1861: Following the Union’s defeat at Bull Run, President Abraham Lincoln summons Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan (thus far the only Union general with any degree of success) to Washington, D.C., and McClellan is appointed commander of the Military Division of the Potomac – charged with defending the nation’s capital.
Gen. George B. McClellan
1941: Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt recalls Douglas MacArthur from retirement, naming the former general Commander of U.S. Army Forces in the Far East. Roosevelt also freezes Japanese assets on this day and forbids the export of oil and other war materiel to Japan. Adm. Husband E. Kimmel, commander of the Pacific Fleet, orders bases to begin long-range patrols in the event of an aggressive Japanese response.
General Douglas MacArthur
1945: The cruiser USS Indianapolis (CA-35) arrives in Tinian after a secret 5,000-mile voyage from San Francisco, delivering parts for the Little Boy atomic weapon that will be dropped on Hiroshima. Pres. Harry S. Truman advises Japan that if they do not surrender, they will face “prompt and utter destruction.”
USS Indianapolis (CA-35) circa 1945
1947: The National Security Act of 1947 – the law reorganizing the post-World War II national defense/intelligence structure of the United States – is passed, establishing the Department of Defense, the National Security Council, and the Central Intelligence Agency. The Act, which will become effective Sept. 18, is considered to be the most sweeping reorganization of the American defense structure since the establishment of the Department of the Navy in 1798.
1948: (featured image) Pres. Truman signs Executive Order 9981, beginning desegregation in the United States Armed Forces. However, segregation in the military doesn’t officially end until the Dwight D. Eisenhower administration.
1954: Three days after a Cathay Pacific DC-4 passenger plane, enroute from Bangkok to Hong Kong, is shot down by the Chinese Air Force, a flight of two U.S. Navy AD “Skyraiders” search the area for survivors. The American planes are themselves engaged by two Chinese Lavochkin La-11 fighters, and the Skyraiders return fire – shooting down the communist aircraft.
Lavochkin La-11
Douglas AD-2 Skyraider
