Eisenhower report on Patton fails to close incident
Senate Military Committee asks further details before it will consider slapping case ended
Washington (UP) –
The personal report of Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower today whetted, rather than satisfied, the Congressional appetite for more details on Lt. Gen. George S. Patton’s slapping of an ailing soldier in a Sicilian field hospital.
Gen. Eisenhower’s report acknowledged that Gen. Patton was “guilty of reprehensible conduct” which might have merited his removal except that it apparently did not impair his efficiency as a military leader. It was submitted to the Senate yesterday along with a statement that Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson believed Gen. Eisenhower’s ruling was “right and proper.”
Seeks more details
The Senate Military Affairs Committee, which had asked Mr. Stimson for a full report, decided it wanted more details before it would agree. Committee Chairman Robert R. Reynolds (D-NC) and several other committee members declared that Mr. Stimson’s and Gen. Eisenhower’s statements “by no means close the matter.”
Some of the questions in the minds of committee members include:
- Are there other similar incidents in Gen. Patton’s background?
Gen. Eisenhower’s report revealed for the first time that Gen. Patton had berated two shell-shocked soldiers but slapped only one.
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Why wasn’t this incident, which occurred in August, reported by the War Department earlier?
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Why did Gen. Eisenhower’s Algiers headquarters issue a flat denial of knowledge of the affair when it was first reported last weekend?
The Algiers headquarters issued a denial Monday but confirmed the story the next day.
- Since Gen. Eisenhower’s decision against firing Gen. Patton was based on a finding that Gen. Patton’s own 7th Army troops felt “no great harm was done,” has subsequent publicity brought about the need for a new appraisal of Gen. Patton’s present efficiency?
To consider promotion
These questions, along with others, may be addressed to Mr. Stimson or some other War Department representative in executive session next Friday when the committee meets to consider Gen. Patton’s promotion from the permanent rank of colonel to that of major general. His present rank of lieutenant general is temporary.
Two service publications – The Army and Navy Journal and The Army and Navy Register – expressed disapproval of the Army’s handling of the affair. Both are unofficial but highly influential publications.
The Journal advocated editorially that Gen. Patton be relieved of his command. The Register regretted the suppression of the news at the time of the incident.
Brother comments
Other expressions of opinion on the Patton affair came yesterday from Congressmen, the top Protestant Church executive in the United States and Gen. Patton’s brother, a doctor.
Rep. Bernard W. Kearney (R-NY), a retired brigadier general of the New York National Guard, condemned Gen. Patton as “unfit and dangerous for duty.” His colleague, Rep. Hamilton Fish (R-NY) said Gen. Patton’s apology was enough and further controversy over the issue would undermine American morale.
Dr. William Barrow Pugh, Protestant official just back from a war-front tour, said “there is no excuse for a general striking a soldier.” He said he had an hour and a half interview with Gen. Patton, during which Gen. Patton had his Bible close at hand and frequently quoted from it.
In Columbia, South Carolina, Dr. C. D. Patton, the general’s brother, said Gen. Patton’s apology to the soldier was in effect an apology to the nation, and the public’s raking of the general over the coals afterward was unwarranted.
Stimson believes decision proper
Washington (UP) –
The following is the text of Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson’s letter transmitting Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s report of the Patton incident to the Senate Military Affairs Committee:
In sending you herewith the report requested by you on the incident involving Lt. Gen. George S. Patton Jr., I wish to make clear certain basic principles which, from the beginning of the war, the War Department has followed because the Chief of Staff and I have considered adherence to them necessary to bring to our country, as quickly and with as little loss of life as possible, the ultimate victory in the great struggle being fought around the world.
In the first place, the greatest care was exercised in selecting the commanders of the distant theaters of war. The selected commander was then given the fullest authority to deal with all problems which might arise within his theater. Our principle in doing this was that the man on the ground knows the details of each such problem much better than we could know them in Washington. We then held – and hold – the theater commanders responsible for results.
Accordingly, Gen. Eisenhower is responsible for all matters of discipline within his theater. I am therefore sending you his report with the full confidence of the War Department that his sense of justice and fairness has resulted in his acting in this matter, as in all others, in the highest interest of his soldiers and his country.
The decision to weigh Lt. Gen. Patton’s great services to his country, in World War I and in World War II, from these shores to Casablanca and through Tunisia to triumph in Sicily, on the one hand, against an indefensible act on the other, was Gen. Eisenhower’s. As his report shows, Gen. Eisenhower in making his decision also considered the value to our country of Gen. Patton’s aggressive, winning leadership in the bitter battles which are to come before final victory.
I am confident that you will agree with me that Gen. Eisenhower’s decision, under these difficult circumstances, was right and proper.