Defense Secretary's
(Editor'! note: Even Rob
ait S. McNsmara's foei con
code he it on of tha most
efficient and hard-hitting de
fense secretaries the nation
has ever had. But he has
come under fire in Congress
and the military on grounds
he is centralising too much
power under his title in dis
regard of traditional civil
ian and military concepts.
The issues are set forth pro
and con in the following
exclusive dispatch.)
By CHARLES W. CORDDRY
Washington - (UP!) - In De
cember, 1959, when he was a
senr.tor., President Kennedy
prophesied that the missile age
would require that the Army,
Navy and A"" Force be
merged into a "single serv
ice." He set 1965 as the probable
target date.
What is the status of that
prophecy today as knuckle
rapping Robert S. McNamara
completes 20 months as Ken
nedy's defense secretary?
This can be said: there now
is strong evidence that, under
the drive of the amazing Mc
Namara, the merger may be
nearing reality, whether or
not Congress and the military
like it.
With the blessing of Chair
man Carl Vinson (D-Ga.), a
House Armed Services sub
committee recently lashed out
at the former Ford Motor
company president's manage
ment upheaval with claims
"the groundwork was being
laid" for the very merger the
legislators oppose.
Little Debate
Strangely, however, there
has been remarkably little
public debate about it. Yet
such a gigantic consolidation
would be genuinely revolu
tionary in military history.
One reason may be the fact
that it is impossible now to
visualize what an enormous
one-tent military machine
would look like. There also is
no concrete proposal before
the people.
What is happening under
McNamara are periodic "re
forms" made administratively
and without risking the un
certainties of congressional re
form legislation.
The 46-year-old McNamara
simply says: "When I see a
way to do something better, I
do it."
He could add that most
times he does it so fast the
services and Congress find
themselves objecting to ac
complished facts rather than
proposals. Examples:
. . Military space operations
were concentrated in the Air
Force before the Army and
Navy knew what hit them.
And McNamara told members
of Congress they could end
their legal doubts about cer
tain agencies which he cre
ated, simply by passing a law
giving them statutory author
ity. There is little doubt that
most of what McNamara does
"better" results in still more
centralization, plus diminished
stature for the three service
secretaries and their depart
ments. Examples: He set up a de
fense intelligence agency
which absorbed many service
activities and personnel.
He set up a defense supply
agency destined to have 25,000
employees and a $20 billion
inventory.
He set up a new U.S. strike
command under the Joint
Chiefs of Staff. This combined
Army divisions and Air Force
tactical squadrons.
'Advice' Program
Tinged By Politics
Vienna-OJPH-The Communist I "How is it possible to hate
Radio Budapest has a form of!
"advice td the lovelorn" pro
gram although its questions
and answers sometimes take
on a political tinge.
The once-a-week program is
called "Human Problems of
Young People."
A young woman met an old
admirer in a Budapest street
car. Both then realized that
their love was "for real" but,
alias, the ex-boy friend had
married another in the mean
time. What to do?
"Turn down his request for
a date," was the Hungarian
Mr. Anthony's reply. "It I
might bring unhappiness to ;
the old flame's lawful wedded
wife."
Another listener, a young
woman of 22 married to a
man several years older, said
his six-year-old child from
wife number one was "poison
ing" her marriage.
The child had, the woman
felt, inherited the bad quali
ties from his drunkard moth
er. "Nonsense," the radio warn
ed. The woman was told she
must try to love the child if
only for the sake of saving her
marriage which could become
more precarious with the
passing of time.
McNamara "unified'' the
entire military budget, show
ing not separate categories for
the Army, Navy and Air Force
but allotments by function.
All this points toward an
eventual merger, no matter
what kind of label it was.
The "forms'" of the services
- separate uniforms, for in
stance - may be retained. But
the "substance" is being
steadily revolutionized.
Each defense reorganiza
tion, from 1947 on, has point
ed toward greater centraliza
tion, but no one can really
estimate how much McNam
ara has stepped up the process
or how far he win pusn u in
his tireless zeal for doing
things himself.
Behind this is a tenacious
conviction about the rectitude
of his own decisions.
Questions
The defense boss probably
is the first man in aviation
history to ask how much less
an airplane would cost if it
went two times instead 2.1
times the speed of sound. He
poses such questions to get
straight to the heart of the
matter on weapons costs. With
five per cent less performance,
the plane may cost 20 per cent
less.
Does all this mean that Mc
Namara's management of the
world's biggest enterprise is
finally leading to a merger?
