On the technical side, the
best military experts regarded him as the best general officer in
the American Army. Nevertheless, in spite of his physical and
military qualifications, President Wilson rejected him. Why? The
unsympathetic asserted that Mr. Wilson took care to assign no
conspicuous officer to service abroad who might win laurels which
would bring him forward as a Presidential possibility in 1920. On
the other hand, cynics, remembering the immemorial jealousy
between the Regulars and Volunteers in both the Army and Navy,
declared that an outsider like General Wood, who had not come
into the Army through West Point, could expect no fairer
treatment from the Staff which his achievements and irregular
promotion had incensed. History may be trusted to judge equitably
on whom to place the blame. But as Americans recede from the
event, their amazement will increase that any personal pique or
class jealousy should have deprived the United States from using
the soldier best equipped for war at the point where war was
raging.
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