National Defense Act 1920

The National Defense Act of 1920 enhanced the role that the Reserves and the National Guard played in the United States military. The act changed who could hold the position of Chief of the Militia as well as allowed National Guard Officers to be a part of the Army General staff. The act also formed a joint committee of the Regular Army, the Reserves, and the National Guard so that all parties could have a say in the decisions and policies that would affect them.

The National Defense Act also made it so that the Army would have to start implementing contingency plans. This meant that they would have to do research and plan for mobilization when in the past, they waited until war was declared to plan for mobilization. This mobilization planning led to the creation of the Army Industrial College.[1]

The National Defense Act of 1920 was sponsored by Julius Kahn and drafted by James Hay.[2] This was an update to the Militia Act of 1903 which allowed the National Guard to be federalized and gave federal funds to the National Guard to pay for equipment and training.

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[3] The federalization also meant that the president could call the National Guard to service at any time now. This also implemented the Reserve Officers Training Corps which is seen on many college campuses and some high schools today. To get to this point, however, was a long bureaucratic process. The Guardsmen received a pay increase.[4] Upon discharge, guardsmen wanted to return to their previous state status.

A minimum unit strength is fifty enlisted men was set. It was decided that The Chief of the Militia board should be a National Guard officer.[5] This made it easier for the Army General staff and the National Guard to coordinate activities with each other.

After World War One the Army had no plans for what its army should look like after the war. They recommended a permanent force of 500,000 men to congress. The Army was not prepared for the argument and turned their attention instead to demobilization when mobilization was still happening.[6] In the end, they authorized a training, strength of 280,000 enlisted men and about 17,700 Officers. This was outlined in a series of amendments. Under the amendments, the Army would consist of a Regular Army, the National Guard, and organized reserves. The Regular army, including the Filipino scouts, could not exceed 280,000 enlisted men during peacetime. The Filipino scouts were mostly Filipino Americans that were organized in 1901 to combat the Philippine revolutionary forces. They were later integrated into different army regiments for World War One. Provisions were also made for the Officers Reserve Corps, the Reserve Officer Training Corp, Enlisted Reserve Corps, and the National Guard.[7] There was a major push to bring our boys back home and this led congress to fail to keep an adequate standing army. In 1919 when the War Department argued for a 500,000-man force, Congress decided to steadily reduce the army from 175,000 to 125,000 and in 1924 down to just 111,000 men. This was only 11,000 more than a beaten and disarmed Germany could keep under the Treaty of Versailles.[8]

After World War One in the interwar period, the United States military went idle. The Army was using outdated equipment from the first World War and nothing major was being done to update equipment. The soldiers were training with Springfield rifles designed in 1903. The Army’s artillery units were still using French-made 75MM artillery pieces even though there were newer and more accurate artillery pieces such as the 105MM Howitzer. The Army only bought fourteen of these new artillery pieces. At the same time in the interwar period, the Army only had built twelve new tanks. Between 1920 and 1932, the Army had budgeted approximately $167,000 per year for mechanization.[9] The total cost for a Mark VIII was $85,000 and the Ordnance Department budgets for tank development only allowed for building only one experimental tank per year between 1925 and 1931.[10] Many officers speculated about the alternate uses of tanks such as supply vehicles, self-propelled artillery pieces, communications vehicles as well as support for riflemen.[11]

At the same time training during the depression years was decentralized. The war department issued very broad training instructions. These focused mainly on the battle drill, for the combat units and rifle marksmanship. Infantry and Cavalry units training emphasized training with machine guns but there were limits on the amount of ammunition they could use.[12] However, these were only accomplished if the resources to do so were available. The depression years were essentially the same with the entry training for the new recruits. After the recruits were sworn in they were sent straight to their units not to training depots. This was because the training depots and advanced training centers were abolished in 1922 as an economic measure. Once recruits got to their units, noncommissioned officers would conduct recruit training. The NCO would train them in basic military skills and customs. These training Thisdrills varied in length depending on the instructor’s motivation and the needs of the unit. Usually, the recruits were placed into the units quickly and would learn the military skills they needed on the job.[13]

At the same time, the National Guard was promised sixty drill periods a year along with a fifteen-day summer field training. That would quickly become a lie and would level out to about forty-eight drills. In 1920, the Guard had a total strength of 56,090 but this number would rise through the interwar period. While the Reserves at this time had a strength of 107,083 and this strength would stay fairly stable. The total Military expenditures for 1920 was $1,610,587,381. In 1925, the strength of the National Guard would triple to 177,525 which was more than the Regular Army's strength of 134,624 men. Later, in 1939 the strength of the National Guard would reach a high of 199,491. This was about 1,000 fewer men than the regular Army had in 1920.[14]

Later, during the interwar period, the size of the military was starting to become a concern. General MacArthur started pushing for an increase in the standing army for three years and was finally heard when he realized that the 1934 Regular Army could be crowded into Yankee Stadium. The remilitarization by the Germans and Japan's war against China started to become bigger than the public's current problems in the United States. President Roosevelt told congress that the national defense is, in light of the increasing armaments in other nations, inadequate for purpose of national security and requires an increase for that reason.[15] In 1936 congress granted General Macarthur's wishes and he was granted a standing army increase to 165,000 men as well as a quota for 1,500 recruits a month. On average, each corps area was required to enlist seventy-five men per month. Recruiters disobeyed this order because they were already overworked and they knew they could not meet the new quota. The depression also did not help the recruiting process because despite widespread unemployment the New Deal programs provided competition. The programs moderately improved the economy keeping people from turning to the army for financial stability. Four years later the draft would be instated.

