Trump suggests bringing back secretary of war. Why did the title get dropped?
President Donald Trump said he wants to bring back a long-retired title: secretary of war. Why was it dropped in the first place?
Trump brought up the idea of a name change while introducing Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth at a June 25 press conference in the Netherlands, which hosted this year's NATO summit.
'You know, it used to be called secretary of war,' the president said. 'Maybe for a couple of weeks we'll call it that because we feel like warriors.'
'In fact, if you look at the old building next to the White House, you can see where it used to be secretary of war,' Trump added. 'Then we became politically correct and they called it secretary of defense. Maybe we'll have to start thinking about changing it.'
Here's why the secretary of war came to be known as the secretary of defense.
Secretary of war
The title of secretary of war dates back to the founding of the United States.
In 1789, shortly after the U.S. Constitution was ratified, President George Washington signed legislation establishing the War Department, according to the Department of Defense.
The new department was tasked with overseeing and maintaining the Army, Navy and Marine Corps, all of which were set up three years earlier.
Washington chose Henry Knox, one of his aides during the Revolutionary War — and the namesake of Fort Knox — to serve as its first secretary.
Then, less than a decade later, in 1798, the scope of the department shrank, when management of the Navy was handed over to the newly formed Navy Department. And, in 1834, the Marine Corps was moved under the Navy Department, leaving just the Army under the War Department.
In 1879, following the Civil War, the War Department took up headquarters in the newly built Eisenhower Executive Office Building. It was then referred to as the State-War-Navy Building — as Trump referenced in his recent press conference.
In 1947, during the aftermath of World War II, President Harry Truman signed the National Security Act, which combined the War and Navy Departments, as well as the newly formed Air Force, into one organization known as the National Military Establishment.
This new organization was renamed the Department of Defense in 1949, according to Dartmouth University records.
James Forrestal, who had previously served as the secretary of the Navy, then became the nation's first secretary of defense.
This title has remained in use ever since then, with Hegseth being the country's 29th secretary of defense.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
28 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Donald Trump Makes Legal Threat To CNN And The New York Times Over Their Reporting On Iran Intel Assessment
Donald Trump has again threatened news outlets over coverage he dislikes, this time The New York Times and CNN over their reporting on a preliminary intelligence assessment that raised doubts that the U.S. strikes on Iran destroyed their nuclear program. The White House has been on the warpath against journalists over their reporting, even though the press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, has acknowledged the existence of the intelligence assessment. Trump and his allies have go so far as to accuse CNN and the Times of denigrating the members of the military who carried out the strikes, even though their reporting was not critical of how the mission was carried out. More from Deadline Bill Moyers Dies: Influential Public Media Journalist And Commentator And Former White House Press Secretary Was 91 Peter Bart: Barbara Walters Built A Career On Trust In A Bygone Era Far Removed From Today Pete Hegseth Chides Former Fox News Colleague Jennifer Griffin As "About The Worst" During Defense Secretary's Press-Bashing Briefing Trump has insisted that Iran's nuclear capabilities were 'obliterated.' Per the Times, Trump demanded a retraction and an apology, as his attorney, Alejandro Brito, described the reporting as 'false,' 'defamatory' and 'unpatriotic.' David McCraw, senior vice president and deputy general counsel for the Times, 'No retraction is needed. No apology will be forthcoming.' McGraw wrote to Brito, 'While the Trump administration protests that the assessments were only preliminary — which, by the way, was the second word of our article — and that later assessments may come to different conclusions, no one in the administration disputes that the first assessments said exactly what the article said they did: the destruction caused by the raid was not as significant as the president's remarks suggested.' He added that the 'American public has a right to know whether the attack on Iran — funded by the tax dollars and of enormous consequence to every citizen — was a success. We rely on our intelligence services to provide the kind of impartial assessment that we all need in a democracy to judge our country's foreign policy and the quality of our leaders' decisions. It would be irresponsible for a news organization to suppress that information and deny the public the right to hear it. And it would be even more irresponsible for a president to use the threat of libel litigation to try to silence a publication that dared to report that the trained, professional and patriotic intelligence experts employed by the U.S. government thought that the president may have gotten it wrong in his initial remarks to the country.' CNN also received a legal threat. A spokesperson said 'we can confirm we received a letter and responded to it, rejecting the claims in the letter.' Trump has called for reporters on the stories to be fired, but has singled out CNN's Natasha Bertrand. On Thursday, at the press briefing, Leavitt attacked Bertrand's past reporting. The network has said that they stand behind '100% behind' Bertrand and her work. The president's legal threat is not unusual. He has previously sued the Times and CNN, but the various lawsuits were dismissed. He sued CBS over the way that a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris was edited. The network has said that the lawsuit is meritless, as do a number of legal scholars, but its attorneys are in settlement talks with Trump's team. CBS parent Paramount Global is seeking administration approval for its merger with Skydance Media. Earlier on Thursday, Trump's defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, held a press conference in which he also bashed media outlets for reporting on the intelligence report. 'You cheer against Trump so hard, in your DNA and in your blood, cheer against Trump because you want him not to be successful so bad, you have to cheer against the efficacy of these strikes,' Hegseth said to the journalists at the Pentagon. He said that he was 'urging caution about premising an entire stories on biased leaks to biased publications to make something look bad. How about we take a beat, recognize first the success of our warriors, hold them up, tell their stories, celebrate that, wave an American flag, be proud of what we accomplished.' Best of Deadline 'The Buccaneers' Season 2 Soundtrack: From Griff To Sabrina Carpenter 'The Buccaneers' Season 2 Release Schedule: When Do New Episodes Come Out? 'Nine Perfect Strangers' Season 2 Release Schedule: When Do New Episodes Come Out?
