The Marines' fight for survival : war, politics, and institutional crisis, 1945-1952 / Rod Andrew Jr.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Andrew, Rod, Jr., Author.

Series:

Studies in civil-military relations

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United States. Marine Corps--History--20th century.

United States.

United States. Douglas-Mansfield Act of 1952.

United States--Military policy.

United States--History, Naval--20th century.

Physical Description:

xii, 423 pages : illustrations, portraits, maps ; 24 cm.

Other Title:

War, politics, and institutional crisis, 1945-1952

Place of Publication:

Lawrence, Kansas : University Press of Kansas, [2025]

Summary:

"The compelling history of how the US Marines and their allies fought to preserve the Corps and establish its role in national defense. Only five years after Marines raised the American flag on Iwo Jima, the United States Marine Corps was close to becoming a hollow force. A parsimonious Truman administration and a hostile defense secretary, Louis Johnson, had reduced the Corps to a handful of understrength infantry battalions, assorted supporting artillery and tank units, and twelve aircraft squadrons. Its future hung in the balance. In The Marines' Fight for Survival, historian and retired Marine Corps Colonel Rod Andrew Jr. guides readers through the dramatic twists and turns of the campaign waged by a handful of senior Marines, citizens, legislators, and journalists to defend the Corps and prevent its elimination or forced irrelevance. Through politicking, intrigue, deception, and extreme moral courage, the Corps' defenders waged a bitter battle of policy and publicity in the halls of power and the national media. But while this campaign of persuasion moved the needle in some important ways, the final victory for the Marines' future was ultimately won on the battlefields of Korea. Andrew argues that it was the gritty performance of the frontline Marines and their supporting airmen in Korea that ultimately saved the Corps. The elite reputation that they created for themselves, and the affection they had garnered from the public throughout the twentieth century, would not have been possible without the valor and the victories of frontline Marines. The Corps' place in the national defense structure was sealed with the Douglas-Mansfield Act of 1952, in which Congress granted a legal voice to the USMC Commandant on the Joint Chiefs of Staff and made the Corps the only service branch to have a permanent minimal strength protected by law"--Provided by publisher

Contents:

"Half Horse and Half Alligator": The Marine Corps' Survival and Search for Identity, 1775-1917

Finding A New Identity: 1919-1941

"Just a Bunch of Beach Runners": U.S. Marines in World War II, 1941-1945

The Unification Fight: Opening Salvos, 1944-1945

The Unification Fight in 1946: the "Chowder Society" and the Secret Papers

"No Bended Knee:" The Fight over Senate Bill No. 2044 in 1946

Toward the National Security Act: the Fight in the Senate

"Marines! Marines! That's All I Hear": The Passage of the National Security Act, 1947

The "Revolt of the Admirals": the Decline of the Marine Corps, July 1947-June 1950

The Nadir, and the Great Mobilization, January 1949-August 1950

"Truman's Police Force" and the Pusan Perimeter

Inchon: "The Navy and Marines Have Never Shone Brighter"

"You damned Marines": the Drive to Seoul

"We weren't going to get pushed around in combat": the Crisis at the Chosin Reservoir

"We've Got the Bastards Right Where We Want Them": The Breakout

From Korea to Capitol Hill: The "Marine Corps Bill" in 1951

Victory in Congress, 1952.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Online version Andrew, Rod, Jr. Marines' Fight for Survival.

ISBN:

9780700640485

0700640487

OCLC:

1513349164

Publisher Number:

90103128439