US President Donald Trump wants to change the name of the Department of War Department, as he was called until shortly after World War II.
At a meeting at the Oval Hall with South Korean President Lee Jae-Myung, last Monday (25), Trump said the name used until 1947 “has a stronger sound” and should be used again “within a few days or weeks.”
“As a department of war, we won everything. We won everything,” said Trump, referring to conflicts locked before the creation of the Department of Defense, as the first and second wars. “I think we’ll have to go back to it,” he added.
In June, Trump had said that the position of war secretary was changed to Secretary of Defense to meet the rules of politically correct. Last month, he returned to the subject in a post na Truth Socialcalling Pete Hegseth, whom he called “war secretary.”
Can Trump change the name of the department?
Restoration of the name of the largest US government department, discarded almost eight decades ago, must be done through an act of Congress. An White House employee told the American newspaper Wall Street Journal (WSJ), however, that the government is studying other ways to make the change.
According to the publication, the Pentagon began to develop legislative proposals to change the first weeks of Trump’s second term. One of the ideas would be to ask Congress authority to restore the former name of the department and the title of his secretary during a national emergency.
What is the story of the name?
The War Department was established in August 1789 by George Washington, the first US president, months after the Constitution was ratified. The first war secretary of the country was Henry Knox.
During the more than 150 years in which the name prevailed, the United States waged wars against Britain, Spain, Mexico and Philippines, as well as the civil war and participation in the two major world wars.
Why was the name changed?
The initial function of the War Department was to supervise the army, while a Navy department administered the Naval’s forces and Marines. In 1947, President Harry S. Truman merged the marine and war departments in a single organization entitled National Military Establishment, through the National Security Law. Two years later, Congress changed the law, changing the body’s name to the Defense Department.
Professor Richard H. Kohn of the University of North Carolina, a specialist in military history, told the New York Times that the change of name reflected not only an expansion of departmental functions (including combat to war, foreign policy, intelligence and national security) as an emphasis on preventing war.
“It was to communicate to the opponents of America, and the rest of the world that America was not making war, but defending the United States, and saying that if that requires war, there are four great armed services,” says Kohn.
