Trump (R) said the War Department “just sounded better” than Defense Department, a Nname that has been in use since 1949. Trump said on Monday, that He would consider the changing to the Name it used until Shortly after World War II. He said: “It just sounded better,” adding, “I think we’re going to have to go back to that.” He said it was a Reminder of the Country’s Record of Victories in Conflicts under the Old Name, citing World Wars I and II. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth (R) told Trump that the Change was “coming soon”.
In June, Trump Claimed that the Title of War Secretary had been Changed to Defense Secretary to be more Politically Correct. The next month, in a Post on Truth Social praising Hegseth, Trump called Him the “Secretary of War”. Trump and Hegseth have been eager to Promote a more Aggressive Image of the Military and Cut-Back on Rules that Restrict its Operations.
George Washington established the War Department in August 1789, just Months after the Constitution was Ratified and He became the First President. The Department oversaw the New Nation’s Military Forces. Its First Secretary was Henry Knox, who had Served as a Commander during the Revolutionary War and had, since 1785, been the War Secretary under the Articles-of-Confederation, an Early Agreement among the Colonial States.
The Name was Retained for more than 150 years, during which Time the U.S. fought Wars against: Britain, Mexico. Spain, and the Philippines, as well as the Civil War. It also fought Wars against Native Americans. The U.S. entered World War I in 1917, and after the Attack on the U.S. Base at Pearl Harbor in 1941, joined World War II on the side of the Allied Powers.
According to the Truman Library Institute, President Harry S. Truman (D) Changed the Name as part of the National Security Act He Signed in 1947, a time when the U.S. was the World’s only Nuclear Power and the Cold War was just Starting. The Law merged the Navy and War Departments, and a Newly Independent Air Force, into a Single Organization called the National Military Establishment, under a Civilian Secretary of Defense who also Oversaw the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Two years later, Congress Amended the National Security Act, and the National Military Establishment was Renamed the Defense Department. Since then it has overseen Wars in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq. Richard H. Kohn, a Professor Emeritus at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who Specializes in Military History, said the Name Change in 1949 Reflected the Department’s Expanded Duties, which included War Fighting, Foreign Policy, Intelligence and, above All, National Security.
In a Nascent Nuclear age, the New Name also Reflected an Emphasis on avoiding War, Professor Kohn said. “The decision was definitely not about political correctness,” He said. “It was to communicate to America’s adversaries and the rest of the world that America was not about making war but defending the United States, and saying that if that requires war, there are four major armed services.”
Trump Cannot easily alter the Defense Department’s Name or Hegseth’s Title, according to Jamal Greene, a Professor at Columbia Law School. “The president can call the department whatever he wants in informal communication, but the Department of Defense and the Secretary of Defense were so named through Acts of Congress, and I am unaware of any legal authority for the president to change those names by executive fiat,” Professor Greene said.
Trump Signed an Executive Order in January, Directing the Federal Government to Rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America, saying that the Name had a “Beautiful Ring.” As President, Trump has the Power to Order Changes to Geographical Names as they are used in the U.S.
Experts said the Change in the Gulf’s Name put Democrats in an Awkward Position, since to Contest it could be Viewed as Unpatriotic. A similar Dynamic could be at Play, if the White House tried to Revert to the Name War Department.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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