Either/Or

The scuttlebutt in Washington last week was that Defense Secretary Louis Johnson was on his way out. He was in serious trouble with Harry Truman, said the gossips--including a few Administration insiders--and he might even have to go before November, however damaging that might be to Democratic election chances.

Underlying the gossip were a few chunks of solid fact. The running feud between Johnson and State Secretary Dean Acheson (TIME, Sept. 11) had become so bitter that defense planning was being hampered, and no one seemed to be able to get it going smoothly. Strictly as a family affair, Harry Truman was reportedly beginning to see the quarrel as an either/or proposition; in such a situation, once recognized, there was no doubt which one would have to go. It would be Louis Johnson.

The President was also noting that it was Johnson who was getting the bulk of the brickbats from the public. The Veterans of Foreign Wars had already issued a demand for a thorough Defense Department shake-up (TIME, Sept. 11). Last week, despite an eloquent presidential appeal, the Marine Corps League had gone right ahead to pass a thundering censure of Louis Johnson (see above) and a demand for his resignation. But it had voted down a similar thrust at Dean Acheson.

At week's end there was another thin but significant straw in the wind. Questioned on a press report that "a close adviser to President Truman" was predicting Johnson's resignation, White House Press Secretary Charles Ross issued a perfunctory "no comment." Asked if Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson would replace Acheson, he snapped a vigorous denial that left no doubt of the President's continuing confidence in his present Secretary of State.

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