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Taylor, who led the crack 101st Airborne Division in the Normandy invasion, retired as Army Chief of Staff in 1959, disgusted with the Eisenhower Administration's reliance on massive nuclear retaliation at the expense of conventional military forces. Early in 1960 he published The Uncertain Trumpet—a slashing attack that Kennedy used to advantage in the campaign. Taylor set forth the doctrine of "flexible response," which has become the backbone of defense policy in the Kennedy Administration. His appointment as chairman of the Joint Chiefs breaks tradition, for the job has always been rotated among the three services. But it will clear the Pentagon air of dark suspicions that Taylor has been undermining the Joint Chiefs' role as the source of military advice for the White House. Despite Kennedy's high opinion of him, some U.S. and European experts think Taylor's emphasis on conventional warfare is misguided.
Basketful of Fog. In last week's announcements came another shuffle: President Kennedy picked General Earle G. ("Buzz") Wheeler, 54, to take over as Army Chief of Staff from General George H. Decker, Lemnitzer's personal choice, who will retire when his term expires this fall. Decker is no sharp New Frontier-style soldier; one Pentagon hand finds him "as colorful as a basketful of fog." Wheeler, now Norstad's deputy in Paris, was an obscure major general in 1960 before the Pentagon assigned him to brief Kennedy on military intelligence matters during the campaign. Later, as di rector of the Joint Staff in the Pentagon, Wheeler caught the eye of Defense Secretary Robert McNamara as a quick-thinking, imaginative planner. Generals senior to Wheeler were grumbling last week at the selection, but both Kennedy and McNamara knew the man they wanted. Once Taylor and Wheeler take over their new posts, the Joint Chiefs of Staff will be Kennedy appointees to a man—except for Marine Commandant David Shoup, the only member Kennedy inherited who is to his liking.