I'm
not attempting here to draw direct parallels betwixt General Stanley
Allen McChrystal and General Edwin Walker, but a tenuous association is
inescapable. Walker was sacked by Robert McNamara (JFK) in 1961.
“
|
In
1959, General Walker was sent to Germany to command the 24th Infantry
Division. In 1961, however, he became involved in controversy. Walker
initiated an anti-communist indoctrination program for troops called
"Pro Blue" (due to Free World troops being colored blue on maps)[2]
and was accused of distributing right-wing literature from the John
Birch Society to the soldiers of his division. He was also quoted by a
newspaper, the Overseas Weekly, as saying that Harry S. Truman, Eleanor
Roosevelt, and Dean Acheson were "definitely pink." Additionally, a
number of soldiers had complained that Walker was instructing them as
to whom to cast their votes for in the next election, with all of the
candidates the General named being arch-conservative Republicans.
Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara relieved Walker of his command,
while an inquiry was conducted, and in October Walker was reassigned to
Hawaii to become assistant chief of staff for training and operations
in the Pacific. Instead, Walker resigned from the Army on November 2,
1961. Said Walker: "It will be my purpose now, as a civilian, to
attempt to do what I have found it no longer possible to do in
uniform."[Wikipedia]
|
” |
Walker (along with Air Force General Curtis
LeMay) was cited as inspiration for the Air Force General James
Mattoon Scott character in the film Seven Days in May, although Walker himself is mentioned
by name in the film. Of course, there is the General MacArthur parallel to consider as well.
|
|