Moving Their Cheese | Yitzhak Klein
What’s the proper relationship between professionals in government bureaucracies and their elected officials? First, a relevant anecdote:
In July 1938 President Roosevelt, concerned by the rising threat of war in Europe, invited his senior generals and admirals to the Oval Office to discuss what America should do to prepare. The President put forth his proposal: “We need to build 30,000 airplanes!”
Like puppets on a string, the brass hats assembled around the table nodded up and down. The President hath spoken . . .
One senior officer was not present. The Army Chief of Staff was out of town on official business. To represent him he sent his Deputy Chief of Staff, who sat on a sofa in a corner of the office.
Now, Deputy Chief of Staff was no big deal. Despite the title, the Deputy was expected to act more like an office manager than the number two man in the Army hierarchy. The rank appropriate to the job was brigadier general, one star. Even in 1938 Washington swarmed with brigadier generals; they were a dime a dozen. Before adjourning his meeting Roosevelt, as an afterthought, said, “Well, the Deputy Chief of Staff is here, let’s hear what he has to say.”
And the Deputy said, “Well, Mr President, I don’t think that would do at all.”
Jaws dropped. Heads turned. This guy contradicted the President in his own Oval Office! That’s it for him – he’ll finish up his career in charge of distributing Army mail in Alaska.
In a few trenchant sentences the Deputy Chief of Staff explained that the United States didn’t possess the military airfields to hold 30,000 aircraft, or the crews to fly and maintain them. Better to use the money to develop all the elements necessary to have, not planes but an air force capable of doing harm to an enemy. And the same went for the Army ground forces as well.
The Deputy’s name was George Catlett Marshall. Twelve months later Roosevelt promoted him over the heads of dozens…
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