Page:Legislative History of the AAF and USAF.djvu/78

 �This Page Declassified lAW EO12958 CHAPTER 5 BUILDING THE POSTWAR AIR FORCE- LEGISLATIVE BACKGROUND The most important Air Force legislation in the post-World War II period, from the legal and organizational points 0I wow, s to be found in the three major acts cussed in the preceding chapter. These were the National Security Act of 1947 (better known as the Unification Act), the Army and Axr Force Authorization Act of 1949, and the Air Force Organization Act of 1951. Yet this !egislaton, important as it was in that t recognzied the vital role of air power and established the oundation upon whxch a strong separate Ar Force could be built, constituted only a small fraction of the totaI amount of pos-war Ieg_lslation per- talning to the Air Force. It had to be sup- plemented by a great body of legislation to provide the personnel, the research and de- velopment facihties, and the aircraft and matoriel, the installattune, and the various other facilities necessary to build up and operate a Urnted States Air Force strong enough to defend the Urnted States and to gain air supremacy over enemies n tnne of war. In addition, there were enacted by Congress during this period a great many laws which did not pertain directly to the Air Force but which nevertheless affected it. Another factor which contributed to the increase in Air Force legislation was the increasing nnportance of the 2as Force it- self as a separate mfiitary serwce and as one of the major sources of military strength on which our postwar policy of "containing" Communism rested. Indeed, during most of the period under discusmon the major deterrent to overt Communist military aggression in Western Europe was the threat of the delivery of the atomic bomb by the USAF. Consequently, there was necessity for add[tonal legislation to 71 enable the Atr Force to take advantage of postwar developments xn new types of planes, weapons, and other matertel. In December of 1946, Gem Carl Spaatz, Commanding General, AAF, acting in com- pliance wth a memorandum from the War Department Legislatxon and Liaison Dirt- mort, submitted to that organization a of legislative proposals the AAF desired to have presented to the 80th Congress. This hst contained 21 items. Many of these items were divided into several subsections, each of which could itself be the subject of special legislatmn. One of these items was General Spaatz's foremost legislative rec- ommendation, the introduction of legis- lation unifying the armed forces of the Urnted States and establishing the Air Force on a coequal basis with he Army and the Navy. The accomplishment of this par- ticular legislative objective has already been discussed in the preceding chapter. The other recommendations covered a wde range of legislation dealing with such subjects as the elimination and retremen of officer personnel and the equalization of retirement benefits, the continuance of a program of rmhtary collaboration with other American republics (m military train- ing and equipment), the Reserve compo- nents, insurance benefits for ROTC stu- dents, the establmhment of an Air Academy, the estabhshment of an Air Engineering Development Center, amendment and re- vision of %he National Defense Act, appro- priations, procurement, etc. As might be expected, some of the recommended legis- lahon was enacted in the 80th Congress (i.e., the National Security Act of 1947 and the Officer Personnel Act of 194) Some of it was enacted in later Congresses, such as the Air Engineering Development Act of THIS PAGE Declasstried lAW EO12958