Louis A. Johnson

2nd Secretary of Defense
In office
March 28, 1949 – September 19, 1950
Preceded by	James Forrestal
Succeeded by	George Marshall
Born	January 10, 1891 Roanoke, VA, USA
Died	April 24, 1966 Washington, D.C., USA
Profession	Lawyer

Louis Arthur Johnson (January 10, 1891 - April 24, 1966) was the second United States Secretary of Defense, serving in the cabinet of President Harry S. Truman from March 28, 1949 to September 19, 1950. PD US gov photo of Louis A Johnson, from http://www. ... Seal of the United States Department of Defense The United States Secretary of Defense is the head of the United States Department of Defense, concerned with the armed services and The Secretary is appointed by the President with the approval of the Senate, and is a member of the Cabinet. ... March 28 is the 87th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (88th in leap years). ... 1949 (MCMXLIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1949 calendar). ... September 19 is the 262nd day of the year (263rd in leap years). ... 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... James Vincent Forrestal (February 15, 1892 – May 22, 1949) was a Secretary of the Navy and the first United States Secretary of Defense (September 17, 1947–March 28, 1949). ... This article is about the general and statesman. ... January 10 is the 10th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1891 (MDCCCXCI) was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_United_States. ... Aerial of Roanoke, Virginia Roanoke (The Star City of the South) is an independent city located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... April 24 is the 114th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (115th in leap years). ... 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1966 calendar). ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_United_States. ... Nickname: DC, The District Motto: Justitia Omnibus (Justice for All) Location of Washington, D.C., with regard to the surrounding states of Maryland and Virginia. ... English barrister 16th century painting of a civil law notary, by Flemish painter Quentin Massys. ... January 10 is the 10th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1891 (MDCCCXCI) was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... April 24 is the 114th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (115th in leap years). ... 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1966 calendar). ... Seal of the United States Department of Defense The United States Secretary of Defense is the head of the United States Department of Defense, concerned with the armed services and The Secretary is appointed by the President with the approval of the Senate, and is a member of the Cabinet. ... Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884 – December 26, 1972) was the thirty-third President of the United States (1945–1953); as Vice-President, he succeeded to the office upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt. ... March 28 is the 87th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (88th in leap years). ... 1949 (MCMXLIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1949 calendar). ... September 19 is the 262nd day of the year (263rd in leap years). ... 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Born in Roanoke, Virginia, he earned a law degree from the University of Virginia. After graduation he practiced law in Clarksburg, West Virginia; his firm, Steptoe and 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 officer in France. After the war he resumed his law practice and was active in veterans' affairs, helping to found the American Legion and serving as its national commander in 1932-33. Aerial of Roanoke, Virginia Roanoke (The Star City of the South) is an independent city located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Mascot Cavalier Website www. ... Clarksburg is a city located in Harrison County, West Virginia. ... Official website: www. ... Aerial photo (looking NW) of the Washington Monument and the White House in Washington, DC. Washington, D.C., officially the District of Columbia (also known as D.C.; Washington; the Nations Capital; the District; and, historically, the Federal City) is the capital city and administrative district of the United... The West Virginia House of Delegates is the lower house of the West Virginia Legislature. ... Combatants Allied Powers: British Empire Canada France Italy Russian Empire United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary Bulgaria German Empire Ottoman Empire Commanders Douglas Haig Sir Arthur Currie John Jellicoe Ferdinand Foch Nicholas II Woodrow Wilson John Pershing Wilhelm II Reinhard Scheer Franz Josef I Oskar Potiorek Ä°smail Enver Ferdinand I... The American Legion is an organization of veterans of the United States armed forces who served in wartime. ... 1932 (MCMXXXII) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link will take you to a full 1932 calendar). ... 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Assistant Secretary of War, 1937-40

As Assistant Secretary of War 1937 to 1940, Johnson advocated Universal Military education and training, rearmament, and expansion of military aviation. He feuded with the pacifistic secretary of war Woodring. In mid 1940 after the fall of France revealed the precarious state of the nation's defenses, Franklin D. Roosevelt fired both of them. The Secretary of War was a member of the Presidents Cabinet, beginning with George Washingtons administration. ... Military education and training is a process which intends to establish and improve the capabilities of military personnel. ... Military aviation is used to attack or defend a country through the sky. ...

