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Encyclopedia > Thomas S. Gates Jr.

Thomas Sovereign Gates, Jr. (10 April 1906 - 25 March 1983) was United States Secretary of Defense from 1959 to 1961 under President Eisenhower. He was promoted from deputy secretary of defense. During his tenure, he established a task force to set nuclear target priorities. He also authorized U-2 reconnaissance flights, including the flight of Francis Gary Powers. Source: US DoD (www. ... April 10 is the 100th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (101st in leap years). ... 1906 (MCMVI) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... March 25 is the 84th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (85th in leap years). ... 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) is a common year starting on Saturday 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. ... 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Dwight David Ike Eisenhower (October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American soldier and politician. ... The U-2 is a single-seat, single-engine, high-altitude Surveillance aircraft flown by the United States Air Force. ... Francis Gary Powers (August 17, 1929 - August 1, 1977) was the American pilot whose U-2 plane was shot down while over the Soviet Union, thus causing the U-2 Crisis of 1960. ...

Contents


Early life

He was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania, the son of Thomas S. Gates Sr., an investment banker who was president of the University of Pennsylvania from 1930 to 1944. Gates graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1928, then joined the investment banking firm of Drexel and Company in Philadelphia and became a partner in 1940. During World War II he served in the Navy, rose to the rank of lieutenant commander, and participated in campaigns in the Pacific and Mediterranean areas. He was released from active duty in October 1945. Germantown is the name of five places in the State of Pennsylvania and a neighborhood in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Germantown, Adams County, Pennsylvania Germantown, Cambria County, Pennsylvania Germantown, Columbia County, Pennsylvania Germantown, Franklin County, Pennsylvania Germantown, Pike County, Pennsylvania See also: Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania This is a disambiguation page — a navigational... Investment banks assist corporations in raising funds in the public markets (both equity and debt), as well as provide strategic advisory services for mergers, acquisitions and other types of transactions. ... The University of Pennsylvania (Penn is the nickname used by the university itself; UPenn is also common) is a private, nonsectarian, research university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ... 1930 (MCMXXX) is a common year starting on Wednesday. ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... The University of Pennsylvania (Penn is the nickname used by the university itself; UPenn is also common) is a private, nonsectarian, research university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ... 1928 (MCMXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Philadelphia is a village located in Jefferson County, New York. ... 1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... World War II was a truly global conflict with many facets: immense human suffering, fierce indoctrination, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons such as the atomic bomb. ... The United States Navy (USN) is the branch of the United States armed forces responsible for naval operations. ... In the Royal Navy, United States Navy and United States Coast Guard, a lieutenant commander (lieutenant-commander or Lt Cdr in the RN) is a commissioned officer superior to a lieutenant and inferior to a commander. ... The Pacific Theater of Operations (PTO) is the term used in the United States for all military activity in the Pacific Ocean and the countries bordering it, during World War II. Pacific War is a more common name, around the world, for the broader conflict between the Allies and Japan... The Mediterranean region. ... In the United States military active duty refers to military members who are currently serving full time in their military capacity. ... 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ...


Political career

President Eisenhower appointed Gates Under Secretary of the Navy in October 1953 and Secretary on 1 April 1957, positions in which he earned the president's approval. It was a foregone conclusion when Gates became Defense Secretary Neil McElroy's deputy on 8 June 1959 that he would succeed him. He entered office with an impressive background of active military experience and more than six years in the Department of Defense. 1953 (MCMLIII) is a common year starting on Thursday. ... Flag of the United States Secretary of the Navy. ... April 1 is the 91st day of the year (92nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 274 days remaining. ... 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Neil Hosler McElroy (30 October 1904 - 30 November 1972) was United States Secretary of Defense from 1957 to 1959 under President Eisenhower. ... The United States Department of Defense, abbreviated DoD or DOD and sometimes called the Defense Department, is a civilian Cabinet organization of the United States government. ...


