GENERAL LEONARD WOOD
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—In your issue of. August 13th, p. 243, bottom of second column, you remark on General Leonard Wood : " If objections had not been raised by President Wilson, which may have been personal or political, he would no doubt have. commanded. the American Army in France." May I suggest that inadvertently, of course, on your part, you have expressed an unkindly and unjust thought against both President Wilson and General . Pershing ?
It is not conceivable that a man of. Woodrow Wilson's: high character, or, for that matter, any man with the immense responsibility of selecting the best officer for the position; could permit his decision to be governed by anything other than the reason of fitness and full competence. General Pershing was undoubtedly chosen because he was the very. best America could find. It may be entirely possible that General Leonard Wood, although an exceedingly able soldier. and one who appealed to the popular mind, may have been lacking in self-restraint and obedience towards those superior to him, that is, to those in charge of the United States.
[We did not intend the word " personal " in any sinister sense. President Wilson undoubtedly rejected General Wood. His reasons may have been political or may have been personal —that is to say, reasons which were concerned with the per- sonality of General Wood. As a matter of fact there is on record a statement by President Wilson, the effect of which is that he mistrusted General Wood because wherever he went troubles arose. We suspect that the personal reasons weighed chiefly, and probably exclusively, with President Wilson.—En. Spectator.]
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