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Louis A. Johnson
Louis Arthur Johnson (January 10, 1891 – April 24, 1966) was an American politician and attorney who served as the second United States secretary of defense from 1949 to 1950. He was the assistant secretary of war from 1937 to 1940 and the 15th national commander of the American Legion from 1932 to 1933.
Johnson was born on January 10, 1891, in Roanoke, Virginia, to Marcellus and Catherine (née Arthur) Johnson. He earned a law degree from the University of Virginia. After graduation, he practiced law in Clarksburg, West Virginia; his firm, Steptoe & Johnson eventually opened offices in Charleston, West Virginia, and Washington, DC Elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1916, he served as majority floor leader and chairman of the Judiciary Committee. During World War I, Johnson saw action as an Army captain in France, where he compiled a long report to the War Department on Army management and materiel requisition practices. After the war, he resumed his law practice, was active in veterans' affairs, and served as National Commander of the American Legion.
As Assistant Secretary of War from 1937 to 1940, Johnson advocated universal military education and training, rearmament, and expansion of military aviation. He feuded with the isolationist Secretary of War Harry Hines Woodring over military aid to Britain. In mid-1940, after Woodring had resigned and the fall of France had revealed the precarious state of the nation's defenses, Franklin D. Roosevelt bypassed Johnson for the position of Secretary of War, instead choosing Henry Stimson.
Having aspired to the position of Secretary, which he felt he had earned, Johnson felt betrayed by Roosevelt. During the war, Johnson had no major responsibilities within the government involving military matters, but he agreed to participate in the Roosevelt administration's war mobilization of US industry. Later, he served as Alien Property custodian for the American operations of the German chemical giant I. G. Farben. In 1942, Johnson briefly served as the president's personal representative in India, until an intestinal illness caused him to resign his post and return to the United States.
In the 1948 presidential campaign, Johnson was chief fundraiser for President Harry S. Truman's election campaign; the money raised by Johnson proved crucial to Truman's come-from-behind victory in the November elections. As a regular visitor to the White House, Johnson not only continued to express an interest in defense matters, but actively campaigned for the post of secretary of defense. He was also a staunch supporter of Truman's desire to 'hold the line' on defense spending. After a series of conflicts with Defense Secretary James V. Forrestal over defense budget cutbacks, Truman asked for Forrestal's resignation, replacing him with Johnson early in 1949.
Secretary Johnson entered office sharing the president's commitment to achieve further military unification and to drastically reduce budget expenditures on defense in favor of other government programs. As one of Truman's staunchest political supporters, Johnson was viewed by Truman as the ideal candidate to push Truman's defense budget economization policy in the face of continued resistance by the Department of Defense and the armed forces.
According to historian Walter LaFeber, Truman was known to approach defense budgetary requests in the abstract, without regard to defense response requirements in the event of conflicts with potential enemies. Truman would begin by subtracting from total receipts the amount needed for domestic needs and recurrent operating costs, with any surplus going to the defense budget for that year. From the beginning, Johnson and Truman assumed that the United States' monopoly on the atomic bomb was adequate protection against any and all external threats. Johnson's unwillingness to budget conventional readiness needs for the Army, Navy or Marine Corps soon caused fierce controversies within the upper ranks of the armed forces. From fiscal year 1948 onwards, the defense department budget was capped at the amount set in FY 1947 ($14.4 billion), and was progressively reduced in succeeding fiscal years until January 1950, when it was reduced yet again to $13.5 billion.
Johnson was also an advocate of defense unification, which he saw as a means to further reduce defense spending requirements. At a press conference the day after he took office, Johnson promised a drastic cut in the number of National Military Establishment boards, committees, and commissions, and added, "To the limit the present law allows, I promise you there will be unification as rapidly as the efficiency of the service permits it." Later, in one of his frequent speeches on unification, Johnson stated that "this nation can no longer tolerate the autonomous conduct of any single service ... a waste of the resources of America in spendthrift defense is an invitation to disaster for America."