He had no major responsibilities for the war effort, though he did run the American operations of part of the German chemical giant I. G. Farben, under the alien property custodian laws. In 1942 he briefly served as the president's personal representative in India. 1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1942 calendar). ...

Secretary of Defense

In the 1948 campaign Johnson was chief fund-raiser for President Truman's election campaign. Truman chose him to succeed James V. Forrestal early in 1949. Presidential electoral votes by state. ... James Vincent Forrestal (February 15, 1892–May 22, 1949) was a Secretary of the Navy and the first United States Secretary of Defense (1947 - 1949). ...

Budget Cutbacks

Johnson entered office sharing the president's commitment to achieve further military unification and to reduce budget expenditures on defense forces in favor of other government programs. 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.

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." The United States Department of Defense, abbreviated as DoD or DOD and sometimes called the Defense Department, is a civilian Cabinet organization of the United States government. ...

It began with the Navy. Johnson promptly began proposing mothballing or scrapping much of the Navy's conventional surface forces. Shortly after his appointment, Johnson had a conversation with Admiral Richard L. Connally, giving a revealing look at his attitudes towards the Navy and Marine Corps and any need for non-nuclear forces:

Admiral, the Navy is on its way out. There’s no reason for having a Navy and a Marine Corps. General Bradley tells me amphibious operations are a thing of the past. We’ll never have any more amphibious operations. That does away with the Marine Corps. And the Air Force can do anything the Navy can do, so that does away with the Navy.

Both Truman and Johnson extended their opposition to the Navy in their treatment of the U.S. Marine Corps. Truman had a well-known dislike of the Marines dating back to his service in World War I, and famously said "The Marine Corps is the Navy's police force and as long as I am President that is what it will remain. They have a propaganda machine that is almost equal to Stalin's." Johnson exploited this ill feeling to reduce or eliminate many Marine Corps' budget requests.

Johnson welcomed the passage of the 1949 amendments to the National Security Act of 1947, telling an American Legion convention that he was "happy to report . . . that 80 percent of the problems that beset unification immediately disappeared when the President signed the bill increasing the authority and the responsibility of the Secretary of Defense." Believing that the amendments would help him promote economy, he estimated that one year after their passage the Defense Department would be achieving savings at the rate of $1 billion per year, and he later claimed that he had attained this goal. One of his slogans was that the taxpayer was going to get "a dollar's worth of defense for every dollar spent" by the Pentagon, an approach that Truman approved. The National Security Act of 1947 signed July 26, 1947 by U.S. President Harry S. Truman realigned and reorganized the United States armed forces, foreign policy, and Intelligence Community apparatus in the aftermath of World War II. It merged the United States Department of War and the United States... The United States Department of Defense, abbreviated as DoD or DOD and sometimes called the Defense Department, is a civilian Cabinet organization of the United States government. ...

Johnson did not limit his budget-cutting campaign to the Navy or Marine Corps. Large World War II Army inventories of tanks, communications equipment, personnel carriers, and small arms were scrapped or sold off to other countries instead of being shipped to ordnance for reconditioning and storage. Johnson even resisted budget requests for ammunition, refresher amphibious infantry training, or to mothball a portion of the many serviceable tanks, landing craft, and weapons left over as surplus from World War II. Though the Air Force faced fewer program cancellations and cuts, Johnson favored reduction of tactical air force readiness in favor of the strategic nuclear bomber forces.

