GEN. TAYLOR: ADVISER TO PRESIDENT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000700480028-6
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 20, 2004
• Sequence Number: 28
• Publication Date: June 27, 1961
• Content Type: NSPR

,~j.pr ved For Release 2005/01/05: CIA-RDP75-00 49 ?007,0 48
WASHINGTON r1 c., ..r
JUN 2 7 1961
DORIS f EESON
Gen.. Taylor:Adviser to President
Ex-Army Chief Is Called Imaginative, .
And Right Man for Right Job
The man and, the Job have
met in the appointment of
Gen. Maxwell Taylor its
military representative of
President Kennedy.
The General has enormous
talent, great experience and
a sense pf history., He will
need them all, beginning with
his first task of reviewing the
planning being done on the
Berlin situation.
He has been recalled to
active service sd he may act
as the senior military repre-
sentative of the commander-
in-chief, both at home and
abroad. This means a fresh
and imaginative voice in
the very many and widely
scattered military councils
abroad which have tended
to become frozen in the ab-
sence of hot war.
With the choice of Gen.
Taylor, the President - has
strengthened himself in the..
area where his own experi-
ence and interest have been
most limited. Mr. Kennedy
did not-serve either in the
House or Senate on the im-
portant committees-Armed
Services, Appropriations and
the Joint Committee on
Atomic Energy - whose se-.4
rious members are practical-
ly forced to become military
experts.
The President chose po-
litical interest committees,
including foreign policy, and
wisely so, considering his
ambition. It perhaps did, not
need Cuba to show him that
Presidents can't afford any
gaps in their knowledge, but
he has with Gen. Taylor
gone a long way to fortify
himself as Commander-in-
Chief and close an experi-
ence' gap.
.The White House is taking
pains to reassure the service
chiefs and civilian secre-
taries at the Pentagon that
Gen, Taylor will not usurp
their functions or second
guess them in the conduct
of their affairs. The Gen-
eral by being what he is will
contribute to that reassur-
ance,
His great personal dignity
is reminiscent of Gen.. George
Marshall; it is impossible to
imagine that he can be im-
pressed by mere position or
lose sight of his duty. Some
men who have dealt with him
at the Pentagon believe him
even more suited than Gen.
Marshall would have been for
today's complex tasks be-
cause, they say, he has more {
imagination than the ma-
jestic World War II leader.
Members of Congress un-
derstand that stars can be
wired for influence and don't
hesitate to. do it, themselves
when it seems to them a good
idea. They tend therefore to
be little impressed by titles
and very much by private
performance in front of their.
committees where the great
sums taken from American
taxpayers these days are for
the most part allocated.
One veteran said of Gen.
Taylor: "He's good, he's cau-
tious and his word is as good
as his bond. If he makes any
mistake, it will be on the side
of caution, but that's prob-
ably a good thing for the
President."
e_ White House concedes
that the TT en"tf I'Ihtelligence
Agency,, w211 cold within the
range of, ge,p. Taylor's power
of review. s the General has
been head of a presidential
committee studying the Cu-
ban fiasco, he probably al-
ready has a fair i' of that
agency's personnel
An oQriox.
Attorney General Kennedy
served with Gen. Taylor on
the Cuban study. It is report-
ed that the good impression
he received there is in large
part responsible for the new
presidential appointment.
VA
Approved For Release 2005/01/05 : CIA-RDP75-00149R000700480028-6