Smith v. Robison

The superintendents of the country's two service academies--Rear-Admiral Samuel Shelburne Robison and Major-General William Ruthven Smith--journeyed to Washington last week. They went separately but in parallel frames of mind. A meeting between them had been quietly suggested by the Commander-in-Chief of the Army & Navy, President Hoover. The dignitaries obeyed the unwritten order but did not greatly relish the matter in hand.

President Hoover had been interviewed on the matter by Representative Hamilton Fish of New York, a Congressman whose chief claims to fame are World War soldiering and, before that, footballing at Harvard. Mr. Fish had concluded, as has many another citizen, that the dispute between the academies which has for two years prevented citizens from seeing the Army and Navy play football together was not only silly but unbecoming in both of the country's services.

The superintendents met in General Pershing's office at the State, War & Navy Building.* Each kept clear in mind his view of the bone of contention: The Navy like almost all U. S. institutions of college rank, limits its athletes to three years of collegiate competition. The Army allows members of its three upper classes/- to play irrespective of varsity experience a cadet may have had before reaching West Point. The Navy thought the Army ought to conform with the general rule. The Army thought the Navy was complaining because it had been beaten by Army so often lately.*

In the conference Admiral Robison, conciliatory, made three proposals: 1) gradual adoption of the three-year rule by the Military Academy; or 2) a four-year limit for West Point athletes; or 3) alternately playing two years under the West Point rule, two years under the Annapolis rule.

"What you're trying to get is parity, not eligibility," countered General Smith. "No school but Annapolis objects to our eligibility rule. . . . Army trusts Navy and feels hurt. ... I refuse to compromise on a principle."

Out from the conference strode the General and the Admiral, each accusing the other of stubbornness.

Straightway came statements from the Cabinet heads of the Army and the Navy, each supporting his officer.

Said Secretary of the Navy Charles Francis Adams: "The Superintendent of the Naval Academy assumed that the difference of opinion was an honest one . . . felt that both would have to yield to some extent. The superintendent of the Military Academy refused to compromise."

Said Secretary of War James William Good: "Forty-four percent of the 1,200 students at West Point have attended some other college or university. . . . Under the three-year rule, West Point would not have a student body from which it could muster a first class team and would be unable to play large universities like Yale, Harvard, Notre Dame, Illinois."

Representative Fred Britten, Chairman of the House Naval Affairs Committee, jibed: "West Point is afraid to meet Annapolis unless given a favorable handicap ... an example of the stubbornness of the Army mule."

After some reflection, Secretaries Adams and Good gravely decided to confer on the matter themselves.

Only two things seemed potent enough to bring West Point and Annapolis together in time for a 1931 football game: 1) an Act of Congress; 2) a militaristic command from Commander-in-Chief Hoover.

*The sumptuous suite formerly occupied by the Secretary of the Navy (before Wartime activities forced the Navy Department into temporary quarters on B Street) is now reserved for the Chairman of the Battle Monuments Commission, which General Pershing is.

/-First-year men ("plebes") are barred from football at both academies.

*From 1922 to 1927, Army won four, tied two, lost none.