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What really happened in this particular
story, which I first told at the end of World
War II, dealt with a portion of my military
experiences. During the closing days of World
War II in Europe, I was the senior aide-decamp
to Lieutenant General Troy Middleton.
He was the Senior Core Commander under
General George Patton and was really one of
the great leaders of World War II. Because
I was Middleton's aide, I got to go with him
to a lot of high level conferences and got to
know many of the major leaders of World War
II rather well. Met Eisenhower, saw a lot of
Bradley, and a great deal of General Patton,
one of the more colorful figures of World
War II as you will recall.
Patton had returned from a meeting at SHAFE
Headquarters outside Paris, and had been
talking to Beetle Smith, who was the Chief-of-
Staff for General Eisenhower. Smith did
not like Patton, and the feeling was mutual.
They had both been full Colonels at Fort Myer
in Virginia years before but Patton had been the
Senior in Command. They were both now four
star generals and Patton thought Smith should
call him General. Instead what Smith did was to
rather patronize Patton, lean over and pat him
on the back and say, "That's alright Georgie,"
a name which Patton truly hated.
At any rate, Patton, as he was telling this story,
was arguing for a swift, rapier-like thrust into
the heart of Germany to end the war. Smith
said, "Well, the trouble with you Georgie, you
just don't understand the 'Big Picture.' We
had to send all the supplies and troops to
General Montgomery in the North because
that's where we were making our principal
thrust."
As Patton was telling this in Luxembourg City
to his assembled core commanders, at his
feet was an English bulldog named Willie.
Willie was one of the ugliest beasts known
to man, he looked more like a pig than a dog,
and he was easily bored and whenever he was
bored, he would yawn. The unfortunate beast
chose that particular moment to yawn, Patton
launched a kick at him that almost carried him
off his feet and he said, "Laugh, laugh, you
little son-of-a-bitch, you don't understand the
'Big Picture' either."
Now, the truth of the matter is, that I doubt
if Willie understood the Big Picture, I'm pretty
sure that General Patton did not, and as near
as I can tell, most days since World War II no
one did. Perhaps now, as we begin to settle
the Cold War and move into an era of greater
cooperation between the super powers, we
will get a better glimpse of that 'Big Picture.'
Well the importance of the story was when
I was Dean, I told it to countless students at
the time of orientation, I usually told it to
my class, and I concluded by pointing out
that although Patton may not have known
the 'Big Picture,' maybe no one did, that it
was very important that they understand the
'Big Picture' - that is the big picture of law,
and how the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle fit
together to form the grand mosaic that is the
law. No one individual can give you that big
picture of the law, but if you work hard and
study the cases and the materials, you can
put them together and form your own view
of the 'Big Picture,' and that is a part of what
you will take with you when you leave the
halls of ivy and go out into practice in your
various spheres of influence.
I'm sure that all of you who may remember
that story, now have a better idea of the
Big Picture' than you had all those years ago.
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