Last Step?

The great struggle over unification of the armed services, which had the Navy pot-shotting at the Army (and vice versa) for over a year, seemed close to a more or less friendly settlement. The Army & Navy themselves had settled some disputed points, the President had resolved three of the knottiest: he had ruled in favor of a single defense department, three coequal branches, and a Marine Corps under the Navy (TIME, June 24). The one issue on which the Navy had continued to buck its Commander in Chief was his order that all land-based aviation (including anti-submarine patrol) be put under the proposed new independent Air Force.

Last week Congressmen heard that Navy Secretary Forrestal was willing to give in even on this question, dear as it was to Navymen's hearts. Thus encouraged, G.O.P. steersmen were getting ready to put merger up to the 80th Congress: it would provide some of the budget economies they had promised.

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