ARMED FORCES: Man Behind the Power

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¶ He understands the needs of the economy, warning those who counsel excessive military buildups that "we can spend ourselves into economic collapse." ¶ He understands the military role in a democratic society: "As difficult as some of our sessions with Congress are, I feel they are vital in preventing excessive and unwise extremism. Here we are subjected to the kind of evaluation only a democracy can give its military. This is the secret of our success, I feel."

The popular legend is that "Raddy" Radford, professional, is a cold and ruthless man, "Great Stone Face," "owner of the coldest blue eyes in the Pacific," etc. In fact, Radford is a warm man whose disciplined emotions, mastery of his job and unfailing consideration for others have earned him a warm regard. In a subtler sense, the regard paid to Arthur Radford further symbolizes a new military appreciation in this new military age for the quiet man in the big picture who sits and thinks and thereby saves lives and deters wars. Once Arthur Radford was one of the hottest pilots in the Navy, leading an aerial stunt team called the High. Hatters, even standing in as stuntman for Clark Gable in the epic Hell Divers. But one of his wingmen of those days now prefers to dwell upon the solid and undramatic way that Radford led his men on the routine patrols. "Raddy had it even then, as a lieutenant commander," the wingman says. "You could see he thought bigger than his immediate job, no matter what it was."

"Pink-Cheeked Apollo." In a sense Chicago-born Arthur Radford was bigger than his immediate job even when, as a Navy-struck youngster at an Annapolis prep school, he used to cut morning classes, rent a boat and head across the Severn to watch such naval-aviation pioneers as Jack Towers and Albert C. Read in their weird helmets and goggles, maneuvering Curtiss pushers through the bright Maryland sky. At the Naval Academy Arthur did well in the famous class of 1916 that produced more than 40 admirals and made such a hit at Academy hops that his class Lucky Bag terms him "a pink-cheeked Apollo." After graduation and four years in battleships, Raddy got into the Navy's second postwar aviation class at Pensacola, Fla., won his wings in the fall of 1920, moved steadily upward to command the crack Fighter Squadron I aboard the new carrier Saratoga.

Lieutenant-Commander Radford, a bear on training promising youngsters, got a tragic incentive when his brother Charles, an Army pilot, was killed because a student pilot froze to the controls. "He always felt after his brother's death that people shouldn't do things they aren't trained for." a close relative recalls. "I've heard him say the Germans and Russians weeded out the poorly trained by letting them get killed in combat. He feels the weeding out should be done in rigorous training." Adds one of Radford's officers, with a different perspective: ''He impressed pilots that there was a helluva lot more to flying than flying. There was thinking, for example."