The fact that the Constitution places the command of the U.S. Armed Forces in the White House was no deterrent: U.S. citizens still clamored for a unified command of Army & Navy, demanded that there should be a military man at the top. This week Franklin D. Roosevelt entered formal recognition of an obvious need. He appointed a Chief of Staff to take some of the burden of high command off his hands.
He did not choose the man suggested by the U.S.'s First Citizen Without Portfolio, Wendell Willkie. Willkie's choice (and probably the people's) was Douglas MacArthur. The President preferred...