn't indicated that
We are on the verge Of another world
conflict. As for the boys still tn the
Pacific and In Europe, they want to
come home to peaceful America.
Is the slowness Of rehabilitation due
to the preoccupation of some of our
military leaders with programs for de-
Tense to fight imminent wars, or is the