<--PREV Doc #629  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  Second Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #631 Document #630; March 30, 1958 To Andrew Jackson Goodpaster, Jr. Series: EM, AWF, Ann Whitman Diary Series ; Category: Memorandum The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XIX - The Presidency: Keeping the Peace Part IV: Recession and Reform; February 1958 to May 1958 Chapter 8: "To engender confidence"   With respect to the National Defense Reorganization Plan, I believe it is so long that we should have a short, strong summary at the beginning.1 I. The purpose of the plan is to remove legal restrictions upon the functioning of the entire Defense establishment and otherwise amend the law as needed, in order to facilitate unified direction and control. II. Changes in the substantive law are not numerous, but they are important. A. Remove restrictions applied to the authority and responsibility of the Secretary of Defense so that he is enabled: 1. To organize task forces and unified commands according to tactical needs and assign to each appropriate missions. 2. To organize the military staff under the Joint Chief of Staff at such strength and as needed by planning and operational requirements. Size of staff to be increased or as of such strength as determined by the Secretary of Defense. III. Make a moderate reduction in the number of additional Assistant Secretaries in the several Services. IV. Enable the Secretary of Defense, through a responsible Assistant, to organize, supervise and control Research and Development. The Secretary of Defense should be authorized to decide whether work is to be done directly or through one of the Services as agent. V. Give to the Secretary of Defense great flexibility in managing financing through both direct appropriations or power of transfer. Particularly it is important that all Research money be appropriated directly to the Secretary of Defense. VI. The Secretary of Defense, upon the recommendation of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to recommend for appointment or removal all three and 4 star officers. Such appointments will be temporary and made according to positions held. VII. Any other changes required in the law. With these changes the Secretary of Defense will control unified commands through the Chiefs of Staff directly. There will be no executive agent. VIII. The control of each unified commander over his own forces to be strengthened. (This may require law). IX. The Secretary of Defense to be responsible for unified action in legislative contact activities and in public relations. (Again I am not certain whether or not law is involved). Any other principal purposes of revision plans or Administrative action to be taken upon the enactment of necessary legislation should be included here as part of the summary. It is important that the summary be as short as possible and conclude by merely saying: "The report herewith attached is historical reason for these changes and the details of the plan itself."2 1 On the President's 1953 defense reorganization see Galambos and van Ee, The Middle Way, nos. 207, 353, and 693. Continuing problems with the defense structure and concerns that competition among the services was delaying missile development and deployment had led Eisenhower to seek a new reorganization (ibid., 1663 and 1963). Although the 1956 reorganization plan had died in Congress, the successful launch in October 1957 of the Soviet earth satellite, Sputnik, had given impetus to the effort (see nos. 389, 390, 401, and 464.) In his State of the Union Address on January 9, 1958, Eisenhower had called for changes in the Department of Defense and had cited the need for "real unity in the Defense establishment" and an end to interservice rivalries. His call for action would culminate in a special message to Congress on reorganization of the defense establishment (see Public Papers of the Presidents: Eisenhower, 1958, pp. 7 - 9, 274 - 90.) See also Congressional Quarterly Almanac, vol. XIV, 1958, pp. 133 - 39, and Watson, Into the Missile Age 1956 - 1960, pp. 246 - 62. Eisenhower dictated this memorandum during a weekend visit to his Gettysburg farm. The memorandum summarized proposals outlined earlier by General Goodpaster (Ann Whitman memorandum, Mar. 29, 1958, AWF/AWD). 2 For developments see the following document. Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. Memorandum To Andrew Jackson Goodpaster, Jr., 30 March 1958. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 630. World Wide Web facsimile by The Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission of the print edition; Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, http://www.eisenhowermemorial.org/presidential-papers/second-term/documents/630.cfm <--PREV Doc #629  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  Second Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #631

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