Revolt of the Admirals

Johnson's defense cuts, which began on April 23 1949, were accelerated after he announced the cancellation of the 65,000-ton flushdeck aircraft carrier USS United States. The United States Navy had been planning this ship for several years and construction had already begun. Johnson, supported by a majority of the JCS and by President Truman, stressed the need to cut costs. At least by implication, Johnson had scuttled the Navy's hope to participate in strategic air operations through use of the carrier. Abruptly resigning, Secretary of the Navy John L. Sullivan expressed concern about the future of the United States Marine Corps and naval aviation and about Johnson's unprecedented and arbitrary action so drastically affecting the Navy's operational plans without consulting it. April 23 is the 113th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (114th in leap years). ... An aircraft carrier is a warship designed to deploy and recover aircraft—in effect acting as a sea-going airbase. ... Four ships of the United States Navy have bore the name USS United States in honor of that nation, but only one of them was launched, and it became part of the Confederate Navy. ... The United States Navy (also known as USN or the U.S. Navy) is the branch of the United States armed forces responsible for conducting naval operations. ... The Joint Chiefs of Staff is a panel comprising the highest-ranking members of each major branch of the armed services in any particular country. ... Flag of the United States Secretary of the Navy. ... For other men with this name, see John L. Sullivan (disambiguation). ... This article is becoming very long. ... Naval aviation is the application of manned military air power by the navies of the world such as those operated by the United States Navy. ...

The cancellation of the supercarrier precipitated a bitter controversy between the Navy and the United States Air Force, the so-called "Revolt of the Admirals." The Navy reacted to Johnson's action by questioning, in congressional hearings and other public arenas, the effectiveness of the Air Force's latest strategic bomber, the Convair B-36. The Air Force countered with data supporting the B-36 and minimized the importance of a naval role in future major wars. USS , a typical supercarrier, and HMS Illustrious, a light V/STOL aircraft carrier on a joint patrol. ... The United States Air Force (USAF) is the aerospace branch of the United States armed forces and one of the seven uniformed services. ... The Revolt of the Admirals was a late 1940s episode during which several high-ranking officers of the United States Navy publicly disagreed with the United States governments plans for the military forces. ... The Convair (Consolidated Vultee) B-36 was a strategic bomber operated by the United States Air Force, the first to have truly intercontinental range. ...

Subsequently declassifed material proved the USAF correct in its immediate assessment of the capabilities of the B-36 at the time of the Revolt of the Admirals. At the time, it was indeed virtually invulnerable to interception due to the great height at which it flew. However, the B-36 was a pre-World War II design: by the time it was built, the B-36 was hopelessly vulnerable to modern Soviet jet interceptor aircraft, which would greatly surprise U.S. observers when they later appeared over North Korea. In the long term, the views of the Navy prevailed: the B-36 and indeed all long-range strategic bombers (with the exception of the B-52 Stratofortress) became obsolete within a decade due to advances in Soviet air defence systems. Ironically, the cancelled supercarrier, later resurrected in the Forrestal-class, and later designs, continue in service with the Navy into the 21st century. The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is a long-range eight-engined strategic bomber flown by the United States Air Force (USAF) since 1954, replacing the Convair B-36 and the Boeing B-47. ... The Forrestal-class aircraft carriers were a four-ship class designed and built for the United States Navy in the 1950s. ...

However, a more ominous (if less publicized) development than the supercarrier debate was Johnson's steady reduction of force in Navy ships, landing craft, and equipment needed for conventional force readiness. Ship after ship was mothballed from the fleet for lack of operating funds. The United States Navy and Marine Corps, once the world's preeminent amphibious force, lost most of its amphibious capabilities and landing craft which were scrapped or sold as surplus.