Yahoo
29 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Nike says Trump tariffs could raise its costs by $1bn
Nike says US President Donald Trump's tariffs on key trading partners could add around $1bn (£730m) to it costs this year. Company executives also said the the sportwear giant would cut its reliance on producing goods in China to ease the impact of US trade policies. Last month, Nike said it would raise prices on some trainers and clothing in the US from early June, weeks after rival Adidas warned it would have to hike the cost of goods due to tariffs. Nike's shares jumped by more than 10% in extended trading after the firm forecast a smaller drop in first quarter revenue than many analysts had expected. The company's earnings for the last three months also topped estimates, despite being its worst quarterly figures for more than three years. Nike announced fourth quarter revenue of $11.1bn - the lowest since the third quarter of 2022. Chief financial officer Matthew Friend said Nike would move some production from China, which was hit with the biggest tariff increases, to other countries in response to Trump's tariffs. China currently manufacturers 16% of Nike footwear that ends up in the US. Mr Friend said that figure would be cut to a "high single-digit percentage range" by the end of May 2026. Trump announced sweeping "Liberation Day" tariffs on most goods from countries around the world on 2 April. In April, he suspended most of those tariffs to allow for talks with the affected countries, with one top adviser promising "90 deals in 90 days". The move dropped tariffs to 10%, instead of the far higher rates that goods from many trading partners faced. What tariffs has Trump announced and why? The White House is now facing growing questions about what the president is planning to do about tariffs, as the 90-day pause is due to expire on 9 July. In remarks at the White House on Thursday, Trump maintained that talks were going well, pointing to an agreement reached with China and saying there was another "coming up with India, maybe". But he also warned "We're not going to make deals with everybody". "Some we're just going to send them a letter, say thank you very much. You're going to pay 25, 35, 45%. That's the easy way to do it," he said. "My people don't want to do it that way. They want to do some of it, but they want to make more deals than I would do," he added. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick later told Bloomberg that the agreement with China formalised terms laid out in trade talks, which included a commitment from Beijing to deliver rare earths minerals used in everything from planes to wind turbines. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has previously raised the possibility that Trump could extend the deadline, depending on how talks are going. On Thursday, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said both that the deadline was "not critical" and that Trump was prepared to present countries with "deals" that would set new tariff rates. The US and China announced an agreement earlier this month aimed at ensuring US supply to critical magnets and rare earths, after concerns about access had risked re-igniting trade tensions between the two economic superpowers. At the White House on Thursday, Trump said he had "signed" a deal with China without giving further details. "The administration and China agreed to an additional understanding for a framework to implement the Geneva agreement," a White House official said later. Trade between the two sides was nearly shut down after Trump raised tariffs and China hit back in a barrage of tariffs in April that had nearly shut down trade between the two countries. The US and China subsequently agreed to reduce - but not eliminate - those tariffs. What tariffs has Trump announced and why? Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
CNN
34 minutes ago
- CNN
Dem Sen Briefed On Iran: I Don't Think Trump 'Was Telling The Truth' - Erin Burnett OutFront - Podcast on CNN Podcasts
Dem Sen Briefed On Iran: I Don't Think Trump 'Was Telling The Truth' Erin Burnett OutFront 48 mins A democratic senator says Iran's nuclear program was not obliterated after receiving a closed door intelligence briefing. Republicans are coming to Trump's defense. Plus, Zoran Mamdami joins to discuss his stunning victory against Andrew Cuomo in New York City.
