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Robert Abercrombie Lovett (14 September 1895 - 7 May 1986) was the fourth United States Secretary of Defense, serving in the cabinet of President Harry S. Truman from 1951 to 1953 and in this capacity, directed the Korean War. He was promoted to the position from deputy secretary of defense. Image File history File links Robert_A._Lovett. ...
Image File history File links Robert_A._Lovett. ...
September 14 is the 257th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (258th in leap years). ...
1895 (MDCCCXCV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ...
May 7 is the 127th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (128th in leap years). ...
1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian 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. ...
For the pop band, see Presidents of the United States of America. ...
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. ...
1951 (MCMLI) was a common year starting on Monday; see its calendar. ...
1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link is to a full 1953 calendar). ...
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...
Early life The son of R.S. Lovett, president and chairman of the board of the Union Pacific Railroad, Lovett was born in Huntsville, Texas. He was a member of the Skull and Bones society at Yale University where he graduated in 1918 and took postgraduate courses in law and business administration at Harvard University between 1919 and 1921. As a naval ensign during World War I, Lovett flew for a time with the British Naval Air Service on patrol and combat missions and then commanded a U.S. naval air squadron, rising to the rank of lieutenant commander. Huntsville is a city and also a newly designated micropolitan area located in the U.S. state of Texas within Walker County. ...
Emblem of the Skull and Bones society Skull and Bones is one of the secret societies based at Yale University, in New Haven, Connecticut. ...
Yale redirects here. ...
1918 (MCMXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. ...
See also Portal:Law The stela of King Hammurabi depicts the god Shamash revealing a code of laws to the king. ...
Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a tertiary degree in business management. ...
Harvard University campus (old map) Harvard University (incorporated as The President and Fellows of Harvard College) is an accredited private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. ...
Combatants Allied Powers: British Empire French Empire Italy Russian Empire Kingdom of Serbia United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary Bulgaria German Empire Ottoman Empire Commanders Douglas Haig Sir John Jellicoe Ferdinand Foch Nikolay II Nikolay Yudenich Radomir Putnik Woodrow Wilson John Pershing Wilhelm II Reinhard Scheer Franz Josef I Oskar...
Lovett began his business career as a clerk at the National Bank of Commerce in New York and later moved to Brown Brothers Harriman and Company, where he eventually became a partner and a prominent member of the New York business community. He remained interested in aeronautics, especially in European commercial and military aviation. Categories: Possible copyright violations ...
Early government career In December 1940 Lovett accepted appointment as special assistant to Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson, and four months later became assistant secretary of war for air. He served with distinction, overseeing the massive expansion of the Army Air Forces and the procurement of huge numbers of aircraft during World War II. In awarding Lovett the Distinguished Service Medal in September 1945, President Harry Truman wrote: "He has truly been the eyes, ears and hands of the Secretary of War in respect to the growth of that enormous American airpower which has astonished the world and played such a large part in bringing the war to a speedy and successful conclusion." 1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1940 calendar). ...
The Secretary of War was a member of the Presidents Cabinet, beginning with George Washingtons administration. ...
Henry L. Stimson Henry Lewis Stimson (September 21, 1867 – October 20, 1950) was an American statesman, who served as Secretary of War, Governor-General of the Philippines, and Secretary of State at various times. ...
Combatants Allies: Soviet Union United Kingdom United States and others Axis Powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Franklin Roosevelt Joseph Stalin Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000,000 Total dead: 50,000,000 Military dead: 8,000...
This article concerns Distinguished Service Medals which are issued by the United States of America. ...
1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1945 calendar). ...
For the victim of Mt. ...
After leaving the War Department in December 1945 Lovett returned to Brown Brothers Harriman, only to be called back to Washington a little more than a year later to serve with General George Marshall as under secretary of state. Lovett went back to his investment business in January 1949, but Marshall insisted that he join him again when he took over at the Pentagon in September 1950. As deputy secretary of defense, Lovett played a critical role in the management of the department and he was instrumental in the creation of the CIA. This article is about the general and statesman. ...
A pre-9/11 view of The Pentagon, looking east with the Potomac River and Washington Monument in the distance. ...
Secretary of Defense When Lovett became secretary of defense, the end of the Korean War was not yet in sight. Thus the long-range rearmament program continued to be one of his main concerns. Like Marshall, Lovett believed that the United States erred seriously at the end of World War II: "We did not just demobilize . . . we just disintegrated." As secretary of defense he designed a rearmament program intended both to meet the demands of the Korean conflict and to serve as a deterrent and mobilization base in future military emergencies. As Lovett put it, "Heretofore this country has only had two throttle settings one, wide-open for war, and the other, tight-shut for peace. What we are really trying to do is to find a cruising speed."
