Decision

In undershirt with suspenders down, Carl Spaatz, announced a soldierly decision last week: no politics--he would stick to his own game. The General was interviewed while he was shaving.

President Truman had just given him one of the nation's three most important command jobs: chief of the U.S. Army Air Forces. Wasn't everyone surprised that the announcement had come so soon? "Tooey" Spaatz, amiable man of few words, continued to shave, back turned. When would he officially take over? "About Feb. 15." Was it possible he still might enter Pennsylvania politics? "I might have if they hadn't offered me Arnold's job."

The General grinned, rinsed his leathery face, got dressed and marched off to his first meeting as a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Able, ailing 59-year-old "Hap" Arnold had been retired after 42 years of soldiering, 34 years of it in the air, seven years of it as boss of the air forces. The Army's birdmen had flown a long way from the Army's nest in that time, would soon fly away, never to return. Tooey Spaatz, sure by all signs to boss the U.S.'s first separate Air Force, had big plans for the future.

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