Evening star., 1950-09-07
The Political Mil
Truman Apology Seen
As q GoIIing Experience
Yet He Did Not Back Down
On Stund on Stuff Chiefs
The Political Mil
By Gould Lincoln


President Truman has made a hand
some apology for his intemperate Ian
guage, contained in his now famous letter,
picturing the Marine Corps as the Nays
police force and asserting 1t had
propaganda machine almost equal to
Stains" His apology was contained in
letter he handed to Gen. Clifton B.
Gates, commandant Of the Marine Corps,
at the White House. The President,
however, did not back down an inch
on his opposition to having the Marine
Corps represented in the Joint Chiefs
OF Staff. He did say. however, that he
was certain the Marine Corps itself
"does not indulge" in propaganda to
bring about such representation. Further
than that he did not go.
The incident of the letter to Repre-
sentative McDonough. Republican. Of
California. who had written the Presi-
o place in the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
created for "a hours a furor in, the
Capital. Mr.. Truman was denounced by
members Of Congress, and those who
did not join in the denunciation wore
long faces-and did not rise to his de-
fense.
His apologists, however. said that the
President was irritated when he wrote
his letter to Mr.. McDonough and there
fore should be excused. Many man
in public life has spoken in anger and
regretted 1t. Few of them have an OPP
portunity to make a second statement
that obliterates the first, and it is ques-
tionable whether Mr.. Truman's letter to
Gen. Gates will close the incident so far
as the public is concerned. Many will
consider that the apology was literally
forced on him by the volume Of criti-
cism.
It is difficult to understand why Mr..
Truman should have been so angered
or irritated by the entirely respectful
letter which was written him by Repre-
sentative McDonough of California.
urging that the Marine Corps be given
representation in the Joint Chiefs of
Statf-and it is going to be even more
difficult to convince the American
people that the feelings the President
expressed regarding the Marine Corps
do not reflect his own ideas.
The incident has been played up as
a political "boner." Republican mem
bers of Congress were quick to seize
on it and seek to discredit the President.
His Democratic followers were tongue
tied. They could not take up the cudgels
for Mr.. Truman without making politi-
cal issue of the Marine Corps, which
would have been most unfortunate for
the Democrats. The country thinks
too highly of the Marines and their
fighting history down through the years.
Any Democratic candidate for Congress
this fall who undertakes to support the
President and his letter to Representa-
tive McDonough will be in hot water.
It's a safe bet that none will. Mr..
Truman is not himself a candidate
this year.
Intimates Mystified.
Democrats close to the President and
to the White House insist they are
mystified. They do not understand, they
say, how Mr.. Truman could have written
such a letter, especially when the
Marines were in the hottest of the
fighting in Korea. They speak mourn
fully and with regret.
In some quarters it was suggested that
the letter had been penned by an as
sistant and the President had signed it
without giving it due consideration. The
President in his letter to Gen. Gates,
however, gave no such impression. On
the contrary. he gave his reasons for
opposing Mr.. McDonough's recommends
ton regarding the Marine Corps. Also.
he set forth the duties of the Marine
Corps explicitly instead of calling it
merely the police force of the Navy. The
trouble is that the kind of letter he wrote
to Gen. Gates is the kind of letter he
should have written to Mr.. McDonough.
Probably no one regrets more than Mr..
Truman that he did not. AS it is, the
President has had CALLING experience.