Shortly after noon on July 26, 1947
the engines on President Harry S Truman's airplane were warming up to ferry the President
to the bedside of his dying mother. Before the plane could lift off the runway at
the National Airport in Washington, DC a courier drove up to deliver a briefcase.
Inside were three important documents, the result of months of debate in both the
halls of the Pentagon and the chambers of Congress.
The first was a Congressional action,
the National Security Act of 1947 establishing the Department of Defense. The second
was Executive Order No. 9877 defining the roles and missions of the United States Armed
Forces. The third was the nomination of James V. Forrestal as our Nation's first
Secretary of Defense. On his plane, before departing, the President signed all three
historic documents, charting the course for the future of the United States military.
That course was based upon the historic lessons of nearly two centuries of struggle
by a young nation for survival. It was bolstered by the experience of decisive
victories in two world wars. Among the lessons learned...the importance of air power
and the need for aerial supremacy.
Thus it was that the first document,
the National Security Act of 1947 not only established a Department of Defense to unite
the Army, Navy, Marines and Coast Guard. It recognized the unique role of the
American airman and separated him from the rest, establishing a whole new branch of
military service. From the embryo nurtured in two world wars was born the United
States Air Force.