Evening star., 1945-11-21
Two Great Commanders

LiiquiSliiiiS tHelT ranking commands
IN the Army and the Navy, while
not unexpected, will nevertheless be
received throughout the country
with a sense of personal regret which
springs from a realization that our
debt to these two men is indeed a
great one.
1t is true, of course, that no war,
and least of all a war of the magni-
tude of that through which we have
just passed, can ever be said to have
been won by the efforts of one or
two men. Yet it is also true where.
as in this case, the dividing line be-
tween victory and defeat was finely
drawn, the competence of the top
commanders can have decisive inf1u-
ence, and in that sense, at least, the
free men of this country and of the
world owe more than they can ever
hope to repay to General Marshall
and Admiral King.
Any attempt at adequate appraisal
of the many-sided role which these
men played in the winning of the
Allied victory must await the his
torianS of the future. But there are
some things that can be said now
without fear that history will re-
pudiate them. Both men had the
prime essential of the good admins
trator-the ability to select compe-
tent subordinates and to delegate
authority to them. When Admiral
King became Commander in Chief
of the United States Fleet and Chief
of Naval Operations, the Navy, with
a two-ocean war on its hands, was
just beginning to recover from the
crushing disaster of Pearl Harbor.
Even to begin the long and painful
drive back across the Pacific re-
quired not only the finest strategical
Judgment on his part, but, If in
telligent judgments were to be
formed, the ability to free himself
of details by selecting the right men
for subordinate posts and holding
them accountable only for results.
If proof were needed that Admiral
King possessed this rare qualifica-
ton, one need only to look at the
magnificent record of the fleet.
Much the same thing was true of
General Marshall: It has been said
that he is this country's greatest
Chief of Staff, and there will be few
to dispute this verdict. When the
war came the American Army was
the merest skeleton of a military
organization. It was small in num-
Der and disgracefully poor in equip
ment. Yet, almost overnight as such
things go, it had to be converted
into a mass army, trained, equipped
and deployed for action all around
the world. There were many prob
lens confronting the Chief of Staff,
but the greatest was to find the men
to whom the command of troops
could be intrusted, the men who
could build an army from the raw
materials at hand and then lead it
into combat without the bloodletting
that so often attends the seasoning
of civilian soldiers when they have
to be thrown into combat against
battle hardened veterans. But Gen.
eral Marshall chose his subordinate
commanders wisely-so wisely that
the history of this war will not
record a single major defeat of
American troops after the loss of
the Philippines. Another of the
many achievements which history
will credit to General Marshall is
the creation, or dominant role in
the creation, of the Combined Chiefs
of Staff-the one agency which en-
abled America and Britain to pool
their military resources and fight
them free of political interferences.
There is now pending in Congress
legislation which would confer the
permanent rank of General of the
Army and Admiral of the Fleet on
these officers. Another bill would
authorize special medals for them
and extend to them an expression
of appreciation from Congress on
behalf of the country. The recog-
milton implicit in these proposals
is wholly appropriate and fully de-
served. There should be no delay
in pressing both bills to final en-
actment.
It is not possible in this space to
dwell at length on the abilities of
General Eisenhower and Admiral
Nimitz, who will succeed to the posts
of Chief of Staff and Chief of Naval
Operations. Nor is there any need
to do so. These men have fully
proved their competency in the
stern test of battle, and when they
take over the duties being relin-
quished by their distinguished pred
ecessors the sole question will have
to do, not with their qualifications,
but with the willingness of the
American people to accept their ad-
vice and give them the means of
providing for the defense of the