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Louis A. Johnson
Louis Arthur Johnson (January 10, 1891 – April 24, 1966) was an American politician and attorney who served as the second United States secretary of defense from 1949 to 1950. He was the assistant secretary of war from 1937 to 1940 and the 15th national commander of the American Legion from 1932 to 1933.
Johnson was born on January 10, 1891, in Roanoke, Virginia, to Marcellus and Catherine (née Arthur) Johnson. He earned a law degree from the University of Virginia. After graduation, he practiced law in Clarksburg, West Virginia; his firm, Steptoe & Johnson eventually opened offices in Charleston, West Virginia, and Washington, DC Elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1916, he served as majority floor leader and chairman of the Judiciary Committee. During World War I, Johnson saw action as an Army captain in France, where he compiled a long report to the War Department on Army management and materiel requisition practices. After the war, he resumed his law practice, was active in veterans' affairs, and served as National Commander of the American Legion.
As Assistant Secretary of War from 1937 to 1940, Johnson advocated universal military education and training, rearmament, and expansion of military aviation. He feuded with the isolationist Secretary of War Harry Hines Woodring over military aid to Britain. In mid-1940, after Woodring had resigned and the fall of France had revealed the precarious state of the nation's defenses, Franklin D. Roosevelt bypassed Johnson for the position of Secretary of War, instead choosing Henry Stimson.
Having aspired to the position of Secretary, which he felt he had earned, Johnson felt betrayed by Roosevelt. During the war, Johnson had no major responsibilities within the government involving military matters, but he agreed to participate in the Roosevelt administration's war mobilization of US industry. Later, he served as Alien Property custodian for the American operations of the German chemical giant I. G. Farben. In 1942, Johnson briefly served as the president's personal representative in India, until an intestinal illness caused him to resign his post and return to the United States.
In the 1948 presidential campaign, Johnson was chief fundraiser for President Harry S. Truman's election campaign; the money raised by Johnson proved crucial to Truman's come-from-behind victory in the November elections. As a regular visitor to the White House, Johnson not only continued to express an interest in defense matters, but actively campaigned for the post of secretary of defense. He was also a staunch supporter of Truman's desire to 'hold the line' on defense spending. After a series of conflicts with Defense Secretary James V. Forrestal over defense budget cutbacks, Truman asked for Forrestal's resignation, replacing him with Johnson early in 1949.
Secretary Johnson entered office sharing the president's commitment to achieve further military unification and to drastically reduce budget expenditures on defense in favor of other government programs. As one of Truman's staunchest political supporters, Johnson was viewed by Truman as the ideal candidate to push Truman's defense budget economization policy in the face of continued resistance by the Department of Defense and the armed forces.
According to historian Walter LaFeber, Truman was known to approach defense budgetary requests in the abstract, without regard to defense response requirements in the event of conflicts with potential enemies. Truman would begin by subtracting from total receipts the amount needed for domestic needs and recurrent operating costs, with any surplus going to the defense budget for that year. From the beginning, Johnson and Truman assumed that the United States' monopoly on the atomic bomb was adequate protection against any and all external threats. Johnson's unwillingness to budget conventional readiness needs for the Army, Navy or Marine Corps soon caused fierce controversies within the upper ranks of the armed forces. From fiscal year 1948 onwards, the defense department budget was capped at the amount set in FY 1947 ($14.4 billion), and was progressively reduced in succeeding fiscal years until January 1950, when it was reduced yet again to $13.5 billion.
Johnson was also an advocate of defense unification, which he saw as a means to further reduce defense spending requirements. At a press conference the day after he took office, Johnson promised a drastic cut in the number of National Military Establishment boards, committees, and commissions, and added, "To the limit the present law allows, I promise you there will be unification as rapidly as the efficiency of the service permits it." Later, in one of his frequent speeches on unification, Johnson stated that "this nation can no longer tolerate the autonomous conduct of any single service ... a waste of the resources of America in spendthrift defense is an invitation to disaster for America."