Time Out

George Marshall had borne up well under the sustained pressure of his big jobs. He did not smoke, drank very little, took good care of himself. But last, summer, he found that he tired easily; he submitted to his first thorough physical checkup since Pearl Harbor. The doctors found cysts in one kidney. An operation would be necessary.

But despite the backaches he suffered, Old Soldier Marshall insisted upon postponing the surgery. He was afraid that it might affect the election, also he had a date at the United Nations meeting in Paris. Last week, home from Paris, he finally took time out for the doctors. At Washington's Walter Reed Hospital, they removed the kidney. Next day, he was sitting up, working in bed, hoping to be back at his desk in January.

Everybody knew that George Marshall, who would be 68 on New Year's Eve, yearned for retirement. But President Truman, who knows a number of persons who are ticking along fine with one kidney,* was optimistic about the Secretary's health and in no hurry to name his successor. If Marshall left, however, there was no doubt of his own choice. It was Under Secretary Robert A. Lovett, of whom he had once said: "Lovett is a better Secretary than the man they have now."

Another who hoped that Marshall and Lovett would stay was Michigan's Republican Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg, their statesmanlike collaborator. Last week he wrote to the New York Times: "While men are never permanently indispensable, Secretary Marshall and Under Secretary Lovett come close to it for the time being . . . whether we agree with them in all things or not."/-

*One of them: Wayne Coy, former assistant director of the Bureau of the Budget, now chairman of FCC.

/- The Committee on Women in World Affairs last week urged the appointment of Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt to succeed Marshall, if he retires. Asked if she would accept, Mrs. Roosevelt said: "I think that's all too silly to discuss. I hope Secretary of State Marshall will not retire--for the good of the country and the good of the world."

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