Driven Patriot

Driven Patriot
Author: Townsend Hoopes
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
Total Pages: 612
Release: 2012-04-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 1612512453

A haunting portrait of one of the most fascinating and influential figures of the mid-twentieth century, this biography takes a penetrating look at James Forrestal's life and work. Brilliant, ambitious, glamorous, yet a perpetual outsider, Forrestal forged a career that took him from his working-class origins to the social and financial stratosphere of Wall Street, and from there to policy making in Washington. As secretary of the navy during World War II, he was the principal architect in transforming an obsolescent navy into the largest, most formidable naval force in history. After the war, as the nation's first secretary of defense, he played a major role in shaping the anti-Communist consensus that sustained the U.S. policy of containment during the Cold War. Despite his many achievements, Forrestal's life ended in tragedy with his suicide in 1949. This absorbing study not only takes an understanding look at the many-sided man but presents an authoritative history of the great but troubled years of America's rise to world primacy. Winner of the 1992 Roosevelt Naval History Prize, the book enjoyed wide acclaim when first published and is now considered a definitive work.

The Assassination of James Forrestal

The Assassination of James Forrestal
Author: David Martin
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2021-06-15
Genre:
ISBN: 9780967352152

Using primarily information provided in the Navy's official investigation of the death of America's first Secretary of Defense, which had been kept secret for 55 years, The Assassination of James Forrestal thoroughly demolishes the widely believed view that Forrestal's fall from a 16th-floor window of the Bethesda Naval Hospital on May 22, 1949, was an act of suicide. The official report, in fact, did not conclude that Forrestal committed suicide. It concluded only that the fall caused his death and that no one in the U.S. Navy was responsible for it. A major reason why the suicide thesis is still widely believed is that the news of the release of the official report, which the author obtained through the Freedom of Information Act in 2004, has been effectively suppressed. Building upon what he has long made available on his DCDave.com web site, and in the manner of his 2018 book, The Martyrdom of Thomas Merton: An Investigation, co-authored with Hugh Turley, David Martin breaks through the wall of silence and misinformation. This meticulous examination of the violent death of the leading government critic of American support for the creation of the state of Israel is vital to an understanding of U.S. and world history since the mid-20th century.

The Forrestal Diaries

The Forrestal Diaries
Author: James Forrestal
Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing
Total Pages: 869
Release: 2015-11-06
Genre: History
ISBN: 1786256932

James Vincent Forrestal (1892-1949) was the last Cabinet-level United States Secretary of the Navy and the first United States Secretary of Defense. These fascinating diaries begin in 1944 shortly after James Forrestal became Secretary of the Navy, and end with his resignation in March 1949 as America’s first Secretary of Defense. Blunt and forceful, Forrestal reveals the American strategy that he helped shape with verve. Expertly edited by seasoned historian Walter Millis, the American high command as is seen in a rare light as the Second World War finishes and the Cold War begins and gathers pace.

James Forrestal

James Forrestal
Author: Arnold A. Rogow
Publisher: New York : Macmillan
Total Pages: 430
Release: 1963
Genre: Cabinet officers
ISBN:

Explores the life of James Forrestal -- his childhood, his time at Princeton, his meteoric rise in Wall Street, his marriage and family life, and his government career -- to explain his tragic death. -- Dust jacket.

House of War

House of War
Author: James Carroll
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Total Pages: 696
Release: 2007-06
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780618872015

An analysis of the Pentagon, the military, and their vast, frequently hidden influence on American life argues that the Pentagon has, since its inception, operated beyond the control of any force in government or society.