The United States is a global power, and the U.S. military requires a global viewpoint. That was the reasoning behind establishing the office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff 69 years ago today.
On this day in 1949, President Harry Truman signed an amendment to the 1947 National Security Act, which officially created the position of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to help provide unified direction of the services following World War II to address the growing nuclear Soviet threat.
General of the Army Omar N. Bradley became the first chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Aug. 16, 1949.
A Global Perspective
Bradley put the pressures of the job in perspective in testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1951: “The Joint Chiefs of Staff, in view of their global responsibilities and their perspective with respect to the worldwide strategic situation, are in a better position than any single theater commander to assess the risk of general war,” he said. “Moreover, the Joint Chiefs of Staff are best able to judge our own military resources with which to meet that risk.”
This statement contrasted with General of the Army Douglas MacArthur's approach as commander in the Far East prosecuting the Korean War. As the fight in Korea was the only active combat zone at the time, MacArthur believed it was…
