Policy Sheet

ARMY & NAVY Policy Sheet

Last week Secretary of the Navy Claude Augustus Swanson,71-year-old Virginian, issued his first policy sheet for the U. S. Navy under Democratic rule. The last general statement of naval policy was made Aug. 4, 1931 by Secretary Adams but soon became a dead letter because of President Hoover's indifference toward the Navy. Now the Navy has a great & good friend in the White House--a fact which gave the Swanson Policy Sheet a new ring of determination, sent a thrill of hope and elation throughout the service. Like his predecessor, Secretary Swanson promised: "To create, maintain and operate a navy second to none . . . "To develop the Navy to a maximum in battle strength . . . "To organize the Navy so that expansion only will be necessary in the event of war . . . "To make foreign cruises to cultivate friendly international relations . . . ''To encourage the art of naval warfare." Familiar to all naval officers were such fighting phrases in Policy Sheets. They meant much or nothing depending upon administration. But new and different were Secretary Swanson's pledges: "To build and maintain a fleet of all classes of fighting ships of the maximum war efficiency and replace overage ships." (That meant that the Navy would use the $238,000,000 allotted it under the public works program to build 32 new men-o-war--cruisers, aircraft carriers, destroyers, submarines--to bring its strength up to the full limit of the London Treaty, make its "second to none" boast a reality.) "To assemble the U. S. fleet for a period of not less than two months at least once a year." (That meant that Roosevelt economy would not, as widely feared, curtail the Navy's war games.) "To further the development of two main home bases on each coast." (That meant that, on the Atlantic, Norfolk and Narragansett Bay and, on the Pacific, Mare Island at San Francisco and Bremerton near Seattle would probably be developed as the major navy yards at the expense of other shore stations.) What made Secretary Swanson's Policy Sheet mean more than it said was the man himself. As the longtime ranking Democrat on the Senate Naval Affairs Committee he knows more about the detailed operation of the department than most admirals. When he was appointed (because Mr. Roosevelt had promised Virginia a Cabinet job and Carter Glass refused the Secretaryship of the Treasury) few Washingtonians expected great things from him. But in four months he has proved himself a shrewd and aggressive naval chief who runs the department instead of letting the admirals run it. A good mixer, he has known most of them by their first names for years. His pince-nez slide down his long snipe nose. He wears coats two sizes too big. His felt hat is generally cocked at a raffish angle. For weekends he goes off on a destroyer to sniff salt air or visits the Hoover camp on the Rapidan, now in charge of marines. In his office he scorns details. When mail stacks up too high before him, he sweeps it impatiently into a basket, sends it out to his assistants with a: "Let 'em answer it." He is still troubled with bad spells of absentmindedness. Shortly after he took office, he consulted with a civilian who seemed to know a lot about the navy. When the civilian left, Secretary Swanson turned to his secretary and drinking partner, Archibald Oden, and said: "Say, Archie, that fellow would make a good Assistant Secretary of the Navy." Oden (startled): Why, that was Henry Latrobe Roosevelt you were talking to. Swanson (blankly) : Roosevelt? Who's he? Oden: He was sworn in as your Assistant Secretary of the Navy three days ago.

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