As a top-level DoD official since 1953, Gates was familiar with the 1953 and 1958 Defense Department reorganizations. Believing that the Secretary of Defense had all the authority he needed and that time should be allowed for evaluation of the long range effects of the 1958 amendments, he discouraged efforts to further revamp the department. As a former secretary of the Navy who had observed the gradual downgrading of service secretary positions, he felt that the service secretaries should play a more important role, and he encouraged them to do so. The Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1958 is an American law which was created to provide for more effective administration for the Department of Defense (DoD). ... Flag of the United States Secretary of the Navy. ...


Gates cultivated a good working relationship with the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Less than a month after becoming secretary, he reminded the chiefs of their responsibility to apprise him of disputes and proposed to meet with them in order to expedite settlement or bring the issue to the president's attention for final resolution. Soon Gates and the JCS met on a regular basis, not just in instances when the Chiefs disagreed. Congressional and other sources applauded Gates for taking the initiative in improving both the JCS organization and the secretary's relations with it. Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States of America symbol The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JSC) is a panel comprising the highest-ranking members of each major branch of the armed services in any particular country. ...


Another important Gates initiative was the creation in August 1960 of the Joint Strategic Target Planning Staff (JSTPS). Previously, inadequate coordination of targeting plans between the Strategic Air Command and the Navy led to redundancy and disputed priorities. These differences became especially significant with the advent of the Navy's sea-based Polaris ballistic missiles. Acting on a proposal by SAC Commander in Chief General Thomas S. Power that SAC control strategic weapons targeting, Gates set up the JSTPS. The SAC commander, supported by an integrated joint staff, assumed separate duties as director of strategic target planning, to be, as Gates indicated, "the planning agent for the Joint Chiefs of Staff in developing and keeping up to date the detailed plans which are necessary." When Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Arleigh A. Burke objected to the new arrangement, Gates encouraged him to argue his case with President Eisenhower, who ultimately upheld Gates's decision. Thereafter Burke supported the JSTPS and assigned to it highly qualified naval officers. By December 1960 the JSTPS had prepared the first Single Integrated Operational Plan (SIOP), which specified for various attack options the timing, weapons, delivery systems, and targets to be used by U.S. strategic forces. Information regarding the film Strategic Air Command may be found under a separate article The Strategic Air Command or SAC was the branch of the United States Air Force in charge of Americas bomber-based and ballistic missile-based strategic nuclear arsenal, as well as the infrastructure necessary to... The Polaris Missile was a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) carrying a nuclear warhead developed during the Cold War for the United States Navy. ... The Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) is the senior military officer in the United States Navy. ... Admiral is a word from the Arabic term Amir-al-bahr (Lord of the bay). ... Admiral Arleigh Burke in 1951 Arleigh Albert Burke (October 19, 1901 _ January 1, 1996), an Admiral of the United States Navy during World War II and the Korean War, was born far from the sea in Boulder, Colorado. ...


Gates devoted more time than Wilson and McElroy to the development of basic defense policy, a sphere in which the president remained dominant. While he instituted no radical departure from the New Look approach, the changing nature of nuclear weapons and delivery systems, the related assumed need for continental defense systems, and the pressing question of how to respond to local or "limited" wars, dictated a gradual shift in defense policy. As Gates pointed out at a congressional hearing in January 1960, the two principal U.S. defense objectives were "to deter the outbreak of general war by maintaining and improving our present capability to retaliate with devastating effectiveness in case of a major attack upon us or our allies" and "to maintain, together with our allies, a capability to apply to local situations the degree of force necessary to deter local wars, or to win or contain them promptly if they do break out." Gates saw no clear distinction between general war and limited war forces. As he put it, "All forces are a deterrent to and would be employed in a general war. Most of our forces could be employed in a limited war, if required." He noted as an example that aircraft carriers "are probably the country's best limited war capability initially because they are deployed in the world's trouble zones and they have on-the-spot ability to react"; yet, he added, they could contribute to the strategic offensive forces during general war.


