Mac and FDR

08 June 07

Mac and FDR:

By the late 1930s, Doug Mac Arthur had gone as far as was possible in uniform. His career had been so brilliant, so meteoric, he actually bypassed a rank. A child prodigy and the son of a Medal of Honor winner, "Mac," as he was called, will doubtless go down in history as the most significant military intellect of the Twentieth Century. His peers held him in great respect. Politicians feared him!

By 1937, those in the know were persuaded that a war with Japan, and probably Germany too, was inevitable. FDR was trying his best to prepare the nation for yet another world conflagration, and the American people were in no mood for it!

During a notable and pyrotechnic meeting between FDR and Mac in the Oval office, standing before the seated president, Mac was enthusiastically making the case for the immediate adoption and production a new infantry rifle, the autoloading Garand. Mac was convinced the Garand would be a critical force multiplier during the war to come, and he was, as always, very persuasive!

FDR, on the other hand, already had a full plate. Other generals wanted new airplanes, new tanks, new ships, new equipment of all description. He tried to get Mac to agree that there was nothing wrong with the existing 1903 bolt-action Springfield rifle. It worked fine! Everyone liked it, and everyone was trained to use it. It was being currently produced comfortably. Was this new autoloading rifle, in the same caliber, really all that critical?

Mac's gaze narrowed, as he took center stage. "In a shorttime, a young American trooper in a far-away place, unable to fire fast enough to keep the enemy away, will receive an enemy bayonet in his belly. When that happens, he let out a scream, and then he will gnarl a vile curse. At the end of that curse, he will mutter a name, and I want that name to be yours, not mine!"

As he finished his sentence, Mac abruptly turned and walked out, without another word. Just as he got to the door, FDR said, "Mac! Mac. Okay, you can have your dammed rifle!" True to form, Mac never looked back, noreven acknowledged FDR's reply. He paused only for a moment, then walked through to door.

In that brief interchange, so long ago, world history was changed! The Garand rifle immediately went in to production and was so good, it became the envy of the world and markedly contributed to a great victory. It saw noble service for decades after the War, and many copies and still stand ready to serve in Americans homes (including mine!) , even today.

Currently, we are at another historical crossroads, and, unhappily, there is no Mac Arthur to make our case. The critical need for a new, heavier infantry rifle and caliber has been well known for decades. We desperately need a gas-piston rifle, in a caliber with real range and that actually shoots through things! However, today, when the subject is brought up, all we hear is how "impossible" any such change would be. For the current inheritors of Mac' s mantle, it seems everything is "impossible."

That terrible word shouldn't even be in our vocabulary!

/John