Remarks at the Pentagon to Top Officials of the Department of Defense.

Mr. Secretary and gentlemen:

It is a very great honor to be here in the Defense Department and to have received today the colors of the various forces of our Defense Establishment, to have had another briefing from the Defense Department a few moments ago, and now to address the key men who are responsible for the defense of the United States and who also play the major role in the defense of peace and freedom in the world.

As I stand here today, I would perhaps have to admit that this is one department where I feel particularly humble. Like so many Americans, I, of course, have served in the Armed Forces and I always feel just a little bit embarrassed when an admiral comes up to me and says "sir." I think it should be the other way around. I am sure the Secretary has this same problem.

All I can say is that I hope that in these years ahead, as the President of this Nation, and as the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, I can be worthy of the men and women who serve in the Defense Department.

In speaking to that point, I was asking the Secretary, as we moved through the hails and saw all of the civilian personnel and some of the military personnel standing in the corridors to welcome us, about the numbers that were involved. We know that this Department is the biggest in our Government. Approximately 60 percent of our personnel and budget comes from this Department. We know, too, that as far as the numbers of people who are involved, I understand there are approximately 4 million in the Defense Department, both civilian and military personnel.

In reflecting on that number, I want to particularly emphasize to the men here how important it is to see that all of those 4 million, to the extent that it is possible, realize that they play, collectively and individually, a vital role in the defense of this country and in developing the strength that is essential if we are going to be able to provide peace with freedom in the world.

Last night we had a very fascinating briefing by the astronauts, with some of the slides they had taken, as well as some of the motion pictures they had taken on their trip around the moon.

Colonel Borman made a very significant point as the briefing was concluded. He said that he was speaking not just for himself, and not just for the three who had made this trip, but for 400,000 men and women in the Nation who at one time or another had played a part in making this great, spectacular feat possible.

Here in this room are the top people. I suppose we would refer to most of you as the "top brass." You are the people who will have direct contact with the Secretary and with the President. You will be briefing him and me and the other top officials of this Government.

But I think it is vitally important for all of us to recognize that all over this Nation, and all over the world, are men and women who will never have that opportunity, men and women who do jobs, sometimes very routine jobs, that can become very, very boring and that they constantly need reassurance that what they do matters.

I was glad to see Colonel Borman bring it home that way. Four hundred thousand made it possible for this magnificent achievement to occur. I trust that all of you can convey that kind of spirit to those who work in the Defense Department, in all their capacities that they may be filling here and around the world.

In that respect, too, I would like to pay a tribute which I think should be paid to those who are in the career forces. I am referring now to the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the Marine Corps, the Coast Guard, to the American military man.

It is rather fashionable these days to speak of the military man as a class apart. He knows about the hardware. He knows about military strategy. He knows how to conduct a war. Sometimes it goes so far that well-intentioned individuals say, "Well, we have a Department of War, this one, and we need a Department of Peace."

I have never thought of it that way. This is the Defense Department. Without what this Department, through its efficiency and through the dedication of its personnel, creates we would not be able to have the negotiations which can bring peace. This is an integral part of our peace forces in the world.

The other point that I wish to make is that individually I have been privileged to know the top military commanders of this Nation, going back over 20 years. I know that the military man in the United States today is a broad-gauged man. His knowledge is not limited simply, and his interests are not limited simply, to the military responsibilities that are his.

He knows the world in which we live. He can give valuable advice on the great diplomatic and political considerations that have to be considered when great decisions are made. He is a specialist, true, and I can assure you of one thing: I do not presume to be a specialist in this field and I am going to rely, when it comes to purely military matters, on what my military advisers tell me should be done.

But I do know this: I do know that due to the magnificent education that is provided for those who finally achieve the top ranks in our military services, they are men who are not just specialists; they are generalists in the best sense of the word. They can make a contribution, a contribution to the overall policy of this Nation.

I want you to know that I want to hear what they have to say. I will take that into consideration in developing our policies, because I know that your interests are the same as ours.