House investigation

In June 1949 the House Committee on Armed Services launched an investigation into charges, emanating unofficially from Navy sources, of malfeasance in office against Secretary Johnson and Secretary of the Air Force W. Stuart Symington. The hearings also looked into the capability of the B-36, the cancellation of the super-carrier, and JCS procedures on weapon development, and ultimately examined the whole course of unification. Besides disparaging the B-36, Navy representatives questioned the current U.S. military plan for immediate use of atomic weapons against large urban areas when a war started. The Navy argued that such an approach would not harm military targets, and that tactical air power, ground troops, and sea power were the elements necessary to defend the United States and Europe against attack. The Air Force countered that atomic weapons and long-range strategic bombers would deter war, but that if war nevertheless broke out, an immediate atomic offensive against the enemy would contribute to the success of surface actions and reduce U.S. casualties. Strategic bombing, the Air Force contended, provided the major counterbalance to the Soviet Union's vastly superior ground forces. The U.S. House Committee on Armed Services, commonly known as the House Armed Services Committee, is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives, the lower house of Congress. ... The Secretary of the Air Force is the civilian head of the United States Department of the Air Force, a component organization of the Department of Defense. ... William Stuart Symington (June 26, 1901–December 14, 1988) was a U.S. businessman and political figure. ... The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945 lifted nuclear fallout some 18km (60,000 feet) above the epicenter. ... Boeing B-52 strategic bomber taking off A strategic bomber is a large aircraft designed to drop large amounts of ordnance on a distant target for the purposes of debilitating an enemys capacity to wage war. ...

In its final report, the House Armed Services Committee found no substance to the charges relating to Johnson's and Symington's roles in aircraft procurement. It held that evaluation of the B-36's worth was the responsibility of the Weapons Systems Evaluation Group, and that the services jointly should not pass judgment on weapons proposed by one service. On cancellation of the supercarrier, the committee questioned the qualifications of the Army and Air Force chiefs of staff, who had testified in support of Johnson's decision, to determine vessels appropriate for the Navy. The committee, disapproving of Johnson's "summary manner" of terminating the carrier and failure to consult congressional committees before acting, stated that "national defense is not strictly an executive department undertaking; it involves not only the Congress but the American people as a whole speaking through their Congress. The committee can in no way condone this manner of deciding public questions."

The committee expressed solid support for effective unification, but stated that "there is such a thing as seeking too much unification too fast" and observed that "there has been a Navy reluctance in the interservice marriage, an over-ardent Army, a somewhat exuberant Air Force . . . . It may well be stated that the committee finds no unification Puritans in the Pentagon." To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Finally, the committee condemned the dismissal of Admiral Louis E. Denfeld, the chief of naval operations, who accepted cancellation of the supercarrier but testified critically on defense planning and administration of unification. Secretary of the Navy Francis P. Matthews fired Denfeld on October 27 1949, explaining that he and Denfeld disagreed widely on strategic policy and unification. The House Armed Services Committee concluded that Denfeld's removal was a reprisal because of his testimony and a challenge to effective representative government. Louis Emil Denfeld (1891-1972), was Chief of Naval Operations of the United States Navy from 15 December 1947 to 1 November 1949. ... The Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) is the senior military officer in the United States Navy. ... Francis Patrick Matthews (March 15, 1887–October 18, 1952) served as 49th U.S. Secretary of the Navy, during the administration of President Harry Truman. ... October 27 is the 300th day of the year (301st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 65 days remaining. ...

Although Johnson emerged from the Revolt of the Admirals with his reputation intact, the controversy weakened his position with the services and probably with the president. Notwithstanding Johnson's emphasis on unification, it was debatable how far it had really progressed, given the bitter recriminations exchanged by the Air Force and the Navy during the controversy, which went far beyond the initial question of the super-carrier to more fundamental issues of strategic doctrine, service roles and missions, and the authority of the secretary of defense. Moreover, Johnson's ill-conceived budget cutbacks on force readiness would soon bear bitter fruit with the coming of the Korean War.

