Show R veterans administration H has as capable leader general bradley Br ailley has fatherly interest M in veterans actions S show n ow his ab ability clity to administer this bi big job by BAUKHAGE IN commentator and news analyst service 1616 eye st N W washington D C I 1 have just come back from a visit with the father of 16 15 million that such a farfetched far fetched figure to use in describing the tall rangy missourian who is in charge of the biggest business in the world which is how bow they describe the veterans administration in washington to call omar nelson bradley father of the service men and women stretching it ernie pyle once said if I 1 could pick any two men in the world for my father except my own dad I 1 would pick general omar bradley or general ike eisenhower Elsen hower if I 1 had a son I 1 would like him to go to bradley or ike for advice ernie was a pretty keen judge of human nature on the hoof I 1 thought of that when one of brad leys workers coworkers co in the veterans administration who is almost a decade older than the general said fatherly was the way to describe be the manner in which he was treated the first time they had a problem to straighten out with the boss and then I 1 met the general I 1 found a weather beaten wiry long legged soldier whose eyes twinkled brighter than the four stars on his collar fatherly yes and ill have a word about that a little later but I 1 found out something else I 1 found out why he ought to be able to run one of the hardest jobs in the government and ill admit right off it u sounds almost too good to be true we had been talking about the details of the rp reorganization organization of the agency which is now going on and with which general ge bradley is minutely familiar then I 1 asked him what it was if anything in his military training and exper experience that he be could use in his pres ent position he said that he thought it was the same with all jobs such as this and here is the theory on which he e wor works s first build your organization on functional lines second get the tight right man to head up each function third give him full fu I 1 responsibility to act on his own authority tho rity how I 1 inquired does this fit in with your military experiences experience having had some of that branch of adventure myself although running a platoon running an army its a good deal like the army he answered you have your staff you have say 20 sections each with a special function working under your chief of staff sometimes of course you group some of the functions but the organization is along functional lines and how I 1 asked do you choose the men to head up these various activities his answer came back without the slightest hesitation 1 I choose a man first for his ability second for his loyalty and nd I 1 count heavily on the loyalty get loyal men of ability and youve gone a long way toward solving your problems in any organization that sounded pretty good to me but what about the present situation where after al all 1 there is always a congress on capitol hill a congress with constituents who have votes and some of whom want jobs I 1 asked the general what about politics ile he seem worried he said that he had any trouble im not a politician he be said 1 I never intend to run for office that was all he would says say but here is a story I 1 picked up later at the other end of pennsylvania avenue A certain congressman got a hot letter from a constituent who had been fired from the veterans administration no doubt with due cause he hot footed it up to the general and spoke as legis gators often do to officials with considerable vigor 1 I want the man re hired at once the congressman demanded the general was polite but sorry he stood by his decision if you dont ill attack you on the floor go ahead said bradley faintly recalling I 1 imagine some of the attacks in normandy ill block your bills said the irate congressman that was a horse of a different color i you will said the general all right and if you do that ill go to the president with my resignation hell get that or find a means to stop you period we all knew about th the generals war record in tunisia among on the N normandy 0 r m a y be beachhead a c b head among the h hedgerows hedge e d g er rows 0 s w where h e r e he s smashed mashed a gateway at st lo 10 which h made pattons Pat tons lightning drive possible but we know mu much ch about the man most of us know he be was from missouri and later some of us might have suspected that that was the reason why he was picked although the president said it was because he wanted a world war II if soldier to take care of the wants of world war II if veterans now we have some other reasons for believing that the choice was predicated on wise advice and is going to prove itself a fortunate one on the horse sense side it is because bradley has established a record as an administrator he brov proved ed that in the army and had the acumen to see the chief fault in the veterans organization and has set out to remedy it on the emotional side well ernie pyle was right the trouble with the veterans administration was that it grew so rapidly that it have time to delegate authority and there was another reason for this it was built on what seemed a very sound theory lets take its se services ices to the veteran for instance small hospitals were scattered all over the country many in little communities where the veteran could get to them easily but that work out it was hard to get expert medical men good service and the latest equipment in the smaller communities and because the regional organization was spread so thin it was necessary to have a strong hand in washington the result was that the grip of that hand was so tight that the whole system was cramped bradley put his finger on the situation with the help of well chosen counsel and reversed the former policy now its bring the veteran to the hospital bring him by rail or plane in an emergency but bring him to a well manned well equipped center whose size and importance will attract the best there is in medical skill when he needs specialized care hand in hand with this regional centralization of the medical facilities the new organization has decentralized the authority As soon as bradley looked over the setup set up he said this is like having a re regiments under one man in the army that would be unthinkable wed break it down into corps and divisions at least and so that is what was done but first he made a sharp cleavage between the medical organization and the rest of the activities he created a new office acting surgeon general of the veterans administration and he appointed the best man he knew major general paul ramsey hawley who had been chief surgeon for the european theater and did an outstanding job and here I 1 wonder if there one of those important un conscious childhood impressions which helped Br adleys middle name nelson is for a well loved family physician and Br adleys 1 fatherliness is attested to in h his is I 1 interest in the physical welfare of his men again and again war 4 correspondents mentioned the fact that he planned engagements so that his troops would suffer the fewest casualties possible he has an instinctive understanding of the afflicted |