During Gates's tenure two missile elements-the ICBM and the submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM)-joined the manned bomber to form a "triad" of strategic nuclear delivery systems. Also during this period, there occurred movement toward greater emphasis on counterforce targeting a potential enemy's military installations and forces. Not only was the United States developing or beginning to deploy a variety of missile systems during this period-Atlas, Titan, Minuteman, and Polaris-but so was the Soviet Union. The USSR's emphasis on the land-based ICBM rather than the manned bomber as its primary strategic delivery system presaged a threat of such magnitude to the United States that, together with the Sputnik shock, it forced an acceleration in the pace of U.S. missile development. A bomber is a military aircraft designed to attack ground targets, primarily by dropping bombs. ... Mercury Atlas 9 rocket and capsule on pad The Atlas is a venerable line of space launch vehicles built by Lockheed Martin. ... Titan is a family of U.S. expendable rockets. ... The LGM-30 Minuteman is a United States nuclear missile, a land-based intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) (the other type is the LG-118A Peacekeeper, which is to be phased out by 2005). ... A Minuteman III missile soars after a test launch. ... Sputnik 1 The Sputnik program was a series of unmanned space missions launched by the Soviet Union in the late 1950s to demonstrate the viability of artificial satellites. ...


Gates, like McElroy, had to contend with the "missile gap" controversy. He regarded it as a false issue, based on the failure of missile gap believers to distinguish between space and military programs. When the U.S. long-range ballistic missile program began in the early 1950s, Gates observed, the development of small, lightweight nuclear warheads by American scientists made it possible for smaller ballistic missiles to carry them. The Russians, on the other hand, concentrated on very large boosters that they used to launch space satellites earlier than the United States. Gates told a House committee, "We are not behind the Russians in our military effort overall . . . . It is one thing to admit you are behind in the ability to put big payloads in space for which we have at the moment no military requirement, and another thing to admit that we are behind in our total military posture." Gates conceded that the Soviets might have more strategic missiles than the United States for a few years, perhaps peaking in 1962, but he denied that there was a real missile or deterrent gap; the Soviets would not "gain a strategic posture which might tempt them to initiate a surprise attack." Gates based his thinking in part on a debatable approach to intelligence estimates, which took account of Soviet intentions as well as capabilities, leading to the conclusion that the disparity between the number of Soviet and U.S. missiles by 1962 or 1963 would not be as great as estimated during the McElroy period. The missile gap was the perceived discrepancy between the number and power of the weapons in the USSR and US ballistic missile arsenals during the Cold War. ... Human spaceflight is space exploration with a human crew, and possibly passengers (in contrast to unmanned space missions, which are remotely-controlled or robotic space probes). ... A booster in space-related applications is usually a solid rocket booster: a solid fuel rocket of which two or more are attached to the main rocket to provide the main thrust in the initial phase of the rockets flight. ... Deterrence is the method manipulating a persons action by negative motivational influences. ...


Like all of his predecessors, Gates supported U.S. participation in collective security pacts and military assistance programs. He identified NATO as the nucleus of the U.S. "forward strategy." As he put it, "Should we ever abandon our forward strategy in favor of the so-called 'Fortress America' concept, we would retreat forever." He urged Congress to continue adequate funding for military assistance, which had brought very high returns for the money spent. Collective Security is a system for aspiring for peace in which participants agree that any breach of the peace is to be declared to be of concern to all the participating states, and will result in a collective response. ... The NATO flag NATO 2002 Summit in Prague The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), sometimes called North Atlantic Alliance, Atlantic Alliance or the Western Alliance, is an international organisation for defence collaboration established in 1949, in support of the North Atlantic Treaty signed in Washington, D.C., on April 4... Fortress America is a strategic board game published in 1986 by Milton Bradley. ...


