Three-in-One

Referring to the merger brawl between Army & Navy brass hats, Harry Truman had said that they would all be in the same boat when he sent up a message. Last week, the President launched his boat, and sure enough they were all in it--but it flew the Army's flag. Ex-Artilleryman Harry Truman's plan:

One Department of National Defense, headed by a single Secretary; under him an under secretary and several assistant secretaries to take on whatever assignments are necessary "from time to time."

Three "coordinated branches," each with an assistant secretary, for land, sea and air (the Navy to retain the Marine Corps and its "carrier, ship-and water-based aviation").

A chief of staff of the Department (an Armyman, a Navyman and an Airman, in turn); a commander for each service.

A permanent staff composed of these four military chiefs, serving (like the war-emergency Joint Chiefs of Staff) as advisers to the Secretary and the President.

Dumfounded Navy. The President's plan shocked the Navy into silence, shocked the Navy's good friend, Congressman Carl Vinson, into frenzied cries that it smacked "of the Kaiser, of Hitler and of Japanese militarism." The President's plan, with the notable addition of the three assistant secretaries for land, sea and air, was the same plan presented by Lieut. General Joseph Lawton ("Lightning") Collins* (TIME, Nov. 26).

By what line of reasoning had Harry Truman arrived at his conclusions? In a message to Congress, neatly ghost-written by his special assistant, Judge Samuel I. Rosenman, the President explained: "We should have integrated strategic plans and a unified military program and budget . . . the economies [of] unified control of supply and service functions."

He believed in "coordination between the military and the remainder of the Government" and in a "military policy . . . completely consistent with our foreign policy." He wanted also to coordinate industrial resources, scientific research and centralized intelligence.

Civilians Supreme. Opponents had argued that merger would mean a "derogation" of civilian authority, but Harry Truman took the opposite view. To his way of thinking, civilian secretaries of separate departments tend to become the partisans of their respective services; final decision consequently devolved upon the uniformed Joint Chiefs of Staff. Civilian control would be strengthened under "one Cabinet member with clear and primary responsibility for the exercise of that control." Said the President: "The American people . . . need have no fear that their democratic liberties will be imperiled so long as they continue fulfilling their duties of citizenship."

"Other Steps." If Congress adopts his recommendations, the Army will get virtually everything it asks. Air power will get the parity it has sought, since "its responsibilities are equal to those of land and sea power." In a last-minute change, the President agreed with Army airmen that the Navy should be stripped of its land-based search planes.

Will the plan give Harry Truman what he wants? How would his plan coordinate "the military and the remainder of the Government?" He admitted that "other steps" would have to be taken after the unified military establishment had been set up. Navymen claimed that the Navy's proposed National Security Council made those steps in one stride. But Harry Truman did not choose to pay even lip service to any Navy proposals.

*Who last week was named to head the War Department's enlarged Division of Information.

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