The Lincoln times., 1956-04-26
SENATOR
SAM Erwin
= SAYS =


ago Senator Richard B. Russell,
| Chairman of the Senate Com
mittee on Armed Services. ap-
pointed special subcommittee on
the Air Force and charged it with
this responsibility:
1T shall be the duty of this
subcommittee to examine into the
condition and progress of the De-
partment of the Air Force and
ascertain if present policies, leg
islative authority, and appropria-
tons are adequate to maintain a
Force capable of carrying out its
assigned missions.
Senator Russell appointed me
one of the members of this
special subcommittee The other
members are: Senator Stuar t
Symington of Missouri: Senator
Henry M. Jackson of Washington:
Senator Leverett SaltonStall of
Massachusetts,; and Sc n +
James H. Duff of Pennsylvania.
The subcommittee chairman is
Senator Symington. who served
with great distinction vera |
years ago as Secretary of the Air
Force.
OUR TASK
The Importance to the Nation of
the task committed to this special
subcommittee was emphasized this
week in an editorial in the Eve
ming Star, one of the outstanding
newspapers of Washington. This
editorial points out these things:
The Senate Armed Services
subcommittee headed by Senator
Symington has launched an in
quiry of great Importance to the
Nation. 1t is. in short, whether We
ale losing out to Soviet Russia in
the race for supremacy in military
air power T h Symington
committee has scheduled an ex-
haustive examination of qualified
opinions and pertinent data bear
ing on our own effort and on that
Of Soviet Russia. This study can
render a great service"
HEARINGS UNDERWAY
The subcommittee h as as
sembled a competent staff to aid
it in its inquiry and has begun
hearings. Thus far. General Wal
ter Bedell Smith. a distinguished
soldier and onetime ambassador to
Russia. General Omar N. Bradley,
another distinguished soldier and
onetime chairman of the Joint
Chiefs Of Staff, and Allen W.
Dulles. Director of Central Intel
llgence and brother of the Secre-
tary of State. have appeared be-
fore us and given us the benefit
Of their expert knowledge.
The statement made before the
committee by General Bradley
emphasizes the seriousness of the
task committed to us. After point
! ing out that "airpower has become
predominant, both as deterrent
| to war, and - in the eventuality
of war - as the devastating force
to destroy an enemy's potential
and fatally undermine his will to
wage war" General Bradle y
stated:
In the past. oceans constituted
a barrier to direct attack against
ctr boundaries. and we were able
I tC expand our giant industrial and
armed potential even after our
I entry into war. Thus. with the as
/ s!stance Of our Allies, we won two
/ conflicts: World War l and World
/ War II. There is no assurance
( that time will work for us in the
| future. In fact, indications are
just the opposite. There are many
reasons to believe that if World
| War III comes, the first attack
| will be launched al n t the
| United States. In the last two
World Wars, Germany made the
mistake of t art n g a war in
Europe into which we were ire
sistibly drawn. 1t is too much to
expect that a future enemy would
/ commit the same blunder. Unless
we can powerfully and deciSively
retaliate, we cannot hope to break
the enemy's might while we devel-
cp from a weak position to a
strong one -. One point should
be stressed: to be effective. either
as a deterrent, or as a defensive
factor, airpower must be In be-
ing
The statement of G n era
Bradley makes it obvious why ]
consider the task devolving upon
ME as a member of this subcom-
mittee the most important public
assignment ever given me.