Evening star., 1949-03-06
Nine Years at the Front

AS the last member OF Mr. Roosevelt
war cabinet to leave public office, James
Forrestal can look back with considerable
satisfaction on the nine tempestuous years
he has spent in Washington.
One of the able civilians drawn into
public service by the imminence of war in
1910, he can claim something of record
for continuous action under fire. He had
not been here two months, as one Of the
Presidents anonymous secretaries, when
he was appointed to the newly created post
Of Undersecretary of the Navy. From that
time on, he was in the thick of it. He
inherited peacetime problems as exacting
as those which faced him at the height Of
the war and 1t Is tribute to his concep-
ton Of public service that he refused to
quit until he felt that he had given every
thing he had in starting what his success
sors will have to finish.
As mentioned In these columns last week
he has been the target Of wide variety of
attack from different sources. It would
be impossible for him to quit except under
fire unless, as Arthur Krock suggested in
the New York Times, he managed to out
live the generation of his critics. The
strong convictions made him a valuable
public servant, they also left him immune
to the sort of criticism that singled him
out as convenient whipping boy.
1t was not criticism, for example, that
made him change his mind on uniicatio-
of the services. 1t was a characteristically
objective appraisal of how the thing
worked. He has been one Of the principal
architects of unification from the begin-
ming, helping to shape the pattern Of COM
promise between bitterly conflicting ideas
and then trying to work out in practice
what seemed to be sensible in theory.
He still believes that unification can be
made to work as Congress intended 1t to-
provided advantage Is taken of the lessons
he learned during the difficult first year
and half Of integration. 1t is not Mr.. For
restal's fault that great deal of consoli-
dating yet remains to be done. The sur
prising thing Is that he was able to achieve
as much as he did with the limited au-
thority at his command. That the Sec
retary of Defense will have to be given
more control over his three departments II
the merger Is to be more successful be-
came apparent to Mr.. Forrestal months
ago. He found early in his assignment that
his statutory authority to exercise gen
eral" direction and control over the Army,
Navy and Air Force Departments was far
too general to be very effective Both he
and the Hoover Commission have recon-
mended that the Defense Secretary be
given direct and unequivocal administra-
tive control over the three branches of
the establishment. Congress should see to
1t that Mr.. Forrestars successors in office
are clothed with these powers.
Despite the setbacks encountered, MIR.
Forrestal has good cause to be proud Of
what progress has been made under his
forceful and skillful leadership since pas
sage Of the 1947 National Security Act.
With keen understanding of the respective
problems of the various defense arms and
with the tact and sound Judgment which
have distinguished him in the field OF
personal relations, he, almost single
handed, has brought agreement on nu-
merous major and minor points of inter-
service friction. Missions of the three
branches have been defined, strategic and
tactical roles clarified, economies have
been effected through merger of supply,
air transport and other services
As Mr.. Forrestal himself summed 1t up
in his first report, great progress has
been made in the building of "a firm
foundation for the future administration"
of the National Military Establishment.
His has been the chief hand In laying that
foundation.