Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-01-22
ABS MILLION, SURPLUS


biggest campaign with the largest
Joint task force Of land, sea and
air power ever assembled. (The
only man known to have challenged
Gen. Eisenhower running Of the
European war was Gen. Douglas
Macarthur. who criticized his former
aide for taking such heavy man
power losses In an alleged excess of
frontal aSsaultsJ
Gen. Hidgway is the first Eisen-
hover critic who has been on the
inside. He has had access to all
Of the intelligence of the Soviet
threat. And he has a flawlesS mill
tary record Of his own.
Since Gen. Ridgway became
Army Chief OF Stan In the Eisen-
hover Administration. Army man
power has been cut by Q third, to
! million men, and spending has
been reduced by halt. to SIS billion.
Were Cuts Too Deep?
Army men admit that some re-
duction was justified after the Ko-
rean war, but claim the slashes
were too deep. We now have 10 d.
visions. only IL Of which are ready
for combat. The Army says 1t needs
many more active divisions. because
its missions have been steadily in
creased even while the manpower
was declining.
Not even one Of the divisions now
in readiness could be flown with its
heavy equipment to the scene Of a
brushfre war. The Army believes
1t needs both strategic air mobility
(enough air transports to move sew
eral regimental combat teams or
bigger units swiftly anywhere on
the globe) and tactical afr mobility
(helicopters and other low-fiying
craft in which the Army can get
about a battlefield quickly. with i'm
proved perspective). Neither Of
these needs has impressed Presi-
dent Eisenhower enough to stay the
hand that Yields the budget knife.
The Ridgway attack came last
Tuesday. It was launched on both
a personal and a professional level.
directed not only against President
Eisenhower but against his top de-
Tense advisers, Defense Secretary
Charles E. Wilson and Joint Chiefs
Of Staff Chairman Arthur w. Rad
ford.
Its principal impacts were two:
First, the Presidents veracity and
motives were questioned. Second,
the concept Of relying on atomic
weapons as a compensation for heavy
manpower cuts was challenged.
verocity
Gen. Ridgway questioned his
superiors' veracity on two counts:
. jos Unanimity, President Ell
senhower had told the Congress
in person--in his 1854 state of the
Union message that THE defense
program recommended for 1855 :.
is based on new military pro-
gram unanimously recommended
by the Joint Chiefs Of Staff" Gen.
Ridgway wrote last week he had
most emphatically not concurred"
in the program to cut Army man.
power. Republicans used Mr.. Ell
senhower's statement widely in the
1854 of year election campaign to
silence those who doubted the wis
dom Of big cuts.
o Budget making procedures. Sec
rotary Wilson and many others in
the administration have always
commended that military force levels
we're set first and budgets were
made to At them. Gen. Ridgway
says the sequence was the other
way around--that spending ceilings
we're set FIRST and force levels were
made to Mt them.
Motives
n Gen. Ridgway impugned the Eli
senhower administrators motives
In two passages. ~
Q Force cut, u He said force cuts
were made for "advantages to be
gained In the fieid of domestic
politics byBa drastic reduction in
military expenditures
Q Pressure. He protested that Elm
cessant pressure was brought to
bear on me. seeking to persuade
me to make my views conform to
preconceived politico military
party line"
The former charge Is one that
no other man Of Gen. Ridgeway's