Early life Forrestal was born in Matteawan (now part of
Beacon, New York), the youngest son of James Forrestal, an
Irish immigrant who dabbled in politics. His mother, the former Mary Anne Toohey (herself the daughter of another Irish immigrant) raised him as a devout
Catholic. During his youth, Forrestal was an amateur boxer. After graduating from high school in 1908, at the age of 16, he spent the next three years working for a trio of newspapers: the
Matteawan Evening Journal, the
Mount Vernon Argus and the
Poughkeepsie News Press. Forrestal entered
Dartmouth College in 1911, but transferred to
Princeton University in his sophomore year, where he served as an editor for
The Daily Princetonian. His senior class voted him "Most Likely to Succeed", but he left just prior to completing work on a degree. Forrestal was a member of
University Cottage Club while he was a student at Princeton. Forrestal married the former Josephine Stovall (née Ogden), a
Vogue writer, in 1926. She eventually developed a dependence on alcohol and suffered various mental health issues.
World War I naval officer and Wall Street financier Forrestal went to work as a bond salesman for William A. Read and Company (later renamed
Dillon, Read & Co.) in 1916. When the US entered
World War I, he enlisted in the Navy and ultimately became a
Naval Aviator, training with the
Royal Flying Corps at
Camp Borden and
Deseronto in Canada. During the final year of the war Forrestal spent much of his time in Washington, at the Office of Naval Operations, while completing his flight training and reaching the rank of lieutenant. After the war, Forrestal resumed his career in finance and made his fortune on Wall Street. He became a partner in 1923, was appointed vice president in 1926, and by 1937 was president of the company. He also acted as a publicist for the
Democratic Party committee in
Dutchess County, New York, helping politicians from the area win elections at both the local and state level. One of the individuals aided by his work was a neighbor,
Franklin D. Roosevelt. Forrestal has been characterized as a compulsive
workaholic and skilled administrator. Biographers have described him as pugnacious, introspective, shy, philosophic, solitary, and
emotionally insecure. He took no part in national politics, though he usually voted for Democrats, but did not support
New Deal liberalism.
Political career Secretary of the Navy ,
judge advocate general of the Navy on May 19, 1944.
Ernest King,
Chief of Naval Operations, stands to the right. President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Forrestal a
special administrative assistant on June 22, 1940. Six weeks later, he nominated him for the newly established position, Undersecretary of the Navy. In his nearly four years as undersecretary, Forrestal proved highly effective at mobilizing domestic
industrial production for the war effort. The
Chief of Naval Operations,
Admiral Ernest J. King, wanted to control logistics and procurement, but Forrestal prevailed. He became
Secretary of the Navy on May 19, 1944, after his immediate superior, Secretary
Frank Knox, died from a heart attack. Knox had been a figurehead as secretary and Forrestal was highly energetic. Forrestal led the Navy through the closing year of the war and the early years of
demobilization that followed. Forrestal ordered that a
Naval Court of Inquiry be convened to investigate the facts surrounding the Japanese
attack on Pearl Harbor and to assess any culpability borne by members of the Navy. The Court consisted of Admiral
Adolphus Andrews; Admiral
Orin G. Murfin, who served as President of the Court and Admiral
Edward C. Kalbfus. for a Cabinet meeting, The court convened on July 24, 1944, and held daily sessions in Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Pearl Harbor. After interviewing numerous witnesses, it completed its work on October 19, 1944. Its report to the Navy Department largely exonerated Rear Admiral
Husband E. Kimmel, commander in chief of the
Pacific Fleet at the time of the attack. The court found that Kimmel's decisions had been correct given the limited information available to him, but criticized then-Chief of Naval Operations
Harold R. Stark for failing to warn Kimmel that war was imminent. The court concluded that "based upon the facts established, the Court is of the opinion that no offenses have been committed nor serious blame incurred on the part of any person or persons in the naval service." Because the court's findings implicitly revealed that
