We enter a scene at a hearing on the powers of the Secretary of Defense in 1949. Senator Saltonstall asks Secretary of the Air Force Stuart Symington to clarify what he meant by arguing that Congress should not “restrict the administrative powers” of the Secretary of Defense.
A little background here. Herbert Hoover was put in charge of a Commission on government operations, and he selected Ferdinand Eberstadt to head the Task Force on defense. What existed in March of 1949 was still the “National Military Establishment,” which had a weak Secretary of Defense and operated with a board and committee structure of service representatives (e.g., Munitions Board, Joint Chiefs of Staff, R&D Board). Eberstadt thought that the boards were a “democratic” way to run the military. They would “coordinate” without authoritarian command. This was called the “passive view” of defense management.
Others, including Symington and Hoover himself, preferred strong administrators in place of the boards to do the Secretary of Defense’s bidding — “functional” assistant secretaries. They wanted unity of command, not an unwieldy committee structure which would turn into “horse trading pits.” They saw how completely hapless SecDef James Forrestal had been the previous two years. They advocated what was called the “active view” of defense management. So here we pick up with Symington:
Secretary Symington. Senator, may I burden you with a little story in that connection?
Senator Saltonstall. Your clarity of expression is always excellent.
Secretary Symington. Thank you, sir. Last summer somebody asked me to call on Mr. Hoover, President Hoover, and I did, and we had lunch together. The conversation ran into the farm-land problems, which I knew nothing about.
At the end of the lunch I said:
”Mr. President, all I hope is that your committee will take a word out of this Government situation which I think has cost the American people billions of dollars in its defense establishment. I say that with reservations to you, sir, because the high priest of that word has been the head of your task force for the investigation of the Military Establishment.”
He asked, “What is the word?” I said, “Coordination.” He said, “Would you add ‘liaison’ to that?” And I said, “Yes, I suppose so.”
Mr. Hoover said, “What word would you substitute?” And I said, “administration.” He said, “Well, at the end of the last war or there-abouts President Wilson asked me on the phone if I would run the food business and I said that I thought I might, after we talked it over; and I came down and Mr. Wilson had a lot of committees and councils and charts and staffs, and he said, ‘Hoover, this is the way I want to see it done.’ We went all over it.”
”After Mr. Wilson got through, I said, ‘That is very interesting, but I think you can be sure I am not the right man to handle this job.’ Mr. Wilson said, “Why not?” and I said, “Well, because things that I have run in the past I have run. I have been given the authority along with the responsibility; and under all this set-up I couldn’t be sure that the situation would go the way I felt it would be necessary to go.’ Mr. Wilson said, ‘Let’s discuss it,’ and after further discussion, he said, ‘I will accept you position on it. What would you like to call yourself?’”
Mr. Hoover said, “I don’t want any highfaluting title of any kind. Why don’t you just call me an administrator.”
He said, “Symington, to the best of my knowledge, that is the first time the word was ever used in the American Government.”
I said, “Mr. Hoover, this is why I came in. Thank you for a very pleasant lunch.”
That is my position.
Later in 1949, there was an amendment to the National Security Act which strengthened the authority of the Secretary of Defense. The boards still continued to exist for another four years, but they were all given a chairman that reported directly to the SecDef. He was also given 3 assistant secretaries of defense. Eventually, in 1953, most of the boards were turned into Assistant Secretaries of Defense, following the administrator route that Symington desired.
Source: National Security Act Amendments of 1949. Hearing before the Committee on Armed Services United States Senate, Eighty-First Congress, First Session on S. 1269 and S. 18943. March 24 – May 6, 1949. United States Government Printing Press, Washington: 1949.
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