Evening star., 1951-10-19
The ForrestuI Diaries
Trumun Reelected, Defense Chief Stoys,
But His Future at Best Is Precurious
q. Twilight Of. q Career

I Il. Twilight Of. q Career
| (Not until a week before the
1948 election does the Forrestal
diary record any intimation that
the Republicans might not, after
all. be the certain winners. And,
whatever the voters might do,
Mr.. Forrestal seems to have
considered his own public career
approaching an end, although
there was much unfinished
business. A letter of this time
puts very well his concept Of
the larger problem)
| 1S October, 194S.
+ TO ROBERT E. WOOD.
There are no easy black-and
white solutions for the problem
which face this country. How t
secure the formation of capita
necessary to our plant replenish
ment, how to secure a tax system
which will provide the incentiv
land the opportunity for the indi
vidual acquisition of capital, no,
to balance between a military or
ganization sufficiently formidabl
to give any other country reason
to stop, look and listen, without a
the same time its eating eur ma
tional heads off-these are seq
Iments Of a very complex matte
which must trouble any citizel
who understands it. -.
(Mr. Forrestal, who under
stood very keenly. had now been
wrestling with these great COM
plexities for over eight exhaus-
tive years. He had been expect
ing probably automatic solu-
ton for the always vexing
dilemma about resignation, un-
der which he would go out
gracefully with a defeated ad-
miniStration. Now, when the
voters unexpectedly reelected
Mr.. Truman on November 2 and
restored the Democrats to power
in Congress. his own position
was draStically altered. In his
differences with the President
and the Budget Bureau his hand
had been greatly weakened; he
had antagonized important
groups. including the Demo-
cratic politicians who resented
t his refusal to participate in the
party battle; the newspapers
soon began to predict that he
would not be in the cabinet
when the President reformed
it in January. and the problem
of whether to go or stay became
acute.
Forrestal Tours Europe.
"a week after the election Mr..
Forrestal took of on a flying
trip through Europe. He saw
most Of the leading statesmen;
got a new sense of the impor-
tance of speeding Atlantic union
and military aid, and was ''in-
creasingly impressed by the fact
that the only balance that we
have against the overwhelming
manpower of the Russians, and,
therefore, the chief deterrent to
war, is the threat of the imme-
diats retaliation with the atomic
bomb"
(The year before he had en-
tertained substantial misgiv-
ings" as to whether the Air
Force could get through to de-
liver an effective atomic attack;
though nothing was certain, he
now believed that it could do so.
After just a weeks absence he
was back in Washington. The
President was then at Key West
on a postelection vacation. Mr..
Forrestal asked for an inter-
view: on November 18 he few
. down for a luncheon conference
and was back again the same
evening.
tMr. Forrestal's diary notes
make no mention of this con-
ference. According to his asso-
ciates he had gone with the idea
OF settling the whole question of
his continued tenure of Office.
but decided on the way to leave
1t to the President to bring up
the subject, and this the Presi-
dent did not do. The matter
was not even mentioned; and
certainly Mr.. Forrestal did not
get the firm request that he re-
main in Office, together with the
assurances Of appreciation and
support, for which he perhaps
hoped and to which many think
he was entitled. Nevertheless,
he decided to "stay on" at best
a precarious course.
with his return to Washing
ton the diary undergoes rather
marked change and soon dwin-
dies away to little more than
the daily appointment calendars.
These, on the other hand. grow
only heavier: the correspond
ence files more fluent, more
exigent, as Mr.. Forrestal labored
to conclude the budget problem,
to get through the changes he
was proposing in the National
Security Act Gin the direction
of assuring somewhat firmer
authority to the Secretary of
Defense) and to complete the
other tasks on which he was in
volved.
Truman Views on Election.
(The diary does include two
poSt-mortem notes on the elec-
ton, both of Interest,":
26 November. 1913