IN DEFENSE OF MILITARY MEN WHO MISS THE HEADLINES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01365R000300060025-4
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 26, 2006
• Sequence Number: 25
• Publication Date: April 26, 1964
• Content Type: NSPR

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YASHINGTON S 14 v f APR 2 fi 1964
By NORMAN S. PAUL
We Americans have always
prided ourselves on the simplicity
of our tastes. Our moral principles
are clear and unequivocal. We are
in favor of what is right and
against what is wrong.
This direct approach is reflected
An our taste for entertainment.
Since the days of the first flicker
Norman S. Paul, the author bf
this protest on certain delinea-
tions of our military men, is
Assistant Secretary of Defense
for Manpower.
box, the days of Dustin Farnum
and William S. Hart, we have
cheered the cowboy in the white
hat, the good guy, and booed the
bad guy, who is inevitably frustrat-
ed, in the end, in his scurrilous
designs, against motherhood, the
honest rancher; and chastity. To
give the audience an occasional
respite from the dreadful tension
of the 'contest between good and
evil, which frequently finds our
;hero in a number of messy situa-
tions, we have' always. provided
comic relief, usually in the form of
an affable dolt who appears just
long enough to win our hearts but
not long enough to gum up the
plot.
Today we still love Westerns but
the basic plot has been translated and a traitor to his President and
into a number of up-to-date situa- his country. A co-conspirator, in
tions, and in some cases the plot the uniform of an Admiral in the
wltnout a little priming) and of the
young officers who are engaged in
more spectacular pursuits, such as'
our astronauts.
process. Hundreds of thousands of have the 'guts to follow through.,. But we hear and read virtually
Americans are lining up to see two sips wine in his official quarters, nothing about the thousands ' of
smash hit films, "Seven Days in displays a paunchy. and generally. others whom we have to-thank,.
May" and "Dr. Strangelove.". dissipated 'appearance, and lies to today, for the. opportunity to pur-
Each deals, in its own way, with his President. sue our lives in a world at peace.
,
problems of the greatest national Take, for example, Walter Beck-'
and international interest and Vi[iains in Uniform ham.
importance. There the resemblance In "Dr. Strangelove" we are Col. Walter Beckham is the Chief
ceases, except for certain of the treated to villains and comic relief, Scientist of the Air Force Weapons'
cast of characters - specifically and other characters less simple to Laboratory, a position of great
the villains and the comic relief. In define-all in military uniforms. A responsibility and demanding the,
each film, they wear the uniform S t r a t e g i c Air Command base greatest scientific and technologi-
of the United States. commander, obviously a general in "cal proficiency. No egghead is Col.
of e centra "lSev figure In the near the Air Force, goes mad and de- ?' Beckham. He joined the Air Corps
tragedy
Days in May" tides to start a war. The Air Force in 1941 as an aviation cadet, at
the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs 'Chief of Staff, hearing a remarka- that time with only a high school
of Staff, an Air Force general. ble h sic 1 d
Behind - the facade of the rugged. lance to one of* our tout tresemb. and ng World War 11, hegwasra tilot rip eua e
physique, the handsome face and living military leaders, reluctantly with 18 air victories to his credit,
the battle ribbons, we see a thor- abandons an assignation with what when he was shot down and taken
oughly immoral animal, a captive- may be loosely described ps his prisoner by the Germans in 1944.
of an American style of fascism, scretary,, and proceeds to a meet- His decorations include the Dis
lug called by his Commander-in-
Chief in the war room. There, he
provides the comic relief so essen-
tial to a plot which' grinds its way
inexorably to the end-of every-
thing.
I don't- object to these films.,
I have, of course, seen both. They
are provocative, which is good, and
of the highest technical quality.
But what disturbs me deeply, how-
ever, is the apparent trend in
current publications and motion
pictures, of which these are but
.two manifestations, to make the
military uniform of our country,
and those who wear it, the boobs,
buffoons and villains of the piece.
I am concerned with the human
element in Defense. The largest
part of my job is to recommend
policies involving people in uni-
form-recruiting them, paying
them, promoting them, assigning
them, keeping up their morale
,
providing them medical, care,
educating them, retiring them, and
so on through the entire range of
human activity. As a civilian, I
have had a unique opportunity to
ss
u
their p oblems
with hundreds of our military
people of all ranks and grades. We
read often today of our Chiefs of
pproved For Release-2006/11/04: CIA-RDP88-01365R000300060025-4