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The National Security Act of 1947 created a national
[#permalink]
19 Nov 2007, 20:18
The National Security Act of 1947 created a national military establishment headed by a single Secretary of Defense. The legislation had been a year-and-a-half in the making—beginning when President Truman first recommended that the armed services be reorganized into a single department. During that period the President’s concept of a unified armed service was torn apart and put back together several times, the final measure to emerge from Congress being a compromise. Most of the opposition to the bill came from the Navy and its numerous civilian spokesmen, including Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal. In support of unification (and a separate air force that was part of the unification package) were the Army air forces, the Army, and, most importantly, the President of the United States.
Passage of the bill did not bring an end to the bitter interservice disputes. Rather than unify, the act served only to federate the military services. It neither halted the rapid demobilization of the armed forces that followed World War II nor brought to the new national military establishment the loyalties of officers steeped in the traditions of the separate services. At a time when the balance of power in Europe and Asia was rapidly shifting, the services lacked any precise statement of United States foreign policy from the National Security Council on which to base future programs. The services bickered unceasingly over their respective roles and missions, already complicated by the Soviet nuclear capability that for the first time made the United States subject to devastating attack. Not even the appointment of Forrestal as First Secretary of Defense allayed the suspicions of naval officers and their supporters that the role of the U.S. Navy was threatened with permanent eclipse. Before the war of words died down, Forrestal himself was driven to resignation and then suicide.
By 1948, the United States military establishment was forced to make do with a budget approximately 10 percent of what it had been at its wartime peak. Meanwhile, the cost of weapons procurement was rising geometrically as the nation came to put more and more reliance on the atomic bomb and its delivery systems. These two factors inevitably made adversaries of the Navy and the Air Force as the battle between advocates of the B-36 and the supercarrier so amply demonstrates. Given severe fiscal restraints on the one hand, and on the other the nation’s increasing reliance on strategic nuclear deterrence, the conflict between these two services over roles and missions was essentially a contest over slices of an ever-diminishing pie.
Yet if in the end neither service was the obvious victor, the principle of civilian dominance over the military clearly was. If there had ever been any danger that the United States military establishment might exploit, to the detriment of civilian control, the goodwill it enjoyed as a result of its victories in World War II, that danger disappeared in the interservice animosities engendered by the battle over unification.
(1) Which of the following best describes the tone of the selection?
(A) Analytical and confident
(B) Resentful and defensive
(C) Objective and speculative
(D) Tentative and skeptical
(E) Persuasive and cynical
Explanation required atleast for the above question. Thanks
(2) According to the passage, the interservice strife that followed unification occurred primarily between the
(A) Army and Army air forces
(B) Army and Navy
(C) Army air forces and Navy
(D) Navy and Army
(E) Air Force and Navy
(3) With which of the following statements about defense unification would the author most likely agree?
(A) Unification ultimately undermined United States military capability by inciting interservice rivalry.
(B) The unification legislation was necessitated by the drastic decline in appropriations for the military services.
(C) Although the unification was not entirely successful, it had the unexpected result of ensuring civilian control of the military.
(D) In spite of the attempted unification, each service was still able to pursue its own objectives without interference from the other branches.
(E) Unification was in the first place unwarranted and in the second place ineffective.
(4) The author is primarily concerned with
(A) discussing the influence of personalities on political events
(B) describing the administration of a powerful leader
(C) criticizing a piece of legislation
(D) analyzing a political development
(E) suggesting methods for controlling the military
Archived Topic
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Re: The National Security Act of 1947 created a national
[#permalink]
20 Nov 2007, 09:04
for 1 , I will go with A. I am ruling out B, D and E because the author is definitely not resentful, tentative or cynical. If anything he/she has a very analytical and confident tone. I rule out C because there is no speculation on the author's part. Everything he/she has written is stated with the confidence of stating a fact and there is an analysis of many different factors.
for 2, I will go with C. I am slightly ambivalent about E because of the line "These two factors inevitably made adversaries of the Navy and the Air Force as ". But still C seems to win out.
for 3, I will go with C. The last paragraph in the passage states essentially the same.
for 4, I will go with D. The author is mainly analyzing the developments. C says that he is criticizing. Though most of the developments were negative, the author mostly has an objective tone without any personal overtones. The answer could be C, but i am sticking with D
Re: The National Security Act of 1947 created a national
[#permalink]
20 Nov 2007, 09:18
finder_003 wrote:
for 1 , I will go with A. I am ruling out B, D and E because the author is definitely not resentful, tentative or cynical. If anything he/she has a very analytical and confident tone. I rule out C because there is no speculation on the author's part. Everything he/she has written is stated with the confidence of stating a fact and there is an analysis of many different factors.
for 2, I will go with C. I am slightly ambivalent about E because of the line "These two factors inevitably made adversaries of the Navy and the Air Force as ". But still C seems to win out.
for 3, I will go with C. The last paragraph in the passage states essentially the same.
for 4, I will go with D. The author is mainly analyzing the developments. C says that he is criticizing. Though most of the developments were negative, the author mostly has an objective tone without any personal overtones. The answer could be C, but i am sticking with D
huh...finally, someone looks at the RC. The OAs are
1. A
2. E
3. C
4. D
Re: The National Security Act of 1947 created a national
[#permalink]
20 Nov 2007, 09:26
eyunni wrote:
finder_003 wrote:
for 1 , I will go with A. I am ruling out B, D and E because the author is definitely not resentful, tentative or cynical. If anything he/she has a very analytical and confident tone. I rule out C because there is no speculation on the author's part. Everything he/she has written is stated with the confidence of stating a fact and there is an analysis of many different factors.
for 2, I will go with C. I am slightly ambivalent about E because of the line "These two factors inevitably made adversaries of the Navy and the Air Force as ". But still C seems to win out.
for 3, I will go with C. The last paragraph in the passage states essentially the same.
for 4, I will go with D. The author is mainly analyzing the developments. C says that he is criticizing. Though most of the developments were negative, the author mostly has an objective tone without any personal overtones. The answer could be C, but i am sticking with D
huh...finally, someone looks at the RC. The OAs are 1. A 2. E 3. C 4. D
So E is the right answer for 2??? Can someone explain why C is wrong. There is mention of army air force in the first paragraph but only airforce later in the passage.
Eyunni? anyone?? am curious about this!!!
Re: The National Security Act of 1947 created a national
[#permalink]
20 Nov 2007, 09:40
By 1948, the United States military establishment was forced to make do with a budget approximately 10 percent of what it had been at its wartime peak. Meanwhile, the cost of weapons procurement was rising geometrically as the nation came to put more and more reliance on the atomic bomb and its delivery systems. These two factors inevitably made adversaries of the Navy and the Air Force as the battle between advocates of the B-36 and the supercarrier so amply demonstrates.
Even I was hovering around (C) and (E). But then the above information shifted my answer to (E).
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gmatclubot
Re: The National Security Act of 1947 created a national [#permalink]