The U.S. Army has had few tougher combat generals than James Alward Van Fleet, 69, who won three Distinguished Service Crosses, three Silver Stars and three Bronze Stars during a distinguished career that included leading an Army corps in Europe, defeating Communist guerrillas in Greece, and commanding the Eighth Army in Korea. But solid as was Van Fleet’s reputation for bravery, it was occasionally matched by his reputation for shooting from the lip. Last week, on the eve of his recall by the Kennedy Administration as an Army consultant on guerrilla warfare, Van Fleet arose before a gathering of conservation experts in Lakeland, Fla., earnestly discussed his home state’s water resources—and then began diagnosing the ills of the world.
The free world’s situation in Laos is hopeless, said Van Fleet, and Berlin is just as bad. “The West Germans and the French are the ones who have insisted on a strong stand on the Berlin question, and West Germany is one of the biggest traders with the Red-bloc nations. Neither West Germany nor the French will fight with us in Berlin, and I don’t think we should fight for them.”
But Van Fleet was just warming up for an attack on U.N. Ambassador Adlai Stevenson. The reason that the U.S. did not give air support to the Cuban rebels during last April’s Bay of Pigs disaster, claimed Van Fleet, was that Stevenson had declared himself against it. Snapped Van Fleet: “That’s when I would have fired him.”
Before he made his remarks, Van Fleet tried to put them off the record, saying: “I hope I don’t read tomorrow that which I say tonight.” But next day Van Fleet did read what he had said, because the Tampa Tribune disregarded the off-the-record request, ran a story that was picked up by the Associated Press.
Van Fleet’s attack stirred Stevenson to rare asperity. “The charge you have repeated is totally false,” wired Stevenson. “I will be obliged if you will correct your statement, and if there is any doubt about this in your mind I suggest that you check the facts yourself.” Van Fleet hastily retreated: “My information was evidently erroneous. I stand corrected.”
For the Pentagon, Van Fleet’s blast was embarrassing, since Defense Secretary Robert McNamara has exposed himself to congressional fire by insisting that military officers refrain from sounding off on national and foreign-policy matters beyond their scope. But the Army happily pointed out that Van Fleet had not yet begun his tour of consultant’s duty when he made his speech. That meant that Old Soldier Van Fleet spoke as a civilian—and therefore had a civilian’s right to say whatever he chose, no matter how ill-advised his words may have been.
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