Evening star., 1950-07-23

side of some specialized officials
who have dealt with the problems
of that little republic in the Fal
East. the overwhelming number
of American officials and tht
American public never dreamed
that we would be in a full -fledgec
war because of that country.
The State Department con.
sidered Korea a weak point. But
by providing it with consumers
goods and with sufficient funds tt
improve it's economy, it was hoped
Korea would eventually become
stronger and Self-Sustaining.
The general staff was less opti.
mistic. 1t had the information
that in the North powerful mill
tary} force was being organized
Our generals paid only perfume
tory attention, however, to what
was actually going on north OF
the 38th parallel. If Russia de-
cided to change the cold war into
a hot war they expected the eX-
plosion to come in Europe. in Iran
or in Turkey.
The specialists in the State De-
partment did not believe that the
division Of Korea into two areas
which was decided on at Yalta
and Potsdam, could last. Both
North and South were too inter-
dependent economically to exist
long divided, they believed. Their
eventual reunion was regarded as
a matter of time, dependent on
the outcome of the conflict be-
tween the U. S. S. r. and the
United States. Some of these spe-
cialistS had urged that we let ma
ture take its course and write of
South Korea eventually.
Military Cutback Hurt
The outbreak of hostilities in
volving American ground, air and
naval forces, shocked the Amer
ican people out of their sleep and
out of their belief that the Krem-
lin was blufing and would not
risk war against the potentially
overwhelming force of this coun-
try and its Western Allies.
We were providing those allies
with new equipment to organize
their forces into actual combat
teams which would roll the Reds
back If they dared show their
faces across the present bound
aries. Any how, everybody was
confident that the Russians would
not be ready to tackle the Western
powers for another few years. BY
that time we and all our asso-
ciates In the great crusade for
the maintenance of Western civil
iZation would be ready to meet
them wherever they chose to at
tack.
So optimistic was the admins
tration that war was a very re-
mote possibility that only two
months ago President Truman
stated publicly that the chances
for peace were better today than
at any time since 1916. In order
to make his statement even more
emphatic he announced that he
expected to reduce military ex-
penditures ever further next year.
Subsidies for potatoes and eggs
and other such important meas
ures for the welfare of the Ma
tion-and, incidentally, for the
capture of a majority at the No
vember elections-had to take
precedence over the building of
new tanks and other modern
weapons.
In order to increase the sense
Of security Of the 100000, 900
Americans, Defense Secretary
johnson added, for good measure,
that we were so well prepared
with up-to-date war implements
that If Russia attacked at 4 am.
we would be ready to strike back
ut 5 am.
At the same time In order to
perform his task Of reducing the
heavy military budget he an
nounced that he was trimming
the, fat from the armed services.
In doing so he overlooked the fact
that he was cutting of sizable
chunk Of lean meat-of the best
quality.
The strength Of the ground
forces was increased-on paper
from eight to 10 divisions. But
no new men were added to that
force. What actually happened
was that we took a number Of
trained men from the eight divi-
sions, thus depicting those forces,
and created two new divisions as
skeletoniZed as the others. We cut
material from the coat to patch
the seat Of the trousers.
Training Was Reduced
The Air Force, the cherished
child Of unif1cation of the fighting
services, which we were told would
win war in few days regard
less Of the strength of the ground
forces, was equally trimmed. The
10 air groups, considered a mini
mum for the defense of the coun-
try, were never approved, in spite
of the fact that Congress had
voted the necessary appropria-
tionS for such a force.
Congress was overruled by ex-
ecutive order. In order to save
money even the training of our
airmen had been cut down from
minimum of 20 hours a month
to only 8 hours, except in some
Of the strategic bombing units.
AS for the Navy, it has been the
intention of the civilians at the
head of our national defense to
do away with that branch of the
service, which was regarded as
obsolete as medieval archers. Why
spend money, the armchair strate-
gistS asked on fighting ships when
the Air Force could do the job so
much more cheaply and better.