The Cold War

Momentous international events that demanded difficult national security decisions also marked Johnson's term. The Berlin Crisis ended in May 1949, when the Russians lifted the blockade. Johnson pointed to the Berlin Airlift as a technological triumph important to the future of air cargo transportation and as an example of the fruits of unification. A week after Johnson took office, the United States and 11 other nations signed the North Atlantic Treaty, creating a regional organization that became the heart of a comprehensive collective security system. After initial reservations, Johnson supported the new alliance and the program of military assistance for NATO and other U.S. allies instituted by the Mutual Defense Assistance Act (1949). The Berlin Crisis most commonly refers to the crisis engulfing West Berlin from 1958-1962, culminating in the building of the Berlin wall, August 1961, and the Checkpoint Charlie crisis, October 1961. ... The Soviet Union blocked Western rail and road access to West Berlin from June 24, 1948 - May 11, 1949. ... FedEx DC-10 Cargo airlines are airlines dedicated to the transport of cargo. ... The North Atlantic Treaty is the treaty that brought NATO into existence, signed in Washington, DC on April 4, 1949. ... NATO 2002 Summit in Prague The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation[1] (NATO), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, the Atlantic Alliance or the Western Alliance, is an international organisation for collective security established in 1949, in support of the North Atlantic Treaty signed in Washington, DC, on 4 April 1949. ... The Mutual Defense Assistance Act commonly known as the Battle Act was a 1949 law passed by the United States. ...

NSC 68

In August 1949, earlier than U.S. intelligence analysts had anticipated, the Soviet Union tested its first atomic device. This event and the almost concurrent retreat of the Kuomintang regime from mainland China hastened debate within the administration as to whether the United States should develop a hydrogen bomb. Conceiving the bomb as a deterrent rather than an offensive weapon, Truman decided on January 31, 1950 to proceed; Johnson supported the president's decision. Truman at the same time directed the secretaries of state and defense to review and reassess U.S. national security policy in the light of the Soviet atomic explosion, the Communist victory in the Chinese Civil War, and the hydrogen bomb decision. Johnson went about this task reluctantly, presumably because the State Department took the lead and heavily influenced the contents of the resultant report NSC 68. Although Truman took no immediate formal action on the large rearmament effort proposed in NSC 68, the report became more pertinent when the North Koreans attacked South Korea on June 25, 1950. Johnson's obstinate attitude toward the State Department role in the preparation of this paper adversely affected his relations with both Secretary of State Dean Acheson and Truman. Although he publicly professed belief that "the advance guard in the campaign for peace that America wages today must be the State Department," his disagreements with Acheson and his restrictions on DoD contacts with the State Department persisted until the exigencies of the Korean War moderated them. The Chinese Nationalist Party (Traditional Chinese: 中國國民黨; Simplified Chinese: 中国国民党; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Tongyong Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Chung-kuo Kuo-min-tang), commonly known as the Kuomintang (KMT), is a centre-right political party in the Republic of China on Taiwan, and is currently the largest political party in terms of sitting Legislative... The highlighted area in the map is what is commonly known as mainland China. Mainland China (Simplified Chinese: 中国大陆; Traditional Chinese: 中國大陸; pinyin: Zhōnggúo Dàlù; literally The Chinese Massive Landmass or Continental China) is an informal (disputed — see talk page) geographical term which is usually synonymous with the area... The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945 lifted nuclear fallout some 18 km (60,000 feet) above the epicenter. ... January 31 is the 31st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Communist Party of China (CPC) (official name) also known as Chinese Communist Party (CCP) (Simplified Chinese: 中国共产党; Traditional Chinese: 中國共産黨; Pinyin: Zhōngguó GòngchÇŽndÇŽng) is the ruling political party of the Peoples Republic of China. ... Combatants Chinese Nationalist Party Chinese Communist Party Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Mao Zedong Strength 3,600,000 circa June 1948 2,800,000 circa June 1948 The Chinese Civil War (Traditional Chinese: 國共内戰; Simplified Chinese: 国共内战; Pinyin: guógòng neìzhàn; literally Nationalist-Communist Civil War) was a conflict in... An editor has expressed a concern that the topic of this article may be unencyclopedic. ... North Korea, officially the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK; Korean: Chosŏn Minjujuŭi Inmin Konghwaguk; Hangul: 조선민주주의인민공화국; Hanja: 朝鮮民主主義人民共和國), is a country in eastern Asia, covering the northern half of the peninsula of Korea. ... June 25 is the 176th day of the year (177th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 189 days remaining. ... The United States Department of State, often referred to as the State Department, is the Cabinet-level foreign affairs agency of the United States government, equivalent to foreign ministries in other countries. ... Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. ... Dean Acheson Dean Gooderham Acheson (April 11, 1893 – October 12, 1971) was a United States Secretary of State under President Harry S. Truman. ... Combatants Western Allied/UN combatants: Republic of Korea United States United Kingdom Communist combatants: Democratic People’s Republic of Korea People’s Republic of China Soviet Union Commanders Douglas MacArthur Mark W. Clark Matthew Ridgway Jeong Il-Gwon Syngman Rhee Kim Il-sung, Peng Dehuai Strength Note: All figures may...

