Trump’s Vision: Why the Department of Defense is Becoming the Department of War

Historian Melvin Leffler of the University of Virginia explains that there were bureaucratic disputes over the distribution of financial resources between the Army, Navy, and Air Force. Truman and his national security advisors believed it was necessary to combine the preparation of national security and war plans. Leffler notes that the choice of the word ‘defense’ over ‘war’ was deliberate, as it came at a time when the US-Soviet Cold War was beginning. With both sides possessing nuclear weapons, the stakes were high. President Truman and his advisors’ main focus was on preventing future wars rather than initiating them. Trump has commented on the military failures after the victories of the First and Second World Wars, attributing these failures to the name of the Department of Defense. Trump wants to display his power worldwide in his second term through this rebranding. This decision is part of the ‘Make America Great Again’ policy. Trump had complained that the current name is too defensive, stating, ‘I don’t just want to defend, I want defense, but I also want to be offensive.’