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James Forrestal
Sign in to saveAlso known as James Vincent Forrestal, James V. Forrestal
United States Navy officer and civil servant, Undersecretary of the Navy (1892-1949)
Key facts
- President
- Harry S. Truman
- Preceded by
- Office established , ( Kenneth Royall as Secretary of War )
- Succeeded by
- Louis A. Johnson
- Born
- James Vincent Forrestal , ( 1892-02-15 ) February 15, 1892, Matteawan, New York , U.S.
- Died
- May 22, 1949 (1949-05-22) (aged 57), Bethesda, Maryland , U.S.
- Resting place
- Arlington National Cemetery
- Party
- Independent
- Spouse
- Josephine Ogden Stovall ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 1926 )
- Children
- 2, including Michael
- Education
- Dartmouth College Princeton University
- Allegiance
- United States
- Branch service
- United States Navy
- Rank
- Lieutenant
- Battles wars
- World War I
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Given name
- James
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- United States
- Place of birth
- Beacon
- Place of death
- Bethesda
- Occupation
- minister
- Position held
- Under Secretary of the Navy
- Educated at
- Princeton University
- Political party
- Democratic Party (United States)
- Languages spoken
- English language
- Award
- Medal for Merit
- Field of work
- civil protection
- Conflict
- World War I
- Military branch
- United States Navy Reserve
- Military rank
- lieutenant
- Image
- James Forrestal.jpg
Show 9 more facts
- Commons category
- James Forrestal
- date of birth
- 1892-01-01
- date of death
- 1949-01-01
- manner of death
- Suicide
- place of burial
- Arlington National Cemetery
- Commons gallery
- James Forrestal
- present in work
- Hiroshima
- medical condition
- depression
- cause of death
- hanging to death
Sources (5)
via Wikidata · CC0
~36 min read
Encyclopedic overview
James Vincent Forrestal (February 15, 1892 – May 22, 1949) was the last cabinet-level United States secretary of the Navy and the first United States secretary of defense.
Forrestal came from a very strict middle-class Irish Catholic family. He was a successful financier on Wall Street before becoming Undersecretary of the Navy in 1940, shortly before the United States entered the Second World War. He became Secretary of the Navy in May 1944 upon the death of his superior, Col. Frank Knox. President Franklin D. Roosevelt requested that Forrestal take the lead in building up the Navy. In 1947, after the end of the war, President Harry S. Truman appointed him the first secretary of the newly created Department of Defense. Forrestal was intensely hostile to the Soviet Union, fearing Communist expansion in Europe and the Middle East. Along with Secretary of State George C. Marshall, he strongly opposed the United States' support for the establishment of the State of Israel, fearing that this would alienate Arab nations which were needed as allies, and whose petroleum reserves were vital for both military and civilian industrial expansion.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “James Forrestal” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.