Word: mcnamara
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Inevitably, in so long and contentious a tenure, the McNamara mystique has lost some of its luster. The heightening of the war has also increased Wheeler's authority on Capitol Hill: as Kipling noted, the man in uniform may be everyone's goat in peacetime, "But it's 'Savior of 'is country' when the guns begin to shoot." Wheeler has never indulged in the public griping or corridor grumping of previous JCS chairmen. On the contrary, as the nation's top advocate for the military viewpoint, he has sufficient courage, diplomacy and professional...
...Trieste. Though all too clearly no Patton type, he is known nonetheless as the most gifted tank officer that the JCS has ever had-based on his cool performance in the second-floor Pentagon "tank," where the Joint Chiefs meet thrice weekly by themselves and confer each Monday with McNamara and Deputy Secretary Cyrus Vance. Wheeler is also at ease on Capitol Hill, even when that involves directly contradicting his superior. In recent testimony before congressional committees, Wheeler and McNamara have differed on several touchy issues...
...question of withdrawing U.S. troops from Europe, McNamara originally hoped to bring home two full Army divisions, which, with supporting units, would have amounted to some 75,000 men. Wheeler opposed any pullback, and not only for the conventional soldier's reasoning, which flatly opposes reductions of strength on principle. Conceding that the forces could be quickly sent back, the general argued that the U.S. might find it "politically undesirable to do so because to take action at a time of tension or time of crisis might trigger the very event you are seeking to avoid or deter...
...Diddling Around. When McNamara repeated his well-known-and well-reasoned-opposition to deployment of an anti-ballistic missile system (ABM) this year, Wheeler pointed out that for two years the Joint Chiefs have unanimously urged deployment of this defensive network. Among other things, Wheeler argued, it would "demonstrate to the Soviets and our allies that the U.S. is not first-strike minded...
...most immediate concern, of course, is Viet Nam. Wheeler is no jingoist, just as McNamara is no pacifist. But before Congress their differences have become clear. Wheeler believes in the efficacy of bombing North Viet Nam far more strongly than McNamara, who doubts the wisdom of intensifying the air war. Moreover, though his misgivings have never been publicly expressed, Wheeler has not been wholly in sympathy with McNamara's gradualist increase in military pressure on North Viet Nam. Wheeler agrees with the theory of flexible or graduated response to aggression, but believes that the restraints the U.S. has imposed...