Department of War

…and in 1789 the civilian Department of War was established to administer the military forces. One of the first tasks Washington assigned to the secretary of war, Maj. Gen. Henry Knox, was to prepare legislation for a military policy as outlined in his Sentiments. The principal element of this proposed…

…moving innocent civilians, and the War Department, which favored detention. John J. McCloy, the assistant secretary of war, remarked that if it came to a choice between national security and the guarantee of civil liberties expressed in the Constitution, he considered the Constitution “just a scrap of paper.” In the…

…(1918—21), reorganized and streamlined the War Department, in order that the U.S. could make an important contribution to the Allied military effort. After graduation from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., March served in the Philippines during the Spanish–American War as an artillery officer. During World War I,…