James Forrestal
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James Vincent Forrestal was an American politician and military officer who was the last cabinet-level United States secretary of the Navy and the first United States secretary of defense.
Official portrait, c. 1948
Forrestal takes the oath of office as Secretary of the Navy from Rear Admiral Thomas L. Gatch, judge advocate general of the Navy on May 19, 1944. Ernest King, Chief of Naval Operations, stands to the right.
Forrestal arrives at the White House for a Cabinet meeting, c. 1945
Secretary of the Navy Forrestal pins Admiral Jonas H. Ingram with a Gold Star in lieu of a third Distinguished Service Medal on May 21, 1946.
The United States secretary of defense, secondarily titled the secretary of war, is the head of the United States Department of Defense, the executive department of the U.S. Armed Forces, and is a hig
James Forrestal
…1892 – May 22, 1949) was an American politician and military officer who was the last cabinet-level United States secretary of the Navy and the first United States secretary of defense. Forrestal came from a very strict middle-class Irish Catholic family. He was a successful financier on Wall Street before becoming Undersecretary of…
Pete Hegseth Official Portrait
Donald Rumsfeld is sworn in as Secretary of Defense by Associate Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart as U.S. President Gerald R. Ford and Chairman of The Joint Chiefs of Staff General George S. Brown watch at The Pentagon on 20 November 1975.
Department of Defense organizational chart (December 2013)
James Forrestal Sec Of Def