THE CAPITAL: Operation Househunt

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Open Space. The problem was bucked to Defense Secretary Charles Wilson, whose practical solution was to rent a suitable place for Radford. But Wilfred McNeil, the defense comptroller, was horrified. The rent was too high, and besides, the Navy would have to employ a staff of civilian servants to replace the retinue of messboys and cooks assigned to a four-star admiral, since the law forbids the employment of military men in private homes rented by the Government.

The Navy thereupon called a top-level meeting to consider the now desperate problem. Admiral D. B. Duncan, Vice Chief of Naval Operations, was asked to yield his house to Radford, but he refused. At a second meeting, outgoing CNO Bill Fechteler recalled that there were two substantial houses at the Naval Gun Factory. The trouble was they were already occupied by the commandant of the Potomac River Command, Rear Admiral Fort, and the gun-factory superintendent, Rear Admiral Hill. Wilson solved this problem by combining the job of Admiral Fort, slated for retirement soon, with that of Admiral Hill. One less admiral meant one more house. Admiral Radford had found a snug harbor at last.

This week, as the new Joint Staff met for the first time, all was serene from Observatory Hill to Quarters I, and Secretary Wilson, 'in his apartment at the Sheraton Park, could turn to other problems of national defense.