Failure in Korea

While he had followed faithfully President Truman's lead in imposing economy measures on the armed forces, Johnson received much of the blame for the initial setbacks in Korea. Johnson's failure to adequately plan for U.S. conventional force commitments or even to properly store surplus Army and Navy war fighting material for future use cost the nation dearly after war broke out on the Korean Peninsula.

In a initial response, Truman called for a naval blockade of North Korea, which proved only a 'paper' blockade after the president learned that the U.S. Navy did not have the ships with which to carry out his request.^[1] For FY 1951, Johnson supported Truman's recommendation of $13.3 billion, but a month after the fighting in Korea started, the secretary hastily proposed a supplemental appropriation request for $10.5 billion, (an increase of 79%), bringing the total requested to $23.8 billion. Johnson told a House subcommittee when recommending the supplemental that "in the light of the actual fighting that is now in progress, we have reached the point where the military considerations clearly outweigh the fiscal considerations." Combatants Western Allied/UN combatants: Republic of Korea United States United Kingdom Communist combatants: Democratic People’s Republic of Korea People’s Republic of China Soviet Union Commanders Douglas MacArthur Mark W. Clark Matthew Ridgway Jeong Il-Gwon Syngman Rhee Kim Il-sung, Peng Dehuai Strength Note: All figures may...

It was all too late. Army infantry forces hastily deployed to Korea proved short of everything needed to repel the well-equipped North Korean forces, from ammunition, to tank support, even 3.5-inch anti-tank rocket launchers needed to penetrate the armor of Soviet heavy tanks (unlike the United States, the Soviet Union kept its large World War II surplus inventories in readiness, and lavishly supplied the North Korean Army with heavy tanks, combat aircraft, and artillery).,^[2]

Faced with the results of previous budgets, Army officials found themselves frantically recovering rusted Sherman tanks from Pacific battlefields in order to recondition them in time to repel North Korean tanks. One tank, a war memorial, was even removed from its pedestal and hastily shipped to Korea. The Navy, now short of landing craft, had to keep its existing boats in constant operation, causing frequent breakdowns. While awaiting U.S. ground intervention, the South Korean Army and its U.S. advisors found themselves under attack from North Korean aircraft and waves of well-trained infantry equipped with heavy tanks. Having used most of its appropriation to build large atomic bombers, the Air Force found itself without modern jet attack aircraft with sufficient loiter capability over the Korean peninsula, and Air Force commanders were forced to take F-51 (P-51) propeller aircraft out of mothballs. Even those pilots flying existing U.S. jet interceptor aircraft from Japan such as the F-80 found themselves completely outclassed by Soviet MiG-15 fighter jets.

