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Revolt of the Admirals
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Revolt of the Admirals
The "Revolt of the Admirals" was a policy and funding dispute within the United States government during the Cold War in 1949, involving a number of retired and active duty United States Navy admirals. These included serving officers Admiral Louis E. Denfeld, Chief of Naval Operations, and Vice Admiral Gerald F. Bogan, as well as Fleet Admirals Chester Nimitz and William Halsey, senior officers during World War II.
The episode occurred at a time when President Harry S. Truman and Secretary of Defense Louis A. Johnson were seeking to reduce military expenditures in the aftermath of World War II so Truman could redirect funding to his domestic priorities. This policy involved deep cuts to the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps, while making the United States Air Force and strategic nuclear bombing the primary means of defending American interests. The Navy sought to carve out a role for itself in strategic bombing with naval aviation, which the Air Force saw as one of its primary roles.
Partly driven by interservice rivalry, the debate escalated from differences over strategy to the question of civilian control over the military. The cancellation of the aircraft carrier USS United States and accusations of impropriety by Johnson in regard to the purchase of the Convair B-36 Peacemaker bomber for the Air Force led to an investigation by the House Committee on Armed Services chaired by Congressman Carl Vinson.
While the dispute was settled in favor of the Truman administration, the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950 demonstrated the shortcomings of a defense policy primarily reliant on nuclear weapons, and many of the proposed cuts to conventional forces were ultimately reversed.
During World War II, the War Powers Act of 1941 allowed the President broad power to reorganize the armed forces, but this authority was to expire six months after the end of the war. In April 1944, the United States Congress began considering legislation for post-war organization. In response, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), the wartime body consisting of the most senior uniformed leaders prepared to make its own recommendations, as the organization of the JCS and its various advisory committees were themselves ad hoc wartime creations. On 9 May 1944, the JCS appointed a Special Committee for Reorganization of National Defense under the chairmanship of Admiral James O. Richardson, a former Commander in Chief, United States Fleet, consisting of Major General William F. Tompkins from the War Department General Staff, Major General Harold L. George from the USAAF, Rear Admiral Malcolm F. Schoeffel and Colonel F. Trubee Davison, a former Assistant Secretary of War for Air.
The committee reported to the JCS on 11 April 1945. It endorsed the unification of the War and Navy Departments into a single department of armed forces headed by a civilian secretary, with three equal services through the creation of an independent U.S. Air Force. During the war, the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) had achieved a degree of de facto independence from the United States Army and was eager to become a fully-fledged armed service on an equal footing with the Army and the United States Navy. Richardson dissented, favoring the status quo over the creation of a new department, but he accepted the proposal to perpetuate the organization of the JCS by statute.
Senior Navy officers including Fleet Admirals William D. Leahy (the Chief of Staff to the Commander in Chief), Ernest J. King (the Commander in Chief, United States Fleet) and Chester W. Nimitz (the Commander in Chief, US Pacific Fleet) regarded the committee's recommendations as radical. They opposed the idea of a single secretary of National Defense, which they felt was too much responsibility for one man, and it interposed a civilian head between the JCS and the President of the United States, which might diminish the Navy's power and influence. They also feared the possible loss of the Navy's air arm, as had happened to the Royal Navy when the Royal Naval Air Service was absorbed into the Royal Air Force upon the creation of the latter in 1918.
The Senate Committee on Military Affairs formed a subcommittee to draft legislation, with Major General Lauris Norstad, the Assistant Chief of the Air Staff for Plans, and Rear Admiral Arthur W. Radford, the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations (DCNO) for Air, as its advisors. Radford was considered a hard liner in his opposition to unification even within the Navy, and in July 1946, James Forrestal, the Secretary of the Navy and Nimitz, now the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO), replaced him with the DCNO for Operations, Rear Admiral Forrest Sherman. Although also a naval aviator, Sherman did not oppose unification. He and Norstad drew up an agreement that was endorsed by the JCS and forwarded to President Harry S. Truman, for approval on 12 December 1946.
