It seemed that when he had taken his stand against the independent air force, Secretary Wilbur and others smiled their relief. The newspaper men looked let down. Then on the subject of the air corps, when Congressman Vinson cross-questioned him, he had, as an afterthought, stated that his Bureau should have control of aviation personnel and operations as well as matériel. Quick as a flash, Vinson shot back, “So you do believe in the air corps after all!”
In the subsequent confusion, the admiral had not made his position clear, but had left the matter in a snarl. Even as he finished his jerky report, the telephone rang. It was Marvin MacIntyre, a newspaper reporter who frequently dropped into the Bureau for a story and who had become one of the admiral’s cronies. Years later, during the Roosevelt Administration, Mac sat in the White House as Secretary to the President, but back in those days he was just a good leg man.
“What happened at the hearing?” he inquired. “It looked to the press as though the Old Man had something on his chest but, with all that rank around him, got hemmed in.”
“Maybe,” I replied, anxious to keep the admiral’s standing.
“But that break with Vinson made him look bad,” Mac wailed.
“I can’t see why,” I replied. “All it meant was that he should have a bigger voice in personnel and operations but with a little topside cooperation, he doesn’t need an air corps for that.” The admiral nodded vigorously. Mac shouted over the phone.
“Sure, sure, I get you. Good-by!”
With that the admiral departed, his head up, his step springy. But we weren’t yet out of the overcast.
Next morning a group of us sat in Jerry Land’s tiny office attending a conference called by the head of the Matériel Division. Bureau business had all but ceased during the inquiry and even now we could not get down to brass tacks. Now a civilian walked right into the conference and brought our discussion to an abrupt halt. It was C. M. Keyes, president of the Curtiss Airplane and Motor Company, and a leader of the aircraft industry. The separate-air-force controversy had agitated them too; many companies favored it, especially those doing business with the Army. Navy contractors either disapproved or kept mum. Clem Keyes, who now stood in our midst, had favored the program.
“It looks like the Morrow Board will not recommend the separate air force,” he said. “But there is one thing they will approve, and there’s nothing you fellows can do about it.” He then went on to say that he would appear for the industry at an early session and that he would support the idea of a government agency to be charged with responsibility for and authority over the design, development, and procurement of all aircraft, whether for the Army, Navy, or civil uses.