American cryptographers had broken the Japanese codes, a critical wartime secret, the court's report was not made public until after the end of the war. Upon reviewing the report, Forrestal felt that the court had been too lenient in assigning blame for the disaster. The court had found that the Army and Navy had adequately cooperated in the defense of Pearl Harbor; that there had been no information indicating that Japanese carriers were on their way to attack Pearl Harbor; and that the attack had succeeded principally because of the
aerial torpedo, a secret weapon whose use could not have been predicted. Forrestal disapproved all of these findings, judging that Kimmel could have done more with the information he had had to prevent or mitigate the attack. Forrestal concluded that both Kimmel and Stark had "failed to demonstrate the superior judgment necessary for exercising command commensurate with their rank and their assigned duties." with a Gold Star in lieu of a third
Distinguished Service Medal on May 21, 1946. As Secretary, Forrestal introduced a policy of
racial integration in the Navy. Forrestal traveled to combat zones to see naval forces in action. He was in the South Pacific in 1942, present at the
Battle of Kwajalein in 1944, and (as Secretary) witnessed the
Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945. After five days of pitched battle, a detachment of Marines was sent to hoist the American flag on the 545-foot summit of Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima. This was the first time in the war that the U.S. flag had flown on Japanese soil. Forrestal, who had just landed on the beach, claimed the historic flag as a souvenir. When Forrestal witnessed the sight of the
Stars and Stripes atop Mount Suribachi, he turned to Major General
Holland Smith and said, "the raising of that flag on Suribachi means a Marine Corps for the next 500 years." A second, larger flag was run up in its place, and this second flag-raising was the moment captured by Associated Press photographer
Joe Rosenthal in his
famous photograph. In the early months of 1945, Forrestal, along with Stimson and Under Secretary of State
Joseph Grew, strongly advocated a softer policy toward Japan that would permit a negotiated armistice, a face-saving surrender. Forrestal's primary concern was not the resurgence of a militarized Japan, but rather "the menace of Russian
Communism and its attraction for decimated, destabilized societies in Europe and Asia," and, therefore, keeping the
Soviet Union out of the war with Japan. So strongly did he feel about this matter that he cultivated negotiation efforts that some regarded as approaching insubordination. His counsel on ending the war was finally followed, but not until the atomic bombs had been dropped on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki. On 10 August 1945, the day after the Nagasaki attack, the Japanese sent out a radio transmission saying that it was ready to accept the terms of the
Allies'
Potsdam Declaration, "with the understanding that said declaration does not comprise any demand which prejudices the prerogatives of
His Majesty as a sovereign ruler." That position still fell short of the U.S. "unconditional surrender" demand, retaining the sticking point that had held up the war's conclusion for months. Strong voices within the administration, including
Secretary of State James F. Byrnes, counseled fighting on. At that point, "Forrestal came up with a shrewd and simple solution: Accept the offer and declare that it accomplishes what the Potsdam Declaration demanded. Say that the Emperor and the Japanese government will rule subject to the orders of the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers. This would imply recognition of the Emperor while tending to neutralize American public passions against the Emperor. President
Harry S. Truman liked this. It would be close enough to 'unconditional'." After the war, Forrestal urged Truman to take a hard line with the Soviets over Poland and other issues. In furtherance of the anti-Soviet position, he was the primary promoter of the famous "
long telegram" by State Department official
George Kennan. "[Averell] Harriman thought Forrestal's reaction [to the Kennan document] was a 'decisive' catalyst in shaping American opinion on the issue." He also strongly influenced the new Wisconsin Senator,
Joseph McCarthy, concerning infiltration of the government by Communists. Upon McCarthy's arrival in Washington in December 1946, Forrestal invited him to lunch. In McCarthy's words, "Before meeting Jim Forrestal I thought we were losing to international Communism because of incompetence and stupidity on the part of our planners. I mentioned that to Forrestal. I shall forever remember his answer. He said, 'McCarthy, consistency has never been a mark of stupidity. If they were merely stupid, they would occasionally make a mistake in our favor.' This phrase struck me so forcefully that I have often used it since."
