Peace Hath Its Victories

War is ... a continuation of political relations, a carrying out of the same by other means.--von Clausewitz.

Of all the great powers, the U.S. had kept its generals and its admirals most effectively fenced off from the pastures of statecraft and diplomacy--and its diplomats farthest away from the maneuver grounds. The results, at Pearl Harbor, and in North Africa and Italy, had sometimes been disastrous, sometimes scandalous. Last week, the State, War and Navy Departments agreed at last to cuddle up a little closer.

A plan for closer cooperation was sponsored by Vice Admiral Harry Wilbur Hill, veteran of combined amphibious operations; Major General Alfred M. Gruenther, a top planner from SHAEF; Brigadier General Truman Hempel Landon, a bombing expert, and Donald S. Russell, Assistant Secretary of State.

Mutual understanding and unity of purpose were evident among these four as they outlined their proposal: a precedent-shattering college for high-ranking officers of the Army, Air Forces and Navy, and the Foreign Service of the State Department. One point not yet settled was a name for the institution.

Tomorrow's Men. The course at their proposed school will last ten months, and will be about equally divided between military and political subjects. On the military side, the students will learn about the atomic bomb and other new weapons which are altering the methods of war. On the statecraft side will be intense study of the "home front," of the foreign policies of the U.S. and all major powers, and of the UNO and other means of preventing war.

The hundred students will be mostly Army colonels or Navy captains (with 20 years of service) or Foreign Service officers of equivalent rank and with 15 years of service. Said Harry Hill, commandant of the new school: "We'll take the cream of the crop from the existing war colleges. . . . We want them to get the future viewpoint not only in methods, weapons and strategy, but in the broad political applications. We're not going to be war planners. We are going to try for an understanding of war and how to maintain the peace."

Because of the level from which they are picked, the graduates of the school will be the generals, admirals and ministers of tomorrow--the Marshalls, Kings, Arnolds, Eisenhowers and ambassadors of decades to come. If the hopes of the founders are fulfilled, future U.S. leaders will understand the process of "political relations" from A to Z--instead of A to M for one group and N to Z for another.

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