The High Fly

Headline-hunting Louis Johnson should have known he was flying into trouble. When he refused to provide an Air Force plane for a bit of round-the-world congressional junketing (TIME, Sept. 12), Oklahoma's Senator Elmer Thomas whirled in bristling counterattack. He demanded that Defense Secretary Johnson furnish him detailed information on all recent trips made by Administration officials in military aircraft. Then he left town for the weekend.

While he was gone, embarrassing questions began to crop up. Was it essential for General Omar Bradley to go pheasant hunting in a special Air Force plane? Was it vital to national defense for Navy Secretary Francis Matthews to fly his whole family to a military ceremony in Honolulu? Did Vice President Alben Barkley have to use a B-17 to take a three-piece band to a party for his St. Louis friend, Mrs. Carleton Hadley?

When Thomas returned to his office last week, one of his first callers was Deputy Secretary of Defense Stephen Early. After a long and earnest conversation, peace was declared. Johnson issued a formal statement which put Congressmen and federal officials on their honor to use military aircraft only for trips in the "national interest." Definition of national interest was largely left to the conscience of the officeholder and his boss. Cooed Elmer Thomas: "I commend Secretary Johnson for his decision."

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