"Each of you must surround yourself with the ablest men you have," he said. Turning to me, he asked whether I felt that my immediate advisers, those in the Navy Department and in command afloat, were the men to retain in those positions.
"They are the best men in the Navy," I replied.
He asked the same question of the Secretary of War. Mr. Baker told him that the officers in responsible positions in the War Department and the Army knew their jobs and were going ahead earnestly with them. Some were necessarily slated for early retirement, but to anticipate this, he thought, would be unwise, as it might occasion needless alarm and disturb morale.
The President listened intently to us. When we finished, he again impressed upon us that only the ablest, most alert and energetic officers should be put in places of responsibility.
"Get and keep the best," he said as our conference ended.
Mr. Wilson had no sympathy with the fear of hurting some man's "feelings," which, he said, is the rock upon which efficient public service often goes to pieces. The big job called for the big man, and no personal consideration had any weight with him in getting the thing done, and done in the best way. "Get and keep the best," without regard to friendship, past performance, prestige, social or political pull, guided the President in his entire conduct of the war. It was that policy which enabled American power to be thrown into the scales so quickly and decisively.
It is gratifying to recall that under the rigid test of war, every responsible officer in the Navy Department measured up to his full duty. Not one failed to meet the requirements of his position. No change whatever was required. Franklin D. Roosevelt was Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Admiral William S. Benson was Chief of Naval Operations, Rear Admiral Charles J. Badger head of the General Board. The bureau chiefs were: Rear Admirals Robert S. Griffin, Engineering; David W. Taylor, Construction and Repair; Ralph Earle, Ordnance; Leigh C. Palmer, Navigation; Samuel McGowan, Supplies and Accounts; William C. Braisted, Medicine and Surgery; F. R. Harris, Yards and Docks. Captain W. C. Watts was Judge Advocate General, and Major General George Barnett, Commandant of the Marine Corps. When Admiral Harris resigned in December, 1917, to become head of the U. S. Emergency Fleet Corporation, he was succeeded as Chief of the Bureau of Yards and Docks by Rear Admiral Charles W. Parks. Captain Watts, requesting sea duty in March, 1918, was succeeded by Rear Admiral George R. Clark as Judge Advocate General. Thus, practically all those who were in office when war began served to its end. And no men ever did better service. Able and energetic, they worked together with a harmony and efficiency never excelled.
U-boat warfare being aimed directly at shipping, our own as well as that of other nations, the protection of American merchantmen was of prime importance. As the President was announcing the severance of relations with Germany, February 3d, the steamer Housatonic was sunk in European waters, and on February 12th, the schooner Lyman M. Law was sent down by the Germans.
Though he considered that under the general powers of the Executive he had the authority to arm merchant vessels for protection, the President desired, before taking such an important step, which must almost inevitably result in gunfire engagements with U-boats, to ask the support of Congress. Before that time, at a cabinet meeting at which this matter was discussed, the President turned to me and asked:
"Daniels, has the Navy the guns and gunners for this job?"