Eisenhower: The Colonels' Revolt: Eisenhower, The Army, and the Politics of National Security - Budgetary Politics and Interservice Rivalries, Role of Nuclear Weapons, Korean War Policy

This report has been professionally converted for accurate flowing-text e-book format reproduction. This paper reviews the budgetary politics and interservice rivalries involved in the formulation of President Dwight D. Eisenhower's defense policies. Specifically, the paper chronicles the reaction of the U.S. Army General Staff to proposals to greatly increase U.S. reliance on strategic air power at the expense of Army force structure and modernization. The impact of The Revolt on joint policy making in general and Cold War defense policies in particular is chronicled. The paper concludes with a discussion of the lessons of The Revolt for those who make strategy and defense policy. While The Revolt had little immediate impact on defense planning, it was part of a larger series of events that culminated in the Goldwater-Nichols Act and other reforms in the Department of Defense budget process and in Joint Service planning and operations.

The story of "The Revolt"--its origins, execution, and epilogue--can provide insight into the development and implementation of American strategy and defense policy in the years between the Korean War and the War in Vietnam. It also has clear implications for the study of national defense policy in the years since. An understanding of those elements of the policy making process that have changed and those that have remained the same makes The Colonels' Revolt a valuable baseline case study, but not as it is presently chronicled.

The real story of The Colonels' Revolt is more complex than the limited accounts that have been published. The Army officers who took part were undercut by their Air Force and Navy rivals, just as the Air Force and Navy were undercut by the Army staff. Congress did play a key role in these events, because all three Services curried favor with Senators and Representatives to advance their own agenda. The media brought the revolt out into the public eye and prompted Secretary Wilson's' press conference. But the catalyst was a series of stories deliberately leaked by the Army to friendly reporters. The Secretary of Defense did block the efforts of The Coordination Group, but he needed constant reassurance and direction from the White House.