Perhaps the most spectacular event of Gates's administration occurred on 1 May 1960 when the Soviet Union shot down over its territory a U-2 reconnaissance aircraft piloted by Francis Gary Powers. When Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev announced the incident four days later and accused the United States of spying, the Eisenhower administration initially suggested that the plane might have strayed into Soviet airspace. On the recommendation of representatives from the State and Defense departments, including Gates, President Eisenhower later admitted that the U-2 was on an intelligence-gathering mission (actually under CIA control) and assumed responsibility for the flight. In mid-May Gates accompanied Eisenhower to Paris for a summit meeting that had been scheduled prior to the U-2 affair. There Khrushchev demanded termination of all U.S. flights over the Soviet Union, an apology, and punishment of those responsible. Eisenhower indicated that the flights would not be resumed but rejected the other demands, whereupon Khrushchev refused to proceed with the summit meeting. Gates suggested later that the Russian leader used the U-2 crisis to abort a meeting that he had determined in advance would not result in gains for the Soviet Union. Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchof (Khrushchev) (Russian: Ники́та Серге́евич Хрущёв listen â–¶(?), April 17, 1894 â€“ September 11, 1971) was the leader of the Soviet Union after the death of Joseph Stalin. ... Airspace means the portion of the atmosphere controlled by a particular country on top of its territory and territorial waters or, more generally, any specific portion of the atmosphere. ... 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. ... The CIA Seal The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is an American intelligence agency, responsible for obtaining and analyzing information about foreign governments, corporations, and individuals, and reporting such information to the various branches of the U.S. Government. ... The Eiffel Tower has become a symbol of Paris throughout the world. ... This page is a candidate to be copied to Wiktionary. ...


On the eve of the summit conference, Gates ordered a worldwide alert of U.S. military communications facilities a decision criticized by some as provocative. Stoutly defending his action, Gates later explained that he decided, with the concurrence of Eisenhower and Secretary of State Christian A. Herter, to call the alert when he became aware of the belligerent position Khrushchev intended to take when the summit convened the next day. "Under the circumstances," Gates said, "it seemed most prudent to me to increase the awareness of our unified commanders. Moreover, since the command and individuals concerned in the decision process, including the President, the Secretary of State, and myself, were overseas, it was important to check out our military communications." Portrait of U.S. Secretary of State Christian Herter Christian Archibald Herter (March 28, 1895–December 30, United States politician and statesman, governor of Massachusetts, and Secretary of State 1959-1961. ...


Although Gates adhered to the usual budget posture and strategy of the Eisenhower administration, there was 8.2 percent real growth in DoD's fiscal year 1961 budget after Congress completed its work. Total obligational authority amounted to $44.6 billion, almost $4.4 billion over the previous year. The bulk of the increase went to the Navy and the Air Force. Gates pressed for an appropriation of $2 billion for military assistance, most of which Congress provided. To criticism of the Eisenhower administration's continuing efforts to hold down the DoD budget, Gates replied that the department was spending enough money to meet the nation's vital security needs. The United States Air Force (USAF) is the aviation branch of the United States armed forces. ... Security measures taken to protect the Houses of Parliament in London, England. ...


In a lengthy statement entitled "Department of Defense, 1953-1960," prepared at the close of Gates's tenure, the Department of Defense summarized its accomplishments during the Eisenhower years, concluding that "today our armed forces have the greatest striking power in our history, many times greater than in 1953." Among other accomplishments, it cited development of medium- and long-range bombers (including the B-52s put into service during the 1950s) and ICBMs; installation of a continental defense system the Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line, the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS), and Nike surface-to-air missile systems; production of several nuclear submarines, beginning with the Nautilus in 1954, and Forrestal-type carriers; and creation of the Defense Communications Agency. A B-52 in flight The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is a long-range strategic bomber flown by the United States Air Force since 1952, replacing the Convair B-36 and the Boeing B-47. ... A rough map of the three warning lines The Distant Early Warning Line, also known as the DEW Line or Early Warning Line, was a system of radar stations in the far northern Arctic region of Canada, with additional stations along the North Coast and Aleutian Islands of Alaska, in... Launch of a Nike Zeus missile Project Nike was a US Army project, proposed in May 1945 by Bell Labs, to develop a line-of-sight anti-aircraft missile system. ... A surface-to-air missile (SAM) is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft. ... USS Los Angeles A submarine is a specialized watercraft that can operate underwater. ... Species Allonautilus perforatus Allonautilus scrobiculatus Nautilus belauensis Nautilus macromphalus Nautilus pompilius pompilius Nautilus pompilius suluensis Nautilus stenomphalus The nautilus is a marine creature of the class Cephalopoda. ... 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). ... The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), formerly known as the Defense Communications Agency is a combat support agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for planning, developing, fielding, operating, and supporting command, control, communications, and information systems that serve the needs of the President, the Secretary of Defense...