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Revolt of the Admirals
The "Revolt of the Admirals" was a policy and funding dispute within the United States government during the Cold War in 1949, involving a number of retired and active duty United States Navy admirals. These included serving officers Admiral Louis E. Denfeld, Chief of Naval Operations, and Vice Admiral Gerald F. Bogan, as well as Fleet Admirals Chester Nimitz and William Halsey, senior officers during World War II.
The episode occurred at a time when President Harry S. Truman and Secretary of Defense Louis A. Johnson were seeking to reduce military expenditures in the aftermath of World War II so Truman could redirect funding to his domestic priorities. This policy involved deep cuts to the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps, while making the United States Air Force and strategic nuclear bombing the primary means of defending American interests. The Navy sought to carve out a role for itself in strategic bombing with naval aviation, which the Air Force saw as one of its primary roles.
Partly driven by interservice rivalry, the debate escalated from differences over strategy to the question of civilian control over the military. The cancellation of the aircraft carrier USS United States and accusations of impropriety by Johnson in regard to the purchase of the Convair B-36 Peacemaker bomber for the Air Force led to an investigation by the House Committee on Armed Services chaired by Congressman Carl Vinson.
While the dispute was settled in favor of the Truman administration, the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950 demonstrated the shortcomings of a defense policy primarily reliant on nuclear weapons, and many of the proposed cuts to conventional forces were ultimately reversed.
During World War II, the War Powers Act of 1941 allowed the President broad power to reorganize the armed forces, but this authority was to expire six months after the end of the war. In April 1944, the United States Congress began considering legislation for post-war organization. In response, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), the wartime body consisting of the most senior uniformed leaders prepared to make its own recommendations, as the organization of the JCS and its various advisory committees were themselves ad hoc wartime creations. On 9 May 1944, the JCS appointed a Special Committee for Reorganization of National Defense under the chairmanship of Admiral James O. Richardson, a former Commander in Chief, United States Fleet, consisting of Major General William F. Tompkins from the War Department General Staff, Major General Harold L. George from the USAAF, Rear Admiral Malcolm F. Schoeffel and Colonel F. Trubee Davison, a former Assistant Secretary of War for Air.
The committee reported to the JCS on 11 April 1945. It endorsed the unification of the War and Navy Departments into a single department of armed forces headed by a civilian secretary, with three equal services through the creation of an independent U.S. Air Force. During the war, the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) had achieved a degree of de facto independence from the United States Army and was eager to become a fully-fledged armed service on an equal footing with the Army and the United States Navy. Richardson dissented, favoring the status quo over the creation of a new department, but he accepted the proposal to perpetuate the organization of the JCS by statute.
Senior Navy officers including Fleet Admirals William D. Leahy (the Chief of Staff to the Commander in Chief), Ernest J. King (the Commander in Chief, United States Fleet) and Chester W. Nimitz (the Commander in Chief, US Pacific Fleet) regarded the committee's recommendations as radical. They opposed the idea of a single secretary of National Defense, which they felt was too much responsibility for one man, and it interposed a civilian head between the JCS and the President of the United States, which might diminish the Navy's power and influence. They also feared the possible loss of the Navy's air arm, as had happened to the Royal Navy when the Royal Naval Air Service was absorbed into the Royal Air Force upon the creation of the latter in 1918.
The Senate Committee on Military Affairs formed a subcommittee to draft legislation, with Major General Lauris Norstad, the Assistant Chief of the Air Staff for Plans, and Rear Admiral Arthur W. Radford, the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations (DCNO) for Air, as its advisors. Radford was considered a hard liner in his opposition to unification even within the Navy, and in July 1946, James Forrestal, the Secretary of the Navy and Nimitz, now the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO), replaced him with the DCNO for Operations, Rear Admiral Forrest Sherman. Although also a naval aviator, Sherman did not oppose unification. He and Norstad drew up an agreement that was endorsed by the JCS and forwarded to President Harry S. Truman, for approval on 12 December 1946.
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