The Medal of Honor : the evolution of America's highest military decoration / Dwight S. Mears.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mears, Dwight S., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Medal of Honor--History.

Medal of Honor.

Military decorations--Law and legislation--United States.

Military decorations.

Decorations of honor--Law and legislation--United States.

Decorations of honor.

Medals--Law and legislation--United States.

Medals.

Medals--Law and legislation.

Decorations of honor--Law and legislation.

Military decorations--Law and legislation.

History.

United States.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

viii, 312 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Lawrence, Kansas : University Press of Kansas, [2018]

Summary:

"In The Medal of Honor, Dwight Mears takes a comprehensive look at the historical, legal, and policy underpinnings of the Medal of Honor (often referred to as the Congressional Medal of Honor), America's highest military decoration for valor in combat. In recent years the medal's eligibility criteria have been largely standardized among all military services. Prior to 1963, however, different criteria for the Medal of Honor existed between the Army and the Navy due to different controlling statutes and policies as well as divergent perceptions about the award's purpose. The early twentieth century was a turning point for both military services, as the period saw the codification of legislation designed to keep the award from undeserving recipients, largely in reaction to perceived legal and policy errors or omissions of the past. The medal's continued statutory and policy evolution has produced a number of contemporary concerns, including perceptions that bureaucratic and legislative barriers have effectively pushed the decoration out of reach of deserving service members, and that remedies were necessary to correct for past discrimination that resulted in the unfair downgrade of many awards in earlier conflicts. Existing literature on the Medal of Honor avoids in-depth analysis, preferring instead to focus on the most deserving recipients in different periods of US history. Due to its depth and comprehensiveness, The Medal of Honor is likely to be the definitive book on the subject."--Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Legal and policy history

From the Revolution through the Civil War: background and inception

Filling the Army's policy vacuum: 1876-1897

The Spanish-American War, Veracruz, and Navy officers: 1898-1915

The Purge of 1917: The Army rewrites its award history

World War I: The birth of the Pyramid of Honor

The interwar period: a bifurcated Medal of Honor and new decorations

World War II: growing pains and the end of noncombat awards

The Korean and Vietnam Wars: new combat thresholds

Post-Vietnam: modern concern over the decline in award frequency

Exceptions to the rules: legislative, administrative, and judicial relief

Early bills of relief and extralegislative awards

Modern bills of relief: 10 U.S.C. 1130

Administrative remedies: Boards for Correction

Administrative restorations: Mary Walker and William Cody

Judicial remedies: the Administrative Procedure Act

Correction of discrimination or impropriety

Conclusion

Appendix: Summary of Medal of Honor legislation (excluding bills of relief).

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780700626656

0700626654

OCLC:

1032014828