Afterward, in July of 1941 Army was filled with draftees that were being trained at full strength with brand new equipment. Unit training burdens were eased and the training of new personnel became the responsibility of the new training centers.[16] Lt. Col. Stephen Henry organized these new facilities. Henry’s initial focus was to expand Fort Knox’s training capabilities. After the construction of new buildings and hiring training personnel, Henry wanted to rely on civilian trade schools and colleges to provide him with the technical expertise of trained mechanics, electricians, welders, and radio operators. As the army began training its personnel in this field, the attendance of the civilian schools declined.[17]

Once again in 1945 victory was achieved for the United States when the Japanese surrendered and this marked the end of World War II. At this point the United States armed services were over twelve million men and women strong. The Army began demobilizing its force of approximately 8,290,000 on May 12th, 1945. By 1948 the Army had trimmed its numbers down to 554,000, about one-sixteenth of the previous size. Very similar to the demobilization at the end of the first World War there was mass confusion about the future following World War II. In 1945 President Harry Truman stated that within twelve to eighteen months the Army would release 5,000,000 – 5,500,000 men. Major General Stephen Henry who is now the Army Deputy Chief of Staff said the Army would release 6,500,000 men within one year. He also said the Army would need 900,000 men to be able to occupy the pacific but the next month General Douglas MacArthur thought 200,000 would be adequate to hold Japan. To further add to this confusion General George C. Marshall felt that 500,000 would be the number of men needed to occupy the area they needed. There were others at this time protesting the demobilization. While politicians and Army General Staff argued over demobilization, protests and unrest became a problem among service members. The service members were protesting the slowing down and confusion of the demobilization. Troops were being processed out at a rate of 650 men per hour. Once again, the public’s desire to bring troops home was threatening the strength of the military.[18]

Post-World War II men were kept in service in occupied territories to police them of fascism and guard assets. With all the tasks that need manning and with the rate they were downsizing the military, General Dwight Eisenhower thought the United States would run out of men. The biggest problem with the Army was recruitment. The Army had fallen well below the 50,000 men a month they were expected to receive.[19] The Director of the Selective Service General Lewis Hershey said the reason there were many reasons why the draft had fallen short of the quota. The main contributors to this were the Army stopped accepting illiterates as well as medical school students and some graduate students were also exempt. President Truman had also made men eighteen through twenty-six exempt from the draft and they were reluctant to draft fathers.[20]

Originally, Truman stated that by 1945 the Army would be reduced to 1,950,000 and by June 1946 they were only 50,000 short of that number. Later that year the Army announced a cut back to a new goal of 1,070,000 including the Army Air Corp by July 1st, 1947. Congress later decided upon an end strength of 600,000 men. This was the largest peacetime Army in the history of the United States. This is when the military implemented a point system for discharges. This gave credit for time served, combat decorations, battle scars, and parenthood. Congress still released surplus personnel regardless of points. Movie stars, athletes, and sons of politicians were also discharged with no regard to the point system. Most noncommissioned officers and junior officers had a lot of combat experience but the junior enlisted were not as experienced and were very young. Most of these young men were attracted to the Army by the generous GI Bill of a post-service education and low-interest loans.[21]

As for maintaining a military the United states soon repeated the mistakes from World War One. The Army reduced in just four years from seventy-nine divisions to only ten active divisions. The Army maintained this structure but most divisions were below the authorized strength. When the Soviet Union overthrew Czechoslovakia and sealed off Berlin, General Bradley persuaded President Truman to reinstate the draft and built the army to strength of 850,000. Within a year, the Berlin crisis was countered by the airlift and the Army was cut back again. By March of 1948, the Army had dwindled to 530,000 men and General Bradley stated that the Army had almost no combat effectiveness and could not fight its way out of a paper bag.[22]

Later, the Selective Service Act gave the possibility of military obligation to every healthy male between the age of seventeen and twenty-six. This would let the selectee choose his branch and the period he would be in for. The longer the period the less time they would have to spend in the ready reserve. And once they have served and are entered into the ready reserves they can only be mobilized in major events.[23]

In conclusion, The Army went through many demobilizations and mobilizations from World War One and on. They made countless mistakes with manpower though it always seemed to be what would please the public post-war. The Army repeated the mistakes of downsizing multiple times and had a tough time holding a strong standing force. Even in all the downsizing, we would always turn around with the help of the draft. All these factors helped shape our military into what we have today and many of the policies are still around to keep us from making the same mistakes we made in the past.