Evening star., 1949-11-04
Public Sees BIunder
With Many Protests
Over DenfeId Custer
Party Leaders in House
Denounee Action; Called
Contempt Of Congress
By Datid Laurence

~ - ~~~s~s S'SS
When the majority leader and
the minority leader Of the House
of Representatives both declare
that q raw deal has been given
Admiral Denfeld, who was re-
moved as Chief Of Naval Opera.
tions because he ventured to ex-
press his convictions to the House
Armed Services Committee, the
public can rightly suspect that q
blunder has been made.
Representative M CORN c X -,
Democratic leader, was so indig-
nant when the news came out
that he personally telephoned
President Truman his protest.
Minority Leader Martin publicly
denounced the action as contempt
OF Congress because a witness was
punished for testifying before a
congressional committee.
The record of published COM
lnents by Secretary of Defense
johnson and Secretary OF the
Navy Matthews is evidence in
itself Of tactlessness and contra
diction.
Loyalty Questioned.
: Secretary Matthews, in his let
ter to President Truman, ques-
toned the loyalty Of Admiral Dem
field to his superiors. declaring
that there must be no twilight
zone" in loyalty.
Secretary johnson then de-
clared. in a telegram to the late
Representative Bates Of Massa-
chusetts. that Admiral Denfeld
wasn't removed because of his
testimony before Congress but, in
effect, because Of q lack of quail
f1cations."
Mr.. Matthews. In addressing
the admirals and other naval Of
ficers at the ceremony on last
Wednesday installing Admiral
Sherman A. the new Chief of
Naval Operations, paid tribute to
Admiral Denfeld and said that his
new post would provide an op-
portunity to round out his naval
career as q statesman as well as a
distinguished naval officer" He
added that it would keep his
valuable abilities available for the
best interests of the Navy"
How can Admiral Denfeld on
one day be "disloyap to his su-
periors and yet the next day be
entrusted with SO important post
aS commander-in-chief of the
naval forces Of the United States
in European waters? The lack
Of qualifications" to which Sec
retary Of Defense johnson refers
could hardly have been removed
and the valuable abilities to
which Secretary Matthews refers
repossessed overnight.
Small wonder that Admiral
Denfeld is in q quandary and has
taken so days leave within which
he will decide whether to accept
the new post or apply for retire
n1ent, as he Is entitled to do un-
der the law.
The admiral. however. is not
alone in being the victim of in
nuendo and slander. For Secre-
tary Matthews in. his speech at
the ceremony at which Admiral
Sherman was installed as the new
Chief of Naval Operations said
something which is being as wide
ly resented today as Gen. Brad
ley's recent charge that the Navy
doesn't want Ito hit the line un-
less it can call the signals" Mr..
Matthews pointedly told naval Of
ncers that they owe an obligation
to the Nation rs well as to the
Navy-as If they had not been
conscious of this obligation before.
Navy Misrepresented.
This Is hardly the right way to
speak to naval officers who have
risked their, lives for their coun-
try. The Navy today is the vic
tim Of misrepresentation of its
position In many quarters. Not
only have press dispatches called
the men who testified at the re-
quest Of the House committee
"rebels," but high officers of the
Truman administration claim the
naval officers are against "unif1ca-
ton" and against "the law of the
land"
The Navy has been and is in
favor Of unif1cation. What the
Navy opposes is attempted DOM
ination Of the armed services by
the Air Force. Domination by
one service. in the Navy view, is
not uniflcation but means disin-
tegration.
The unification law does not
authorize one service to carry on
4 campaign publicly or behind the
scenes to emasculate another serv-
ice in the name of strategic con-
cepts." There is no authority in
the law for two services to gang
up and tell q sister service what
weapons can be used in perform
ing the missions assigned to that
service. Yet that's what "unifica-
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