Lovett therefore argued for budgets large enough to carry on the Korean conflict and to improve U.S. defensive strength. In his main budget effort during his 16 months in office he sought to secure adequate funds for FY 1953. Lovett eventually reduced initial service requests of about $71 billion to $49 billion, which the president and the Bureau of the Budget cut further to $48.6 billion, the amount requested of Congress. Lovett argued strenuously against additional congressional cuts, emphasizing the need to expand Army, Navy, and Marine Corps forces and to work toward a goal of 143 Air Force wings (as compared with 95 then authorized). Lovett did not get all that he wanted. Actual TOA for FY 1953 came to about $44.2 billion, almost $13 billion less than the previous year. Lovett's efforts to meet rearmament and preparedness goals suffered in 1952 from a major dispute between the federal government and the steel industry. Truman tried to avert a threatened strike, caused mainly by a wage dispute, by taking over the steel mills in April 1952. The strike occurred after the Supreme Court overruled Truman's seizure order. Lovett supported the president's action as essential to maintaining defense production and expressed serious concern about the strike's effects on the nation's military capabilities. Even so, he noted that "the last six months of 1952 saw the most significant increases in the military effectiveness of the United States since the beginning of partial mobilization." By the end of the Truman administration, the Defense Department had met successfully the challenges of the Korean War mobilization and embarked on a long-term preparedness effort.
Besides the preparedness issue, Lovett inherited a number of other matters that were still unresolved in the early 1950s, including the proper military role of nuclear weapons. In 1951 Sen. Brien McMahon of Connecticut led the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy in endorsing a resolution urging DoD to expand the atomic weapons program. Lovett noted that the department accorded such weapons a prominent place in its planning and budget requests. His proposal for increased funds for the Air Force, in fact, recognized that aircraft represented the most efficient delivery method for atomic weapons. But he warned against premature reliance on them: "There is no new, inexpensive, or magic way to win wars in the near future. We must be able to defend ourselves and to win battles with tested, available armaments. . . . Any premature adoption of the most modern but untried weapons and devices could lead to possible disaster."
Lovett's stands on the nuclear weapons question and other major military issues generally followed those of his predecessors. He strongly supported universal military training, regarding it as the only viable long-term approach to building a reserve force, and thus making possible a smaller regular military establishment. A firm proponent of NATO, he played an important role when the NATO Council in February 1952 adopted force goals totaling 50 divisions and 4,000 aircraft to be achieved at the end of 1952. Lovett endorsed enthusiastically the council's decision to admit Turkey and Greece as new NATO members. He supported the Mutual Security Program, viewing it as an important and integral part of the U.S. defense effort and as vital to future NATO effectiveness. Reliance on unilateral security rather than mutual security would require a tremendous commitment in manpower and funds without guaranteeing the nation's safety.
Despite a relatively smooth administration, Lovett felt a growing dissatisfaction with the existing defense organization. Although he recognized that real unification could result only from an evolutionary process and not legislative edict, as the end of his term approached he discerned the need for changes in the National Security Act beyond those made in 1949. Commenting about unification at a press conference a week before he left office, Lovett observed that the Department of Defense would have to be reorganized substantially if the United States became involved in a major conflict. He put forward his recommendations in a long letter to President Truman on 18 November 1952, proposing clarification of the secretary of defense's relationship to the president, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the military departments; redefinition of JCS functions; reorganization of the military departments; and reorganization and redefinition of the functions of the Munitions Board and the Research and Development Board.
Lovett meant his recommendations for practical consideration by his successor, and they indeedplayed an important role in the formulation of a reorganization plan during the early months of the Eisenhower administration. Concerned about the need for an orderly post-election changeover in the Department of Defense, Lovett met several times during the transition period with the incoming secretary, Charles E. Wilson, and made sure that he was thoroughly briefed on current issues.
Later life After Lovett left office on 20 January 1953, he returned again to Brown Brothers Harriman, where he remained active as a general partner for many years. Robert Lovett has been recognized as one of the most capable administrators to hold the office of secretary of defense and as a perceptive critic of defense organization. His work in completing the Korean War mobilization and in planning and implementing the long-range rearmament program, as well as his proposals to restructure the Department of Defense, were among his major contributions. Following the 1960 presidential election, Lovett declined the offer of a Cabinet post from President-elect John F. Kennedy, citing health reasons. In 1963, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Lovett died in Locust Valley, New York, on 7 May 1986. John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to as John F. Kennedy, JFK or Jack Kennedy, was the 35th President of the United States. ...
1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1963 calendar). ...
The Presidential Medal of Freedom The Presidential Medal of Freedom is one of the two highest civilian awards in the United States, considered the equivalent of the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor. ...
Locust Valley is a census-designated place located in Nassau County, New York, USA. As of the 2000 census, the CDP had a total population of 3,521. ...
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