Evening star., 1950-04-23

is that Mr.. Finletter will follow
MI. Symington's line: Agree to
"a 48-group force now on the
grounds that the economy cannot
stand more; keep plugging for a
70-group armada as a minimum
safe air defense of the United
States. He will make known his
latest views within a few weeks.
Secretary Finletter. Sc, was
never a flyer. In fact. like Presi-
dent Truman. he was a field artil-
lery captain in World War I. But
he was never with Mr.. Truman's
famed Battery D, 129th Field
Artillery, 35th Division. Mr.. Fin
letter served i'm France in the
312th Field Artillery. 10th Divi-
sion.
The changes in the defense set
up. incidentally; place an Army
veteran in charge of the Air
Force and an Air veteran as Sec
retary of the Army. Frank Pace,
jr., the new Army Secretary,
served in the Air Transport Serv-
ice during the last war.
Came From Philadelphia
Mr.. Finletter is the Psonaand
grandson Of judges of the Court of
Common Pleas in Philadelphia,
took his law degree at the Uni
versity of Pennsylvania and then
moved to New York to practice.
He has been a partner in the firm
of Coudert Bros. He has written
number of articles on legal sub
jects. Politically he is a liberal
Democrat.
The new Air Secretary is a
teetotaler. but he drinks coffee
almost by the gallon. He is a
fairly consistent cigarette smoker.
He Is a conservative dresser who
likes to sport gray shirts.
He has q considerable sense of
personal privacy, which, in the
glare Of the Washington spot
light, he may find difficult to
maintain. He enters Office with
the attitude that his personal life
certainly is not public property,
although he will be open and
frank about Air Force business.
Mr.. Finletter is a relentless
reader and somewhat of an au-
thority Of history. He wouldn't
read an abridged version of Toyn-
bee but insisted on plowing
through the six-volume original.
He reads several newspapers a
day, clips them. and then throws
the clips away.
An expert in the field of inter-
national economics, Mr.. Finletter
served from 1941 to 1914 as a
special assistant to Secretary Cor
dell Hull, in charge of the State
Departments Economic Division
that acquired strategic materials
for this country and kept them
from the enemy by diplomatic ne
gotiations and preclusive buying.
He was consultant to the Amer
ican delegation at the founding
of the United Nations in 1945.
Praised by Hoffman
In 1948, the Government again
called on Mr.. Finletter to become
head of the United Kingdom mis-
sion to the Economic Cooperation
Administration. Although he ac-
cepted this task, Mr.. Finletter had
asked that he be permitted to
resign after six months to re-enter
law practice. He served for a year
instead. ECA Administrator Paul
Hoffman praised his work as "a
most valuable contribution to the
European Recovery Program"
Last fall he became one Of a
three member commission to ad-
wise ECA on issuing guarantees
permitted American motion pic
ture companies to convert into
dollars part Of their foreign cur
rency receipts.
Mrs. Finletter. whom Washing
tonians describe as gracious and
charming, is a well-known writer
in her own right. Under the name
of Gretchen Finletter, she has
contributed to several national
magazines.
They have two daughters, both
married and living in New York.
They are Mrs. John F. B. Mitchell,
whose husband also is q lawyer
but who is not associated with his
father-in-law, and Mrs. Cass Cam
field. jr., whose husband is In the
publishing business.