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The Weighing. What is the risk of war? J.C.S. Chairman Omar Bradley thinks 1950 will be a "normal" year comparable to 1913; not until 1952, he feels, is the danger of war likely to be acute. But the Air Force's Vandenberg, whose command would bear the brunt if a surprise attack caught the U.S. napping, is more & more convinced that war is probably inevitable and perhaps imminent. The Navy's Sherman thinks a good deal depends on the U.S. War is avoidable, says Sherman, "if we stomp on the Russian finger everywhere it makes an exploratory feel." He adds: "The survival of this country depends upon letting the world know we have the power and the ability to use it if the occasion demands." ^ It is the job of Harry Truman and his Secretary of Defense to weigh what the economy can stand, the J.C.S.'s job, and Forrest Sherman's, to judge the risks. Between them they hold the nation's life in their hands.
-All five brothers saw service as officers in World War II: Kenneth and Ernest in the Navy, Frank in the Army, Paul as a Regular in the Marines. Edward, the eldest, who lost an eye as a child "in an Indian war," got a waiver and served in the Army.