Gates retired from office on 20 January 1961. There were those who regarded him as the first of a new breed of secretaries of defense who would take a more active management approach evidenced by his regular meetings with the JCS and establishment of the Joint Strategic Target Planning Staff. Gates, of course, had the advantages of long prior service in DoD and the expanded authority of the office resulting from the 1953 and 1958 reorganizations. Although President Eisenhower continued to be, as during the Wilson and McElroy periods, the chief author of defense policy and the ultimate decision-maker, Gates appeared to operate with more authority and independence than his immediate predecessors, especially in areas such as strategic policy and planning. It is notable that after John F. Kennedy's election to the presidency in 1960 the press speculated that he might include a Republican in his cabinet and that if so, Gates would be high on the list of possible appointees. For other uses, see JFK (disambiguation) or John Kennedy (disambiguation). ... The Republican Party, often called the GOP (for Grand Old Party, although one early citation described it as the Gallant Old Party) [1], is one of the two major political parties in the United States. ...


Later career

After he left The Pentagon, Gates joined Morgan and Company in New York, later the Morgan Guaranty Trust Company, becoming president in 1962 and chairman and [[chief executive officer in 1965. President Richard M. Nixon appointed him chairman of the Advisory Commission on an All-Volunteer Force, which presented its influential report in November 1969. In 1976-77 he served, with the rank of ambassador, as chief of the United States Liaison Office in the People's Republic of China. He died in Philadelphia at age 76 on 25 March 1983. A pre-9/11 view of The Pentagon, looking east with the Potomac River and Washington Monument in the distance. ... JPMorgan Chase & Co. ... Order: 37th President Vice President: Spiro Agnew (1969–1973), Gerald R. Ford (1973–1974) Term of office: January 20, 1969 – August 9, 1974 Preceded by: Lyndon B. Johnson Succeeded by: Gerald R. Ford Date of birth: January 9, 1913 Place of birth: Yorba Linda, California Date of death: April 22... An ambassador, rarely embassador, is a diplomatic official accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization, to serve as the official representative of his or her own country. ...


The Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser USS Thomas S. Gates (CG-51) is named after the late Secretary of Defense. It is the only such cruiser not named after a historic battle. This could mean: Ticonderoga class cruiser or Ticonderoga class aircraft carrier This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... A guided missile is a military rocket that can be directed in flight to change its flight path. ... USS Port Royal, a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser, launched in 1994. ... Categories: Stub | Ticonderoga class cruisers ...


Reference

  • DoD Biography
Preceded by:
Charles S. Thomas
United States Secretary of the Navy
1957–1959
Succeeded by:
William B. Franke
Preceded by:
Neil H. McElroy
United States Secretary of Defense
1959–1961
Succeeded by:
Robert McNamara
United States Secretaries of Defense Seal of the United States Department of Defense
Johnson | Marshall | Lovett | Wilson | McElroy | Gates | McNamara | Clifford | Laird | Richardson | Schlesinger | Rumsfeld | Brown | Weinberger | Carlucci | Cheney | Aspin | Perry | Cohen | Rumsfeld


 

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