Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1950-09-14
Gen. Marshall Called
The Right Man for
The Wrong Job
Should Be Named Head
Of Joint Stoff Chiefs,
CoIumnist Contends
By David Laurence

By David Laurence
President Truman has called
back to service the right man-but
for the wrong job.
Gen. Marshall should have
been appointed chairman of the
United States Joint Chiefs of Staff
rather than Secretary of Defense.
For the United States Joint Chiefs
Of Staff are primarily responsible
for the debacle in Korea.
To put Mr.. Marshall. former
commander of our armed services,
in a civilian job to receive advice
from a Joint Chiefs of Staff whose
military knowledge and experience
in global operations are no less
than his own Is to throw confusion
into the whole defense establish
ment.
Just where does the civilian
Judgment and military influence
of Mr.. Marshall begin and end?
Where does the military judg-
ment of the United States Joint
Chiefs of Staff begin and end?
What is the line of demarcation?
How can Gems. Collins, Vanden-
berg and Bradley. who served as
subordinates under Gen. Mar
shall, tell their former superior
what they would tell him If he
were a civilian official of the
Government, as Congress intended
the Secretary of Defense to be?
Prowess Is Military.
General Marshall is a military
leader with an estimable per-
sonality. No one in public life
in recent years has earned as
much respect or won the affec-
ton of so many people inside and
outside of official life in Washing
ton as has George Marshall. But
his prowess is military. and it
was never intended by Congress
nor is it in keeping with American
tradition-that civilian control
over the military establishment
should be surrendered even in
time of crisis.
The Constitution designates a
civilian and not a military man
to be the COMMUNICATIVE Chief of
our Army and Navy. What is
happening today is that President
Truman, sensitive to criticism
because he has fallen down on
his own job. is trying to overcome
that criticism by selecting a man
to whom he now will virtually dele
gate his post as Commander-in-
Chief.
This may satisfy political re-
quirements for a few weeks be-
fore the Congressional elections,
but it will not last long as a
solution. The new set-up will
demoralize the Army, Navy and
Air Force on the civilian side.
For how can the Secretary of the
Navy, the Secretary of the Army
and the Secretary of the Air Force
match their Judgment of what
ought to be done in civilian mat
tiers related to defense if the boss
is a military man who tells them
what to do? 81 qq.
President Truman could have
appointed Gordon Gray, former
Secretary of the Army. to be Sec
rotary of Defense and Gen.
Marshall to be chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff. That would
have been an ideal set-up. Few
civilians who have served at the
Pentagon have the practical knowl-
edge and breadth of vision pos
sessed by Mr.. Gray. The President,
on the other hand, might have
selected for the defense post
Representative Carl Vinson of
Georgia, Democrat, who is chair
man of the House Armed Services
Committee, and who knows more
details of the defense problem
than any other man in Washing
ton. So it wasn't for lack Of
material that Mr.. Truman turned
to Gen. Marshall.
Likes to Delegate Power.
The President likes to delegate
to cabinet officers complete power
and divert attention from his own
shortcomings. Then, when they
make mistakes, as did Louis john
son, he lets them take all the
blame for decisions which, in
the final analysis, he should have
made himself.
Secretary johnson did make
serious mistakes. This CORES
pendent in the past has pointed
them out. But, so far as Korea
is concerned. Mr.. johnson is the
scapegoat for the mistakes made
by the United States Joint Chiefs
of Staff who by their votes scut-
tied the Marine Corps, scuttled
the overseas bases needed for Far
Eastern operations and spent so
billions in the last four years on
a narrow theory-a risk that the
only way wars would be fought in
the future would be from the air.
The error in concept which has
upset Americas defense program,
demonstrated in Korea, was not
that of Louis johnson. It was
the strategic concept of the United
States Joint Chiefs of Staff, domi-
mated by Gems. Bradley and
Vandenberg, which has been
found wanting.
To put Gen. Marshall in as
Secretary of Defense is perhaps
to solve some delicate problems
in the relations between the De-
tense Department and the State
Department and to make easier the
proposed abandonment of China
to the Communists. But it will
not bolster the morale of the three
civilian secretaries who are now
made subordinates of military
man. Nor will it aid the broad