In drawing a bead on the
secretary, the House subcom
mittee may have given a taste
of big controversy to come. Its
report said:
"The elimination of con
flicting views, the consolida
tion of functions, and the
down-grading of military de
partments may , . . eventually
lead to the adoption of a sin
gle defense concept. It is the
opinion of the subcommittee
that such a concept could be
disastrous if carried to its ulti
mate conclusion."
It cautioned thai the cen
tralization now going on could
make the defense system pon
derous and also spawn inde
cision in the lower echelons.
A case in point cited by
some critics is that the Ken
nedy administration has start
ed few, if any, new major
weapons projects. It has, how
ever, vastly steeped up pur
chases of existing weapons
and enlarged the forces.
Major Factor
As a senator, Kennedy
thought the major factor in
"real defense unification"
would be emergence of the
missile as the common weapon
of all the forces. But that was
before the emergence of the
phenomenal McNamara who
most usually moves faster
than a missile.
McNamara Is a 12-hour-a-day
doer. And he doesn't even
let small matters in the de
partment that will spend $40.3
billion this year, escape his
notice.
Critics, of whom former
Army Secretary Elvis J. Stahr
Jr., was one, assert that Mc
Namara more and more han
dles decisions once left to
service secretaries and mili
tary leaders. They argue that
the defense establishment is
too ponderous for only Mc
Namara and few other men to
run.
The secretary was born in
San Francisco. He was edu
cated at the University of Cali
fornia and Harvard Business
school. He taught at Harvard
and served as an Air Force
procurement expert in World
War Two. Afterward, he and
a group of Air Force col
leagues hired out to Ford Mo
tor company as management
a six-year old child anyway?
the commentator then asked, j
Political Problems j
Turning to the political ;
side, a 19-year-old youth who I
was an active Communist
Youth league participant said
his father-a very religious
man-was theratening to stop
supporting his son if he didn't
quit his political activities. j
The young man was caught
betwixt and between - father
or secretaryship of the local
Communist Youth league. He
had thus far been facing the
dilemma by calling the meet
ings only on the nights when
his watchman father was on
duly on the collective farm.
The radio column praised
the youth's attitude, especially
in his wish not to hurt his
father.
"A Communist Youth
league secretaary must be
first in the organization, also
in human behavior. And a
large part of that is made up
of love and honor towards
one's parents."
It advised the young man to
have a senior party member
or senior member of the col
lective farm speak to his fa
ther and convince him the son
had chosen "the right way."
specialists. Their talents earn
ed them the names "quiz
kids" and "whiz kids." In No
vember. 1960, McNamara be
came Ford's president. The
next month he left to join
President - elect Ken nedy's
then - forming New Frontier
cabinet.
Big Build-Up
There followed a big build
up of the Armed Forces-from
$43.2 billion of spending pro
posed by the outgoing Eisen
hower administration to $46.9
billion last year and $48.3 bil
lion this year. Military man
power was expanded from
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SECTION B MEDFORD,
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call 150,000 ready reservists
to active duty.
McNamara swiftly discover
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Concede He
OREGON, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1962 PAGES 1 to 12
ed that there was'no missile
gap with Russia as the Demo
crats had claimed during the
Eisenhower regime and that,
with what he had inherited
and what he planned, the So
viet Union could never knock
out America or block massive
retaliation.
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He presided over a shift,
but not a revolution, in U.S
strategy when the President
decided to bolster the conven
tional forces so that a greater
range of conflicts might be
handled without using nuclear
weapons. Meantime, the capa
city for massive retaliation
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continued to grow as the ad
ministration expanded orders
for concealable and mobile
missiles of the Polaris and
Minuteman type.
Like any man determined
to lead, McNamara quickly
plunged into controversies
with Congress. But even his
congressional foes regard him
as highly, if not higher, than
any of his predecessors.
Fought Senate
McNamara fought with Sen
ate "military muzzling inves
tigators ' and finally invoked
executive privilege to prevent
Pentagon censors from testily-
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ing on matters which he said
were his own responsibility.
McNamara also aroused con
gressional ire by persisting in
a reserve forces cutback and
reorganization that will still
cause trouble if he carries it
out.
His whole aim, he says with
monotonous repetition, is to
"develop the military power
that this nation needs as a
foundation for its foreign
policy, without any regard to
pre-determined financial lim
its, and procure and operate
that required level of power
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"I want issues approached
in just one way," McNamara
says. "I want no emotionalism
injected. I want no loose judg
ments, no misstatements, nr
omissions tolerated. I want a
clear statement of the alterna
tives, a clear statement of
the issues, and a complete
statement of the pros and cons
relating to those issues."
On that basis he reaches his
decisions and, as he puts it: "
expect everyone to fall in line.
You can't run a military or
ganization with divided authority."
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