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National Security Act Of 1947 Dbq

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There are many significant events in history that have developed our nation into what it is now. One key event was the National Security Act of 1947. The purpose National Security Act was to help strengthen national security, bring together the U.S. Government, and complete unification of the armed forces. This would be cause of the expansion of new government agencies. Some questions arise about the National Security Act of 1947 like, what was the impact the National Security Act on the U.S. Government? Or was the National Security Act of 1947 necessary? Some historians say the Act was created because President Truman didn’t want another incident like the devastating attack on Pearl Harbor that was a surprise attack by the Japanese military …show more content…

“The most important innovation of the NSA, the National Security Council, was a special source of concern for President Truman, who worried that it would become a ‘‘second cabinet.’’ (Stuart 2003) The National Security Council was made up of The President of the United States, The Secretary of the State, The Secretary of Defense, The Secretary of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, and The Chairman of National Security Resources Board. The NSC responsibilities were to “advise the President with respect to the integration of domestic, foreign, and military policies relating to the national security so as to enable the military services and the other departments and agencies of the Government to cooperate more effectively in matters involving the national security.” (“National Security Act of 1947" 2009) Another important agency that came out of the National Security Act was the Central Intelligence …show more content…

Stuart states, “Pearl Harbor convinced most Americans of the need for fundamental reform of the agencies responsible for foreign and defense affairs.” Though, through the years there were many other incidents causing debate over the nations national security, the memory of Pearl Harbor was a driving factor for the National Security Act of 1947. Ultimately, the National Security Act of 1947 was meant to strengthen and unify all the armed forces but it didn’t really do either. Although the nation’s national security has strengthened, it didn’t combine or unify the armed forces in the way it was designed. (Stuart 2003)
The National Security Act of 1947 later became the primary law for foreign policy and the nation’s intelligence agency. Stevenson writes, “It was crafted as a means to impose restraints on military spending, yet it provided the framework for the Cold War military buildup.” The National Security Act of 1947 caused somewhat of hardship on the armed forces, Army continued to suffer cutbacks, Air Force became its own branch, Navy was able to keep all aircraft and Marine Corp was completely protected by the NSA but the law was changed in

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