American Naval Secretary Resigns As Protest

Greymouth Evening Star, 27 April 1949, Page 5

American Naval Secretary Resigns As Protest

(Rec. 2 p.m.) WASHINGTON, April 26.

The Secretary of the Navy, Mr John L. Sullivan, resigned today. White House made public the exchange of letters between President Truman and Mr Sullivan.

No successoi’ has yet been named and Mr Truman has left the effective date of the resignation to Mr Sullivan. At the same time, Mr Sullivan’s office made public a letter in which Mr Sullivan called the action of the Defence Secretary, Mr Louis Johnson in halting the construction of the 65, GGO-ton aircraft-carrier “Arbitrary” and said it was taken without consulting the Navy. Mr Sullivan, in his letter of resignation, said Mr Johnson’s action represented the first atttempt ever made in the United States to prevent the development of a powerful weapon and he feared that the efforts to abolish the Marine Corps and to transfer all naval and Marine Corps air activities to other defence authorities would be renewed. Mr Sullivan complained that the decision to discontinue the construction of the carrier had been made without reference to him. He added that professional naval men believed the carrier was indispensible to American security and had sacrificed other substantial construction to provide for its construction.