Page:Legislative History of the AAF and USAF.djvu/62

 �This Page Declassified lAW EO12958 USAI imOR[CAL Srnms -- 55 rogatxves was contrary to the desire of the Army to ln'mi severely the amphibious fune- taons of the Marine Corps.  Following the President's letter of 15 June to its chairman, the Senate Committee on Md[tary Affairs revised the Thomas Bfil, S. 2044. No agreement was reached on the bill, however, and, as Mr. Truman said he would not press the measure further at that session, it was not brought up on either floor of Congress/' In July 1946 two events whmh gave a boost to the program to unify the services occurred. The events were the Bikim tests and the report to the President of the United States Strategic Bombing Survey. On ! July 1946 a B-29 dropped an atomic bomb n a target fleet at Blklm Atoll spxte the fact that the bomb was reported to have missed the bullseye and to have ex- ploded at a different level than rotended, the blast damaged or sank 59 of the ships; shps a mile from the center of the blast were burned and blackened The sec- ond test, an underwater atomic explosion, was even more destructive. Although only 12 ships were sunk, rachoactivity made the vessels near the center of the target area unapproachable or 5 day after the plomon. Yet, according to aeronautical gineers present, radioactiwty failed to af- fect the characteristics of tadre-controlled planes m flight over the area One result of the Brioni tests was, at the least, to dnnin- ish confidence in the effectiveness of sur- face fleets in future wars and to enhance the importance of air power and its role as the first line of defense v The program to umfy the armed forces was given an addtmrml boost on 25 July 1946 by the report of the Urnted States Bombing Survey. The comrnis- tort to President Truman indorsed )osal to set up a single cabinet de- )artment to have jurisdictmn over the the Navy, and a separate Air Force. It advocated that the Air Force should be given pnmarj res9onsiblhty for and active defense against long- range ataek on our ethos, mduskqes and other substantial resources, or strutogre attack, whether by arplane or guided silo; and for all ant umts other than car- tier air and such land-based air units as can be more effective as component par of the Army or Navy. s In the fall and wmter of 1946-47 the War and Navy Departments finally worked out a plan of unification. In a joint letter to the President on 16 January 1947, Forresal and Patterson announced the program of uni- fication Iegislation on which they had agreed  This program was to be incorpor- ated in the Natrenal Security Act of 1947. The Forrestal-Patterson agreement was implemented wea General Laurie Norstad and Admiral Forrest P. Sherman, working with representatives from the Office of the President, drew up the actual text of a proposed law. On 27 February 194, Secre- tary Forfestal sent to each house of Con- gress a copy of the completed draft, entitled the "Natrenal Security Act of 1947" Presi- dent Truman gave it his approval, noting that it had been endorsed by the Secretary o War, the Secretary of Navy, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It was shortly after- wards introduced in the Senate and House of Representatives as 8,58 and HR. 2319 respectively  The administration-sponsored brits had some competxton from three other unnfica- tion bills presented m this session of Con- gress, but these soon dropped by the way- side. H.R. 2319 and S 58 were subjected to extensive committee hearings, and their un- derlying principles were favored by a ma- jority of those who testified at the hearings. S. 758 was subjected to some sharp criti- cism, however, by members of Congress who felt that the proposed Secretary of Defense was given almost dictatorial powers Some naval aviation and Marine Corps persormei were dissatisfied because, although t af- firmed the continued existence of these two units, the bill dtd not prescribe their missions. They felt that the missions of all the services should be written into the law as a safeguard, General Alexander A. Van- degnft, Marme Corps Commandant, also wanted to have the Marine Corps specifi- cally represented on several of the joint THIS PAGE Declassified lAW EO12958