Patton and Bradley - Bradley is on the right.


General controversies . . .

The controversy over the Rolling Stone story about General McChrystal happened to resonate with a bit from the book I've been working on about Omar Bradley.

Not about Bradley - it's hard to imagine a more discreet subject, military or otherwise - but Patton, whose career during the war intertwined with Bradley's.

In the months before D Day, Patton was brought into England to prepare to lead an army in Normandy under Bradley. (Until the invasion the chain of command had him under Eisenhower, not Bradley, which was probably a relief for Bradley.) Eisenhower had Patton on a fairly short leash, not just because of the infamous slapping incident, but because of an investigation into whether he had incited men to kill prisoners. (He hadn't.)

As part of his keep-up-the-morale-of-the-people-whose-homes-we're-overrunning duty, Patton accepted an invitation to speak at a small gathering of the British equivalent of a local USO. He gave a brief, off-the-cuff speech. For Patton, he was pretty dialed back, but dialed-back Patton is shock jock brash for everyone else. At some point, he joked that after the war the U.S. and UK would run the world. And Russia, too.

Patton thought he was talking mostly to housewives and at worst slightly scandalizing them. But it turned out there was a reporter in the audience, and within days the story that Patton was figuring on ruling the world was all over Great Britain, and the States.

General Marshall was not pleased. Eisenhower, who had stuck his neck out insisting that he get Patton for an army command, was even less enthused. He almost fired Patton. But Patton stayed.

Why? For one thing, he hadn't dissed the President, Vice President, or his boss.

And he had Eisenhower. Beyond their friendship - severely tested in the war - Eisenhower felt Patton would be extremely useful in the push across the continent. He also thought he could keep Patton on a short enough leash to avoid catastrophes large enough to negate his value. Bradley was critical in that arrangement, though that part of the story isn't ordinarily told.

Why not? Because the only one who could tell it was Bradley - and Bradley was the last person in the world who would.

Especially to a reporter.