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A BILL TO PROMOTE THE NATIONAL SECURITY BY PROVIDING
FOR A NATIONAL DEFENSE ESTABLISHMENT WHICH SHALL
BE ADMINISTERED BY A SECRETARY OF NATIONAL DEFENSE,
AND FOR A DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY, A DEPARTMENT OF
THE NAVY, AND A DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE WITHIN
THE NATIONAL DEFENSE ESTABLISHMENT, AND FOR THE
COORDINATION OF THE ACTIVITIES OF THE NATIONAL DE-
FENSE ESTABLISHMENT WITH OTHER DEPARTMENTS AND
AGENCIES OF THE GOVERNMENT CONCERNED WITH
THE NATIONAL SECURITY

60266

PART 1

MARCH 18, 20, 25, 26, APRIL 1, 2, AND 3, 1947

Printed for the use of the Committee on Armed Services

UNITED STATES
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

WASHINGTON: 1947

COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES

CHAN GURNEY, South Dakota, Chairman

STYLES BRIDGES, New Hampshire
EDWARD V. ROBERTSON, Wyoming
GEORGE A. WILSON, Iowa

LEVERETT SALTONSTALL, Massachusetts
WAYNE MORSE, Oregon

RAYMOND E. BALDWIN, Connecticut

MILLARD E. TYDINGS, Maryland
RICHARD B. RUSSELL, Georgia
HARRY FLOOD BYRD, Virginia
LISTER HILL, Alabama

HARLEY M. KILGORE, West Virginia
BURNET R. MAYBANK, South Carolina

JOHN G. ADAMS, Clerk

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Patterson, Hon. Robert P., Secretary of War__

Sherman, Vice Admiral Forrest, United States Navy-
Spaatz, Gen. Carl, commanding general, Army Air Forces-
Symington, Hon. W Stuart, Assistant Secretary of War for Air.
Zuckert, Eugene M., Special Assistant to Secretary of War..

129

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Draft of proposed bill submitted by the President, February 26,

1947_

21

Letter of Secretary of Navy Forrestal to Senator Gurney (March 19,
1947) in response to questions put by Senator Tydings at committee
hearing regarding Cabinet attendance during wartime..
Statement of the Honorable Robert P. Patterson, Secretary of War.
Original law establishing War Department...-
Original law establishing Navy Department..

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NATIONAL DEFENSE

ESTABLISHMENT-UNIFICATION

OF THE ARMED FORCES

TUESDAY, MARCH 18, 1947

UNITED STATES SENATE, COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES, Washington, D. C.

The committee met at 10:30 a. m., pursuant to call, in the main caucus room of the Senate Office Building, Senator Chan Gurney (chairman) presiding.

Present: Senators Gurney (presiding), Bridges, Morse, Baldwin, Tydings, Russell, Byrd, and Hill.

The CHAIRMAN. The committee will come to order.

The Armed Services Committee is meeting this morning to hear the Secretaries of Navy and War on the unification bill presently before us, known as S. 758.

We are also glad to have with us this morning, visiting the committee, the chairman of the Military Affairs Committee of the Senate, Senator Thomas of Utah, who has spent a great deal of time on this proposal last year and the year before. We are glad to have you with us, Senator.

At the start of the record of the hearing this morning, I think it would be well that we incorporate a chronological statement of the hearings and efforts that have been made on bills seeking to accomplish the unification of the armed forces since the inception of the idea in the spring of 1944, when the first proposal went to the House Committee on Postwar Military Policy. This was followed after that by a special committee of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in April of 1945, and that was followed by the Eberstadt plan. Then plans were presented by the War Department at the hearings of the Senate Committee on Military Affairs, and the President's proposals of December 1945. This was followed by the Thomas-Hill-Austin bill, S. 2044. Then of course there was the President's plan of last June, that is June of 1946, and the draft of a proposed bill was submitted to the Congress finally on February 26, 1947.

Before we print the bill in the record, I believe it would be well to print the message from the President of January 16, 1947, at which time he sent to Congress the voluntary agreement signed by the Secretaries of the Army and Navy, the Executive order that followed, and the printing of the bill that is presently before us.

Then I would like to have follow in the record this chronological statement of what has happened, with a brief summary of all of the proposals that have heretofore come before the committees of the Senate and the House. This analysis is prepared by the Legislative Reference Service.

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