Secretary of Defense in Washington, D.C. In 1947, Truman appointed Forrestal the first
United States Secretary of Defense. He continued to advocate for complete racial integration of the
services, a policy eventually implemented in 1949. During private cabinet meetings with Truman in 1946 and 1947, Forrestal had argued against
partition of Palestine on the grounds it would infuriate
Arab countries who supplied oil needed for the
U.S. economy and national defense. Instead, Forrestal favored a federalization plan for Palestine. Outside the White House, response to Truman's continued silence on the issue was immediate. Truman received threats to cut off
campaign contributions from wealthy donors, as well as
hate mail, including a letter accusing him of "preferring
fascist and Arab elements to the democracy-loving
Jewish people of Palestine." Appalled by the intensity and implied threats over the partition question, Forrestal appealed to Truman in two separate cabinet meetings not to base his decision on partition, whatever the outcome, on the basis of political pressure. In his only known public comment on the issue, Forrestal stated to
J. Howard McGrath,
Senator from
Rhode Island: ...no group in this country should be permitted to influence our policy to the point it could endanger our national security. Forrestal's statement soon earned him the active enmity of some congressmen and supporters of
Israel. He was also an early target of the
muckraking columnist and broadcaster
Drew Pearson, an opponent of
foreign policies hostile to the Soviet Union, who began to regularly call for Forrestal's removal after Truman named him Secretary of Defense. Pearson told his own
protege,
Jack Anderson, that he believed Forrestal was "the most dangerous man in America" and claimed that if he was not removed from office, he would "cause another world war". Upon taking office as Secretary of Defense, Forrestal was surprised to learn that the administration did not
budget for defense needs based on military threats posed by enemies of the United States and its interests. According to historian
Walter LaFeber, Truman was known to approach defense budgetary requests in the abstract, without regard to defense response requirements in the event of conflicts with potential enemies. The president would begin by subtracting from total receipts the amount needed for domestic needs and recurrent operating costs, with any surplus going to the defense budget for that year. During the Reagan years,
Paul Nitze reflected upon the qualities which made a Secretary of Defense great: the ability to work with Congress, the ability for "big-time management," and an ability at war planning. Nitze felt that Forrestal was the only one who possessed all three qualities together.
Post-war At the close of World War II, millions of dollars of serviceable equipment had been scrapped or abandoned rather than having funds appropriated for its storage costs. New military equipment
en route to operations in the Pacific theater was scrapped or simply tossed overboard. but was unable to prevent a steady reduction in defense spending, resulting in major cuts not only in defense equipment stockpiles, but also in military readiness. By 1948, Truman had approved military budgets billions of dollars below what the services were requesting, putting Forrestal in the middle of a fierce tug-of-war between the President and the
Joint Chiefs of Staff. Forrestal was also becoming increasingly worried about the Soviet threat. His 18 months at Defense came at an exceptionally difficult time for the U.S. military establishment: Communist governments came to power in
Czechoslovakia and China; the Soviets imposed a
blockade on
West Berlin prompting the U.S.
Berlin Airlift to supply the city; the
1948 Arab–Israeli War followed the establishment of Israel; and negotiations were going on for the formation of
NATO.
Dwight D. Eisenhower recorded he was in agreement with Forrestal's theories on the dangers of Soviet and International communist expansion. Eisenhower recalled that Forrestal had been "the one man who, in the very midst of the war, always counseled caution and alertness in dealing with the Soviets." Eisenhower remembered on several occasions, while he was
Supreme Allied Commander, he had been visited by Forrestal, who carefully explained his thesis that the Communists would never cease trying to destroy all
representative government. Eisenhower commented in his personal diary on 11 June 1949, "I never had cause to doubt the accuracy of his judgments on this point." Forrestal also opposed the unification of the military services proposed by the Truman officials. Even so, he helped develop the
National Security Act of 1947 that created the
National Military Establishment (the
Department of Defense was not created as such until August 1949). With the former Secretary of War
Robert P. Patterson retiring to private life, Forrestal was the next choice.
