3 ms·

Why was the US Department of War renamed to Department of Defense?

• qntty 6y ago
  The department used to be sometimes involved in national defense, so they called it the Department of War. When they started using it to exclusively create unnecessary wars, they had to change the name to the Department of Defense.
  • Chlorus 6y ago
    …it was created in September 18, 1947 as part of a reorg brought on by difficulties encountered during WWII. Pretty good foresight on their part to realize they were going to need to start a bunch of unnecessary wars!
    • rriepe 6y ago
      It was 14 years before Eisenhower's famous speech on the military/industry complex. Maybe they were just incredibly prescient.
    • qntty 6y ago
      The tensions with the USSR that prefigured the Cold War had already began before the end of WWII.