The Four-Mile Race

In its victory in South Korea, the free world had shown--at the cost of thousands of lives (see box)--that it was not only willing but able to fight. For a brief moment, in the first days of fall, the U.S. could draw a breath of satisfaction and relief. But there was no celebration, only the sense of a job done, or almost done. Crossing the 38th parallel involved more casualties and risks (see WAR IN ASIA).

Even as reports of the Korean triumph came over the wires last week, Administration officials issued warnings--President Truman, General Mark Clark and General Omar Bradley exhorted the country not to lower its guard. Secretary of the Treasury Snyder warned of serious shortages, heavy taxes and inflationary problems for years to come. Preparing for this month's meeting of the North Atlantic pact allies, defense planners, led by Secretary George Marshall, were drafting plans and approaches calculated to jar Western Europe out of its lethargic attitude toward its defenses.

For the U.S. it was a grueling period of vigilant waiting, determined preparation. The armed services announced that they would need at least 3,000,000 men by next June, which meant calling up another 1,200,000 within the next nine months. Director of Selective Service Lewis Hershey urged that the term of service be increased from 21 months to 30, that World War II veterans under 26 be included in the draft, that rules be changed in order to rope in more men claiming exemptions and men previously judged to be unfit. This was not a temporary program, Hershey said, but a program for an "indefinite" period, perhaps for "a generation."

The nation had begun to assemble the brains for the job; seldom had the military establishment been better staffed in its top echelons. Secretary Marshall had fallen heir to two first-class assistants: Air Secretary Thomas Finletter and Army Secretary Frank Pace. Last week he added the seasoned Robert Lovett to his team as Deputy Secretary of Defense (see The Administration).

The nation had the manpower, the resources, the skills. The main question that seemed to worry Washington most was whether the country had the wind; it was no time to start coasting. Warned Presidential Adviser Averell Harriman: "This is not a sprint. It's a four-mile race."

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