Evening star., 1947-07-28
The Right Mon for the Job


1t is doubtful that any American is as
we'll qualified as James " Forrestal to
become the Nations first Secretary OF
Defense and to inaugurate the history
making military reorganization to be
carried out under that new office. 1t is
because of his unique equipment in this
sense that the President appointed him
and that the Senate, in the closing hours
before adjournment. confirmed the
evidently the selection merited a
unanimous Endorsement.
This is so not simply because Mr..
Forrestals record as Secretary of the
Navy is an exceptionally fine one, or
because his gifts as sound policy
and vigorous executive have been amply
demonstrated More important than any
such consideration is the fact that prob
ably no man in America knows as much
as he does about the so-called military
merger bill that has now become law or
about the difficulties to be overcome and
the pitfalls to be avoided in putting it
into effect and administering it.
In this connection, it is worth remem-
bering that when the unification proposal
was first made, Mr.. Forrestal became one
of it's severeSt and most effective critics.
Fearful that it might lead to an over
jealous and mistaken submergence of the
Navy and to other hasty and ill-considered
action, he drafted Ferdinand Eberstadt to
draw up an alternative plan, whose sub
stance is contained in the legislation
finally adopted by Congress and dramati-
cally signed by the President on Saturday
1t is obvious, therefore, that in naval
circles Gncluding the Marines, where
there has been much distrust of the whole
undertaking, Mr.. Forrestals elevation will
be decidedly reassuring. Moreover, wholly
apart from its significance in terms of
the Navy's morale, it is the kind of
appointment that will have the con-
fidence of the new departments of the
Army and the Air Force, each of which
along with the Navy-will be run sepa-
rately with it's own secretary of non
cabinet status under the overall, co-ordi-
mating direction of the Secretary of
Defense Mr. Forrestals interservice
reputation is such a good one that there
can be little or no doubt about the will
ingness of all branches to cooperate
Fundamentally with him.
Another happy aspect of the appoint
ment is that Mr.. ForreStal is a strong
advocate of co-ordinating military policy
with foreign policy instead of letting the
two operate at cross purposes, as has
happened in the past. His views in this
respect parallel those of Secretary of
State Marshall. and they augur we'll for
the future effectiveness of the National
Security Council the most significant and
most promising of the new offices created
by the merger" legislation. With the
President as a member ex-officio, the
Council will be made up of the Secretaries
of State, Defense, Army, Navy and Air
Force, together with the chairman of the
National Resources Board. 1t will meet
regularly, it's main purpose being to insure
the integrated efficiency of our armed
forces.
1t will be impossible, of course, to put
all this unprecedented machinery into
smooth working order overnight. Under
the Secretary of Defense, the separate
services will have to feel their way slowly
at first toward system of closely linked
operations, and errors OF one kind or
another must be expected. But with Mr..
Forrestal heading the project, the right
man will be on the Job to keep those errors
to a minimum and to make sound and
r-reaching start on the new type of
security that America must have in the
age of the atom.