Big Brain

The candid, flowing testimony of Lieut. General Albert Wedemeyer left the Senators more confused than enlightened.

Essentially, spare, studious Al Wedemeyer "was a MacArthur man. "We [are losing] a hell of a lot of boys," said he, "and we are filling a bottomless pit." He saw only two alternatives in the war in Korea: 1) fight it to the hilt, or 2) get out altogether. If the U.S. pulled out (he wasn't too clear about what would happen to the South Koreans), he would plunge into full mobilization at home, break diplomatic relations with all Communist countries, and confront Russia with an ultimatum. "I think the time is coming," he said, "when we will just have to draw a line and say, 'No more--this is it.' "

Contradictions. He testified one day that a truce in Korea at the 38th parallel would be "tantamount to ... defeat" for the U.S., yet said next day that if such a truce were offered, he would jump at it. He was emphatic in saying that the U.S. should be careful to work "under the aegis of the United Nations," yet he also said, "if they don't go along with us, I say we go alone." He took issue with the judgment of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on the whole broad strategy of the Korean war, yet advised the Senators: "I think that this committee ought to heed what they say very carefully. They are all very fine, competent men."

The nature of Wedemeyer's long and honored career in the Army helped to explain the peculiar quality of his testimony--sometimes bold, sometimes tentative, frequently inconclusive. A staff officer most of his life, Wedemeyer is a classic specimen of what the Army calls a Brain, an officer who is on speaking terms with history, economics and geopolitics, as well as with smaller military subjects. Every important Army unit needs a Brain almost as much as it needs a CO. Try though he did to become a tactical commander, Wedemeyer had devoted his army service to being a staff officer; eventually he got to be one of the biggest in the Army (between October 1948 and August 1949, when he was deputy Army chief of staff in charge of planning). His function was not to make final decisions (as a regimental commander must), but to lay down clearly all the ramifications of a situation and all the possible decisions, make recommendations for somebody else to choose from. Such thinking habits seemed to be guiding Wedemeyer last week.

A Greek's Words. In some respects, though, General Wedemeyer was the most refreshing of all the military witnesses who had appeared in the MacArthur hearing. He clearly had no ax to grind. He admitted freely that he had not always been right in the past. At one point, he said: "I don't believe the military has ever solved an international problem, nor will. It just expands, perpetuates and breeds hate and suspicion." When a Senator asked a puzzler, Wedemeyer would admit to puzzlement. "Senator," he told Oregon's Wayne Morse in one exchange, "that is a good question--you are asking damned good ones."

At the end of three days as a witness, Wedemeyer gave the committee a brief, well-put-together lecture on geopolitics. Its thesis: seize the initiative. For his punch lines, he went back to 351 B.C. and a speech by Demosthenes:

"Shame on you Athenians . . . for not wishing to understand that in war one must not allow oneself to be at the command of events, but to forestall them . . .

You make war against Philip like a barbarian when he wrestles ... If you hear that Philip has attacked in the Chersonese, you send help there; if he is at Thermopylae, you run there; and if he turns aside you follow him, to right or left, as if you were acting on his orders. Never a fixed plan, never any precautions; you wait for bad news before you act."

Forty-eight hours later, the retirement order he had previously applied for was issued at the Pentagon. At the end of next month, after 32 years in uniform, General Wedemeyer's active Army career will come to an end.

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