NATO's General Lauris Norstad has been tabbed as a boy wonder for so long that many people still think of him as a young man—an impression reinforced by his youthful appearance. He made brigadier general in North Africa in 1943, when he was 36—and looked 26. A year later, he was in Washington as chief of staff of the Twentieth Air Force, helping direct the 6-29 bombardment of Japan. After the war he played a major role in helping to set up an independent Air Force. He became U.S.A.F. European commander in 1950, and has been over there ever since. From the time he was named Commander in Chief of U.S. Forces in Europe and SACEUR (Supreme Allied Commander, Europe) in 1956, his name has been synonymous with the At lantic military alliance.
But if anything, Norstad, now 55, has been too successful in his post. His deep concern for European defense has made Airman Norstad a strong advocate of a Europe-based NATO nuclear striking force, which is unacceptable to the Ken nedy Administration. In 1960 he had a mild heart attack; by last January he talked seriously of resigning. A few months later, he suffered an unpublicized second heart attack. Last week the White House announced Norstad's resignation —and with it came a major shake-up in the top command of U.S. armed forces.
Fitting Choice. Norstad's successor as Commander in Chief of U.S. Forces in Europe will be the Army's General Lyman (Lem) Lemnitzer, 62, since 1960 chair man of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It was a fitting choice: Lemnitzer was one of the drafters of the NATO treaty, later helped parcel out arms to U.S. Allies as first di rector of the Office of Military Assistance in 1949. Though France's crusty President Charles de Gaulle growled "Je ne le con-nais pas" when he heard of Lemnitzer's selection, there is little doubt that the NATO member nations will approve him as the new SACEUR. But Lemnitzer's appointment does not necessarily betoken a change in U.S. thinking about NATO.
President Kennedy had another reason for shipping Lem Lemnitzer off to Europe. After last year's fiasco at the Bay of Pigs, the President hankered to get Lemnitzer out as head of the Joint Chiefs. Says one ranking Pentagon official: "The President just doesn't find Lemnitzer responsive to his needs." Norstad's resignation gave the President his long-awaited chance to install as the top U.S. man in uniform a tough soldier and incisive military thinker: Maxwell Davenport Taylor, 60, whom Kennedy brought out of retirement after the Cuban disaster to become his personal military adviser.