Evening star., 1951-04-15
By Mortin S. Hoyden

North American Newspaper Alliance
An "insubordinate" old soldier.
now dead, once predicted that
one OF his court-martial judges
Gen. MacArthur-might himself
clash one day with Washington
interference"
That forecast, by Brig. Gen. VIII
liam (Billy) Mitchell, hiehlights
o rollback Of the news pages toI
1925 and the turmoil then when q
President ousted a popular officer
for speaking his mind" on ma
tional policy.
The checkback also shows that
individuals and political parties
have switched their oratorical
tunes since Gen. Mitchell and
President Coolidge starred in the
original performance Of today's
revived drama.
Like Gen. Macarthur. Gen.
Mitchell took 1t upon himself to
tell the public that Washington
was wrong on basic policy. His
insistence that air power should
rank equally with land and sea
forces first cost him his Generals
star and his place as assistant
Air Corps chief. When he per.
sisted and said the dirigible Shen-
andoah had crashed because both
the Army and Navy are guilty Of
incompetency, criminal negligence
and almost reasonable admins
tration of national Defense" the
fat was In the fire and the fight
was on.
With crowds demonstrating
wherever Gen. Mitchell appeared,
Mr.. Coolidge, on October 6, 1925,
went before an angry American
Legion convention in Omaha to
defend his action with q state
ment President Truman might
have this week repeated verbatim.
Public Opinion Paramount.
"Our institutions" Mr.. Coolidge
told the Legionnaires, ''are found
ed, not on military power, but on
constitutional authority. We areI
irreyocably committed to the|
theory Of government by the
people. We have our constitutions,
our legislatures and our courts
but ultimately we are governed
by public opinion. Our fore
fathers had seen so much of
militarism and suffered so much
from 1t that thy desired to Danish
1t forever.
''It is for that reason that anl
organization of men in the mill
tary service bent on inf1aming
the public mind for the purpose
Of forcing Government actionI
through the pressure of public
opinion is an exceedingly danger
Gus undertaking and precedent.
This Is 50 whatever form it might
take, whether 1t is for the purpose
Of influencing the executive, the
Legislature. or the heads of de-
partments."
Then, as now, the PRESIDENT
acted with the support of the
Nations top military leaders.
Twelve-six brigadier generals and1
six major generals, including
Douglas Macarthur, commander
then Of the Third Corps Area
sat in court-martial of Gen.
Mitchell for conduct Of a nature
to bring discredit on the military
service"
Gen. Mitchells defense grabbed
at another Coolidge statement
which Macarthur supporters might
well take UP today. Speaking at
the Annapolis graduation the
previous June, the President had
said:
The officers of the Navy are i
given the fullest latitude In ex-
pressing their views before their
fellow citizens"
In addition, Gen. Mitchell char
acterized his own court-martial
with these words appropriate for
adoption today by angry Congress
sional Republicans:
THE course of action taken BY
the War Department is designed
to prevent anybody from coming
out with the truth"
AS an angry public read avidly
the daily reports of the Mitchell
trial. Mr.. Coolidge, like Mr.. Tru-
man today, was handicapped by
support" from England. Pro-
Mitchell editorialists boiled over al
London Daily News comment that
Gen. Mitchell might help his
country by retiring to q nursing
home" The same editorial con-
cluded with q sarcastic question:
"How could any enemy airplaneI
carrier Withstand one broadside
from our dreadnaughts?"
The court-martial verdict-five
years suspension from the Army
which led to Gen. Mitchells resig-
nation, also touched off a Capitol
Hill protest In which one loud
voice was heard.
AS Senator Connally of Texasl
was aroused this week by the Mac
Arthur affair, so, a quarter cen