Engineer Memoirs
to head MIT, Dean Rusk became Secretary of State. The Strategic Plans Section
contained other fine officers who were not Rhodes scholars. Among them were
Andy Goodpaster, Ted Conway, and Bob Porter, all of whom became four-star
generals.
About a week after joining the section, I was given the job of developing a portion
of the plan for the final invasion of Japan, the landing at Tokyo Bay. In about ten
days I was ready to submit my plan for approval. It had not gone unnoticed that
my seat in the section had been occupied by four officers in the previous 12
months, whereas the other seats were occupied by officers on a more permanent
basis. Obviously, my predecessors hadn't done very well. I wanted the seat
permanently and was quite nervous about my plan.
I took my plan to Andy Goodpaster, whom I had known since cadet days. In fact,
he was the first cadet I met on entering the academy. A tall, good-looking man
with a stentorian voice, he was a natural leader. He rose to become Regimental
Adjutant of the Corps of Cadets, the number two spot under the First Captain of
the Corps. Although Goodpaster had struck terror in my breast when I was a
plebe, we had become friends later on.
I asked Goodpaster to read over my plan. He did so quickly and said, "Ed, you've
got all the right ideas. But you haven't presented them in a way that will appeal
to General Marshall." He then took my plan into his office, called in his secretary,
and dictated my plan to her in a different format. It was then typed twice. We
didn't have Xerox machines in those days and plans had to be submitted in 10
copies.
Goodpaster looked over the final product quickly, brought it to my office and said,
"Just sign it and submit it to General Marshall." I looked it over. It retained all
of my ideas but was presented in a way with which I was unfamiliar. I signed it
and sent it to General Marshall.
About 9 o'clock the next morning General Marshall sent for me. "Colonel
Rowny," he said, " w e ' v e been trying to find someone to fill the 12th seat in the
Strategic Plans Section and haven't had much success. Now we have someone who
can do the job. I don't think your seat will rotate any longer. Congratulations.
I was elated, yet felt guilty. "General Marshall," I said, "I must confess to you
that the plan I submitted is not my plan. The ideas are mine, but they were
rewritten by Colonel Goodpaster.
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