Troubleshooter's Exit

For more than six years, W. Stuart Symington has been a tireless troubleshooter for Harry Truman. He has handled four mettle-testing Washington assignments since Truman brought him in from St. Louis in 1945 as Surplus Property Administrator. Last week, with a casual shrug of the shoulders, Truman dropped the word that he will accept Symington's resignation some time this month. Truman didn't seem to care.

Industrialist (Emerson Electric Co.) Symington has never been a Truman yes man. As the first Air Secretary, he fought the Army, the Navy and the President, insisting on a 70-group Air Force.

Symington went on to head the National Security Resources Board. That made him a member of the National Security Council, where he argued for a more active U.S. policy in opposing Communist aggression.

Last spring, when the odor of influence-peddling and political loans in the RFC finally penetrated Truman's nostrils, he called Battler Symington in as the cleanup man. Symington fired employees who had become entangled in the influence web, and opened loan files to public scrutiny. When he decided that the world's tin producers were gouging the U.S., he slashed the price the RFC would pay for tin. This brought cries of anguish from Bolivia, and got Symington into an argument with the State Department. Now that Symington is leaving, the Bolivians hope to win the argument (see THE HEMISPHERE).

Stu Symington's battles were accompanied by disappointments. He hoped to be named Secretary of Defense, later aimed at the top mobilization job, which went to Charlie Wilson. After the Truman shrug last week, Symington said: "A man . . . ought to go back to private life some time and regain his perspective; he ought to get out of Washington and get his feet on the ground again."

This week, Harry Truman formally accepted Symington's resignation and named his successor: Harry A. McDonald, chairman of the Securities & Exchange Commission, former Detroit investment banker, a Republican.

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