Blast and Backlash

The American Legion, whose word was once law to the Veterans Administration, last week turned all its fire power on the stubbornly independent new boss. General Omar Nelson Bradley. Off to Congressmen went a bristling indictment of Bradley signed by the Legion's hefty National Commander John Stelle.

Said Stelle: the Veterans Administration was inefficient, far behind in its work; thousands of veterans were suffering physical and financial hardships because of its maladministration. The record showed a "tragic breakdown. . . . Unwarranted delays. . . . What we need in charge of the VA is a seasoned businessman, not a soldier, however good a soldier he may be."

Veterans reading the headlines blinked at the ferocity of the attack. Could Omar Bradley, the G.I.'s general and their hope for good and sympathetic administration of their affairs, really have let them down so badly?

General Bradley promptly gave Washington newsmen--and the public--ample facts from which to draw their own conclusions.

Stelle on the Telephone. Was it true, asked one reporter, that the General had a heated telephone conversation with the Commander a few days before the attack? Yes, there had been a talk.

"Was it heated?"

"Just before he hung up, he told me he was going to submit some kind of a statement to Congress. . . . He suggested that unless I could cut red tape faster, I'd better go back to the Army."

"Is it true that you had a scrap with Stelle about the placing of a hospital in Decatur, Ill. in his home state?"

"Yes--he wanted it placed on one side of the town. It was placed on the other side of the town after two surveys."

"Did Mr. Stelle say anything about your deficiencies prior to the final location of the Decatur hospital?"

"No."

Omar Bradley readily conceded that he was even further behind in some of his work than the Legion had charged. Awaiting admission to hospitals were 12,220 veterans (not 7,000, as Stelle claimed). Unprocessed claims for disability payments totaled 458,757. But there were ample reasons. Bradley's efforts to put veterans in 40,000 Army hospital beds had been stymied by the Army. The great majority of disability cases could not be acted on until the armed forces supplied data.

And there was one important figure which Stelle had failed to mention: in six months of Bradley's regime, the number of veterans had jumped from 6,688,000 to 13,490,000.

Political Potpourri? Other repercussions of Commander Stelle's blast gave him good cause to regret that he had ever pulled the pin. General Ike Eisenhower promptly pledged Bradley his support "anywhere . . . anytime." Other veterans' organizations rushed to Bradley's defense. Said the hustling, growing American Veterans of World War II (Amvets): "General Bradley has not been playing politics. . . . Before Bradley the VA was an American Legion political potpourri."

Then the worst of the backlash hit Commander Stelle. It was a statement from Commander in Chief (and Legionnaire) Harry Truman. Said his White House spokesman: General Bradley has done a fine job under difficult conditions; he has the President's complete, unqualified support.

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