Act II

The second act of the MacArthur hearing was as different as George Marshall is from Douglas MacArthur. Drama, the arresting statement of position, the philosophy of the bold course, all left with MacArthur. The creased, freckled face of George Marshall wore an almost unvarying expression of troubled concern; his painstaking manner was not the kind to draw crowds close to the footlights. The knots of onlooking Senators melted away, leaving the 26-man committee to do the job. But history still hung over Room 318 in the Senate Office Building.

Marshall testified carefully, sometimes ploddingly; often he consulted his counsel, who sat at his side, or the mound of documents piled before him on the witness table. Often he avoided questions, referring them to the Chiefs of Staff or the Secretary of State, just as Douglas MacArthur had moved around questions with the explanation that they were not in the province of a theater commander. There was an added reason for Marshall's dogged caution: MacArthur had been speaking for himself alone; Marshall was spokesman for the Administration and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and he had to be careful on opinions which the others might not share.

Blue-Penciling. At first, Senators were irked at Marshall's frequent recourse to lengthy off-the-record confidences. But gradually they seemed to realize that they were being told just about everything; by week's end they were so stuffed with hot information that some of their own questions had to be censored. "We are entering doors that have been barred, we are unlocking secrets that have been protected in steel safes," said Chairman Russell. "I have lain awake at night. Even the public record has carried some material which strikes me as dangerous." The censor's blue pencil had struck from the public transcript about 2,800 of MacArthur's words, some 6,600 of Marshall's.

George Marshall, like MacArthur before him, was treated with five-star deference. Only Wisconsin's Alexander Wiley got sharp and personal with him. Two other Republicans, California's Knowland and New Jersey's Smith, spent about a day strafing Marshall's 1945-46 mission to China, but were always polite about it.

Quarterbaclcing. Marshall himself, with soldierly rectitude, resisted all opportunities given him to criticize MacArthur personally. Once, when fed a question about MacArthur's judgment in launching the ill-fated Yalu offensive, Marshall commented tartly on "Monday quarterback-ing." "It is awfully easy to tell what is the right thing the day after," he said.

After six straight days on the stand, George Marshall's 70-year-old frame sagged a bit and his voice was fading. "He sounds just like I feel after I have been talking for four or five hours at a stretch," said Fulbright. The hearing record had already swollen to about 401,000 words. And there were still weeks to go.

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