I know often the tendency is to take the Department of Defense and the Department of State and constantly to assume that they will be at odds; they will be working against each other; and that it is the job of the President of the United States, or his national security advisers, to try to negotiate the differences and then present some kind of, shall we say, negotiated peace treaty between the two before we can get a policy.

I don't consider it that way at all. We will have our differences. There are differences within the State Department as to what our policy should be. There are differences within the Defense Department, although it is very hard to get General Wheeler to tell me what they are.

But on the other hand, while those differences do exist, I believe that we are all working together toward the same end. I want to hear those differences expressed. I will then have to make the decision, a decision that only the President of the United States can make in determining what our policy will be.

But only if I hear from the Defense Department and from within the Department the differences that may be there, and from the State Department and any other interested departments of Government what their views are on the great problems that confront this Nation at home and abroad--only if I hear that can I make the kind of decision that is going to be the best decision.

So I want to say, Mr. Secretary, that I am going to depend upon you and General Wheeler to bring to me and the National Security Council the viewpoints of the Defense Department, and even those minority viewpoints that may exist here which may not agree with that which you have eventually considered should prevail.

By seeing that those viewpoints are brought to the attention of the National Security Council, and through that Council to the President of the United States, you will assure that our policy will be a better policy than it would otherwise be.

Finally today, I would like to say one thing about a subject that is often mentioned in Government and which is the reason for the visit that I am making to this Department and all the 12 major departments of Government in the first 3 weeks that I am in office: It is that question of morale.

I know we hear all sorts of stories about morale in one department is low, and morale in another department is going down, and the rest. I know perhaps less than particularly our military commanders know what really brings morale.

What brings morale is not what happens down in the ranks, but the leadership and the example that is set at the top.

I have one favorite story that I would like to impose upon you, a story that I think indicates my philosophy with regard to morale, and one that I hope you will take to heart and try to apply in these days and months and years ahead.

In reading General Pershing's memoirs of World War I, he told of the very difficult time that he had immediately after assuming command of the American Expeditionary Force of having to remove some of his closest friends who were commanders of divisions; and when he had to make those very difficult decisions, of course, this tore him apart, but he did it.

Because he was decisive and did move effectively, that Force became a very powerful force before the end of World War I. He told of one particular case which illustrates the point that I wanted to make.

An attack had been ordered in a certain area and he, on a certain day, was visiting one of the divisions. The commander of that division, an old friend of the General's, said to him, "General, we cannot make this attack. My men are tired; my men are disheartened; their morale is low.

We simply aren't going to be able to launch another attack, go over the top tomorrow."

General Pershing answered him in this way: He said, "General, your men are not tired. Your men are not disheartened. Their morale is not low. You are tired. Your morale is low. I am going to relieve you."

So he relieved the general and he put another man in charge, another general. He said within a matter of 2 to 3 weeks, as a result of the change in command, and the new spirit that came to that division, it was one of the best fighting units on the whole Western Front, after a record previous to that time which had been one of the worst.

I want all of you to know that I trust that in my position I can provide the kind of leadership that will keep up your morale, but by the same token, we count on you to let every one of the 4 million people in the armed services of this country know that what each one of them does really counts. It really matters. Failing to do even the smallest job may affect the efficiency and the effectiveness of our overall defense policy.

This sounds like a little sermon to a group of very sophisticated and top leaders in our military and business community, but I say it to you today because I do know this: You can have the most efficient organization possible, you can have all the money that you need, and you can still not have that spirit, that high, extra quotient that can only come from leadership which brings the highest morale and which gets it right down through the ranks, through all the civilians who dedicate their lives to public service, through all the military men who do that.

I know most of you personally. I have appointed some of you who are on the civilian side, and I understand, too, that I make some of the appointments on the military side. I sign lots of sheets which indicate what you are going to do.

I can only say in conclusion that we are counting on you. I will respect your advice and I know that you will see to it that this whole great Defense Establishment has a new sense of purpose, a new sense of that great dedication which has made us always proud of the defense forces of this country.

Thank you.