To John B. Brady

#3-501 To John B. Brady February 6, 1943 [Washington, D.C.]

Dear Mr. Brady: I have your letter of January 29th in which you pointed out the possible benefits to be derived from the Army's use of an electrical balloting system in staff conferences and other assemblies where the views of military personnel are to be recorded.1 While this device may serve many useful purposes in civil life, it does not appear adapted to military procedure. Staff conferences are normally confined to a few individuals. The responsibility for final decisions must rest on one designated officer. In open discussion he secures facts and expressions of opinion from his staff, but in the last analysis the determination of each issue must be his responsibility, not depending upon the numerical superiority of the officers advocating or opposing a particular course of action. A Chief who proceeds on the basis of majority votes in military matters is lost. His position, or responsibility, is quite different from that of a leader in civil affairs of government. For example, how far do you think Stonewall Jackson would have gotten in his famous Valley Campaign if he had proceeded on the basis you suggest? I am sorry not to make a more favorable reply to your suggestion. Faithfully yours,

Document Copy Text Source: George C. Marshall Papers, Pentagon Office Collection, General Materials, George C. Marshall Research Library, Lexington, Virginia. Document Format: Typed letter.

1. A Washington, D.C., lawyer, Brady had written that he had witnessed the operation of an electronic vote-recording system in the Virginia legislature, and he suggested that a committee be appointed in the War Department to investigate the use of a similar system "whenever the views of a multiplicity of officers are to be determined and in other applications in the conduct of military decisions in which time is such a vital factor." (Brady to the Chief of Staff, January 29, 1943, GCMRL/G. C. Marshall Papers [Pentagon Office, General].)

Recommended Citation: The Papers of George Catlett Marshall, ed. Larry I. Bland and Sharon Ritenour Stevens (Lexington, Va.: The George C. Marshall Foundation, 1981– ). Electronic version based on The Papers of George Catlett Marshall, vol. 3, “The Right Man for the Job,” December 7, 1941-May 31, 1943 (Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991), p. 535.