U.S. infantry forces deployed from Japan also lacked adequate training for the intense ground combat in Korea. The Eighth Army and U.S. occupation forces had long curtailed war exercises and training schedules to reduce costs and to reduce compensation paid to Japanese farmers (who demanded payment for tanks and trucks that ruined their fields on exercises). Because of the weakness of roads and bridges in Japan, where it had been based, the Eighth Army had only light tanks. In June 1950, the Army's 'battle-ready' infantry divisions were just 93 percent of authorized strength, a number itself already far reduced from their 18,900 war strength. Training and unit cohesion suffered from an annual turnover that exceeded 40 percent, and both equipment and ready-stored ammunition were in poor condition.

As a consequence, U.S. and U.N. forces were rapidly pushed down the Korean peninsula in the summer of 1950 in a steady series of retreats and withdrawals, losing considerable numbers of soldiers who were cut off and taken captive (most were summarily executed). Reservists and new inductees called to duty found themselves short everything from uniforms to rifles and ammunition.^[3] Ironically, only the U.S. Marine Corps, whose commanders had thoughtfully stored all of their World War II surplus equipment and weapons, proved ready for immediate deployment, though they still were in need of suitable landing craft.

U.S. reverses in Korea and the continued priority accorded to European security necessitated rapid, substantive changes in defense policy including a long-term expansion of the armed forces and more emphasis on the military buildup of U.S. allies. Truman decided that these tasks required new leadership in the Department of Defense. When Johnson resigned at Truman's request on September 19, 1950, the president replaced him with General George C. Marshall. September 19 is the 262nd day of the year (263rd in leap years). ... 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... George C. Marshall George Catlett Marshall (December 31, 1880–October 16, 1959), an American military leader and statesman, was born into a middle-class family in Uniontown, Pennsylvania. ...

Epilogue

Johnson returned to his law practice, which he pursued until his death in Washington at the age of 75. In his last speech as secretary of defense the day before he left office, Johnson observed: "When the hurly burly's done and the battle is won I trust the historian will find my record of performance creditable, my services honest and faithful commensurate with the trust that was placed in me and in the best interests of peace and our national defense."

Legacy

Johnson's tenure as secretary of defense was controversial at time of his service. He was considered by many at the time a purely political appointee with presidential ambitions of his own, and a man too willing to sacrifice the interests of the armed forces to those of President Truman.

At the time of his appointment Johnson met the president's political needs, but by September 1950, with the Korean conflict in full swing, he had become a distinct liability. Johnson's extreme budget-cutting policies as applied to conventional force readiness proved catastrophic with the outbreak of the Korean War, and led directly to unnecessary U.S. troop casualties when U.S. forces proved incapable of defending themselves against a well-armed North Korean Army. Johnson also received much criticism for his handling of the super-carrier controversy, continued interservice quarreling, and his continual differences with Acheson. Of all those who have served in the position of Secretary of Defense, many historians today rank him at the very bottom in terms of leadership and positive contributions to U.S. armed forces readiness. Interservice rivalry is a military term referring to rivalries that can arise between different branches of a countrys armed forces, such as between a nations land forces (army) and naval forces. ...

References

• Krulak, Victor H. (Lt. Gen.), First to Fight: An Inside View of the U.S. Marine Corps, Naval Institute Press (1999)
• Lane, Peter J., Steel for Bodies: Ammunition Readiness During the Korean War, Master's Thesis: U.S. Army Command and General Staff College (2003)
• McFarland, Keith D. and Roll, David L., Louis Johnson And the Arming of America: The Roosevelt And Truman Years (2005)
• Summers, Harry G. (Lt. Col.), The Korean War: A Fresh Perspective (1996)
• Wolk, Herman S., The Blueprint for Cold War Defense, Air Force Magazine (March 2000)

External links

• Original public domain biography from DoD
• Louis Johnson on Find-A-Grave
• Army shortages in the Korean War
• Johnson's attitude towards the U.S. Marine Corps

United States Secretaries of Defense
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