July 26, 1947: The National Security Act

July 26, 1947: President Harry S Truman signs the National Security Act into law. It turns the Department of War into the Department of the Army. It separates the U.S. Air Force from the U.S. Army, and gives it its own Department. It protects the U.S. Marine Corps as an independent service under the Department of the Navy.

And it puts all 4 departments under the new Department of Defense (DOD), headed by a Secretary of Defense. James Forrestal was confirmed as the 1st "SecDef" on September 18, 1947.

The Act also creates the U.S. National Security Council, run by the President, which includes the Vice President, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Attorney General, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (the nation's top active-duty military officer).

Later added to it have been the National Security Advisor (a post created in 1953), the White House Chief of Staff, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, the Secretary of Energy, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Director National Intelligence, the Administrator of the Agency for International Development, and the Director of National Drug Control Policy. On occasion, other officials, whose expertise may apply to a situation, may be asked to attend: The White House Counsel, the U.S. Trade Representative, medical advisors, and so on.

The National Security Act also establishes the Central Intelligence Agency. This turns out to be beneficial in some cases, problematic in others, as later Presidents used the CIA to help organize coups in various countries, to topple governments seen as too friendly to the Soviet Union. Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter was appointed as the 1st Director of Central Intelligence.

The legislation creating the Act was already going through Congress when the Roswell incident happened earlier in July.

The current headquarters of the U.S. Department of State, built in 1941, was named the Harry S Truman Building in 2000. Its address is 2201 C Street NW. The CIA's headquarters, now named for the 41st President and the only one to be a former CIA Director, the George Bush Center for Intelligence, is in Langley, Virginia (and is sometimes nicknamed "Langley"), 10 miles northwest of downtown Washington.

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July 26, 1947 was a Saturday. These baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Chicago White Sox, 2-1 at Yankee Stadium. Eddie Lopat outpitches Bill Bevens, and helps his own cause with an RBI single. He impresses the Yankees so much that they trade for him the next year. Tommy Henrich hit a home run, but Joe DiMaggio went 0-for-4.

* The New York Giants beat the Chicago Cubs, 7-3 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-4 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Jackie Robinson went 2-for-4 with a 2-run homer. Hank Greenberg, in his final season, went 0-for-3 with a walk. Earlier in the season, he crashed into Robinson at first base, helped him up, apologized, and, as the man who had faced more prejudice than any player until Robinson, told him he was doing all right and that he supported him all the way.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the St. Louis Browns, 12-1 at Fenway Park in Boston. Ted Williams hit 2 home runs.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 13-0 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. I guess 84-year-old Connie Mack forgot to tell his A's that you have to come out of the clubhouse to play the ballgame. George Kell and Eddie Lake hit home runs for the Tigers, while center fielder Roger "Doc" Cramer, a native of New Jersey's Long Beach Island, went 3-for-5 with 6 RBIs. Virgil Trucks pitched a 6-hit shutout.

* The Washington Senators beat the Cleveland Indians, 8-4 at Griffith Stadium in Washington.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 1-0 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Bucky Walters pitched a 2-hit shutout.

* And the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Boston Braves, 9-5 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. Stan Musial went 1-for-4 with an RBI.

May 22, 1949: The Death of James Forrestal

May 22, 1949: James Forrestal dies at Bethesda Naval Medical Center. He was only 57 years old, and the circumstances of his death are still debated.

James Vincent Forrestal was born on February 15, 1892 in Beacon, Dutchess County, New York. He attended Princeton University, but did not graduate. He became a Wall Street financier, and married Joseph Ogden. Both of them would be plagued by mental health issues.

He acted as a publicist for the Dutchess County Democratic Party, putting him in position to meet President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 1940, FDR appointed him to a position that he, himself -- and also his distant cousin, President Theodore Roosevelt -- had previously held: Undersecretary of the Navy. In 1944, Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox died, and Forrestal rose to his position.

Following the victory in World War II, the new President, Harry Truman, reorganized the country's national security apparatus. The National Security Act of 1947 created the Department of Defense, and Forrestal was appointed the 1st Secretary of Defense.

But he clashed with Truman on several issues: While Forrestal was happy to assist with the desegregation of the armed forces, he wanted to streamline them, cutting out several weapons systems, while, at the same time, wanting a tougher tone with the Soviet Union. He also opposed Truman's recognition of the independence of Israel, for fear that it would anger the Arab nations selling America their oil. (Truman knew that it would, but knew it was the right thing to do, anyway.)

Shortly before the 1948 Presidential election, he met with the Republican nominee for President, Governor Thomas Dewey of New York, who assured Forrestal that he would remain at his post in the new Administration. Washington Post columnist Drew Pearson heard about this, and published it in his "Washington Merry-Go-Round" column. Truman hit the roof. He also hit the campaign trail, and won the election. On March 28, 1949, 2 months into what amounted to his 2nd term, he asked for, and received, Forrestal's resignation.

Shortly thereafter, Forrestal was diagnosed with "severe depression, of the type seen in operational fatigue during the war." He checked into the National Naval Medical Center in suburban Bethesda, Maryland (now part of Walter Reed National Military Medical Center), with his room on the 16th floor of the 20-story tower.

He seemed to be on the road to recovery, having regained 12 pounds since his admission into the hospital. However, in the early morning hours of May 22, his body, wearing only in the bottom half his pajamas, was found on a 3rd-floor roof below the 16th-floor kitchen across the hall from his room. By his beside was a piece of paper on which he had written words from a recent translation of the ancient Greek play Ajax by Sophocles, and this was considered to be a suicide note.

He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery, and an aircraft carrier was named USS Forrestal in his memory, in service from 1955 to 1993.

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May 22, 1949 was a Sunday. These baseball games were played:

* The New York Giants split a doubleheader with the St. Louis Cardinals at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. The Cardinals won the opener, 3-2. The Giants won the nightcap, 13-4. Over the 2 games, Stan Musial went 3-for-8 with a home run, a walk and 3 RBIs.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers also split a doubleheader, with the Cincinnati Reds, at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. The Dodgers won the 1st game, 3-0. Don Newcombe pitched a 5-hit shutout. The Reds won the 2nd game, 2-0. Ken Raffensberger allowed just 3 baserunners: a single by Gil Hodges, and walks by Hodges and Mike McCormick. But Dodger pitcher Joe Hatten allowed only 4, a double and 3 singles. Over the 2 games, Jackie Robinson went 2-for-6 with a walk and an RBI.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 3-2 at Fenway Park in Boston. Ted Williams went 1-for-5 with a walk. Mel Parnell not only pitched all 12 innings for the win, but singled home the winning run.

* A Philadelphia Athletics swept a doubleheader from the Cleveland Indians, 5-4 and 7-3 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. In the 1st game, the A's knocked Gene Bearden out of the box in the 1st inning, and Satchel Paige pitched 6 2/3rd innings of relief, but still got the loss.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Washington Senators, 6-4 at Griffith Stadium in Washington.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-5 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Danny Murtaugh, later to manage the Pirates to win 2 World Series, hit a home run. So did Ralph Kiner.

* The Boston Braves beat the Chicago Cubs, 7-2 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* And the New York Yankees and the St. Louis Browns were rained out at Yankee Stadium. It was made up on an off-day, 2 days later. The Yankees won, 13-3, scoring 10 runs in the bottom of the 5th inning. Bobby Brown and Yogi Berra hit home runs. Yogi had 4 RBIs, while Bobby and Phil Rizzuto, who had 3 hits, each had 3 RBIs. Vic Raschi started and won. Joe DiMaggio was injured, and did not play.