Michael Hogan downplays Forrestal's achievements: :Forrestal was not in FDR's inner circle, was not apprised of the Manhattan Project, and did not attend the major wartime conferences....Forrestal also ended up on the wrong side of the struggle to unify the armed forces....He slowed but did not stop the unification process as secretary of the navy and then had to live with legislation that prevented him from managing the military establishment efficiently as the country's first secretary of defense. In that capacity, however, Forrestal was unable to devise an integrated defense budget, work out a joint war plan, or compel the Joint Chiefs of Staff to accept presidential directives they did not like.
Resignation as Secretary of Defense Governor of New York Thomas E. Dewey was expected to win the
presidential elections of 1948. Forrestal met with Dewey privately, and it was agreed he would continue as Secretary of Defense under a Dewey administration. Unwittingly, Forrestal would trigger a series of events that would not only undermine his already precarious position with Truman but also contribute to the loss of his job, his failing health and eventual demise. Weeks before the election, Pearson published an exposé of the meetings between Dewey and Forrestal. In 1949, angered over Forrestal's continued opposition to his defense economization policies, and concerned about reports in the press over his mental condition, Truman abruptly asked Forrestal to resign. By March 31, 1949, Forrestal was out of a job.
Death Although Forrestal told associates he had decided to resign, he was reportedly shattered when Truman abruptly asked for his resignation. His letter of resignation was tendered on March 28, 1949, and his condition steadily deteriorated. On the day of Forrestal's resignation from office, he was reported to have gone into a daze and was flown on a Navy airplane to the estate of Under Secretary of State
Robert A. Lovett in
Hobe Sound, Florida, where Forrestal's wife, Josephine, was vacationing.
William C. Menninger of the
Menninger Clinic in Kansas was consulted and he diagnosed "severe depression" of the type "seen in
operational fatigue during the war". The Menninger Clinic had successfully treated similar cases during the war, but Forrestal's wife, his friend and associate
Ferdinand Eberstadt, Menninger, and Navy psychiatrist Captain George N. Raines decided to send the patient to the
National Naval Medical Center (NNMC) in
Bethesda, Maryland. He was checked into NNMC five days later. The decision to house him on the 16th floor instead of the first floor was justified in the same way. Forrestal's condition was officially announced as "nervous and physical exhaustion"; his lead doctor, Captain Raines, diagnosed his condition as "depression" or "reactive depression". Forrestal seemed to be on the road to recovery, having regained since his admission into the hospital. However, in the early morning hours of May 22, his body, clad only in the bottom half of a pair of pajamas, was found on a third-floor roof below the sixteenth-floor kitchen across the hall from his room. Forrestal's alleged last written statement, touted in the contemporary press and later biographers as an implied suicide note, was part of a poem from
W. M. Praed's translation of
Sophocles' tragedy
Ajax: Fair
Salamis, the billows' roar, Wander around thee yet, And sailors gaze upon thy shore Firm in the Ocean set. Thy son is in a foreign clime Where
Ida feeds her countless flocks, Far from thy dear, remembered rocks, Worn by the waste of time– Comfortless, nameless, hopeless save In the dark prospect of the yawning grave.... Woe to the mother in her close of day, Woe to her desolate heart and temples gray, When she shall hear Her loved one's story whispered in her ear! "Woe, woe!" will be the cry– No quiet murmur like the tremulous wail Of the lone bird, the querulous
nightingale– The official Navy review board, which completed hearings on May 31, waited until October 11, 1949, to release only a brief summary of its findings. The announcement, as reported on page 15 of the October 12
New York Times, stated only that Forrestal had died from his fall from the window. It did not say what might have caused the fall, nor did it make any mention of a bathrobe sash cord that had first been reported as tied around his neck. The full report was released by the Department of the Navy in April 2004. He was buried at
Arlington National Cemetery, in
Arlington, Virginia. ==
The Forrestal Diaries==