Many people do not understand why President Donald Trump renamed the Department of Defense the Department of War.
In fact, this was the original title established Aug. 7, 1789 by the First Congress and signed by President George Washington. There was a Department of War for the Army. Its seafaring counterpart, the Department of the Navy, was established on April 30, 1798 (although the America’s first naval forces were constituted by the Naval Act of 1794).
After World War II, which required constant cooperation between the two departments,
Congress passed – and President Harry Truman signed – the National Security Act of 1947 on Sept. 18 of that year. This created the Department of Defense.
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