Slap for a General

Beefy Senator Bennett Champ Clark, isolationist from Missouri who voted against the extension of Selective Service four months before Pearl Harbor, paid a token installment on a political grudge against a top-flight soldier last week. He got the Senate to postpone its confirmation of Lieut. General Ben Lear's rank.

Clark said he still resented the "yoo-hoo" incident of two years ago, when Lear disciplined the 35th Division's (Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska) Quartermaster regiment. But there was more to the grudge. After the 1941 maneuvers Lear had the thankless job of overhauling his command, and one of the heads to roll was that of 61-year-old Major General Ralph E. Truman of Missouri, cousin of Missouri's junior Senator Harry Truman. Statesman Clark denounced Ben Lear from the Senate floor.

This time no one seriously doubted that Bennett Clark, having had his swat, would have to let the confirmation slide through.

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