The personality, and most importantly, the mysterious suicide of the first Secretary of Defense of the United States - James Forrestal - even decades after his death, raises many questions. Find out some of the details of his life and version of the death will help this article.
Childhood and study
The future first Secretary of Defense of the United States was born in the town of Bacon (formerly Mattivan), New York State, in the family of an immigrant from Ireland. It happened in 1892. After leaving school, he worked for 3 years at major publishing houses, and then entered Dartmouth College, from where he was transferred to Princeton University for good studies .
In his final year, the young man was invited to head the student newspaper The Daily Princetonian, and after graduating, James Forrestal got a job at William A. Read and Company.
The beginning of a military career
When the United States announced its entry into the First World War, James Forrestal enlisted in the army and was sent to the fleet. The command noticed a young educated sailor and sent him to study in Canada, where he graduated from the Royal Aviation Corps and became a military pilot.
After the war, James Forrestal began working on the Democratic Party Committee and participated in election campaigns as a publicist, including at the federal level. However, politics soon bored the young man, and in 1923 he returned to work at William A. Read and Company. His diligence and determination was always appreciated by employers and shareholders, so in 1937, James Forrestal took over as president of this company.
Work in Government during the Second World War
In the summer of 1940, US President Franklin Roosevelt invited James Forrestal to become his special assistant, and 6 weeks later he signed a decree on his appointment as Deputy Minister of the Navy. Such a choice was not a surprise to anyone. Indeed, at one time, Forrestal was an active participant in the Roosevelt election campaign.
After the outbreak of World War II, the new deputy minister proved himself a skilled leader and was able to successfully carry out a large-scale reorganization of American industry in order to bring it into line with the needs of the army.
May 19, 1944, after the death of his immediate superior, Forrestal took his place, becoming Minister of the United States Navy. Under his leadership, the American fleet operated in the last year of the war, and upon its completion, Forrestal organized the demobilization of soldiers who returned from the front.
After the war
As Secretary of the U.S. Naval Forces, Forrestal was extremely hostile to President Truman's intentions to unify all military departments. However, he took an active part in the creation of a national military department. It was on August 10, 1949, that it was transformed into the United States Department of Defense, the leadership of which was entrusted to Forrestal.
The year and a half during which he held this position were extremely difficult for the United States, since during this period China and Czechoslovakia chose the communist path of development, after the formation of the state of Israel, the Middle East war broke out, West Berlin became isolated and problems arose. with the project of creating NATO.
To top it all off, an undercover fight began within the Ministry of Defense itself, which was exacerbated by a reduction in the budget allocated by the government to the needs of the military department.
Anti-Soviet paranoia
In the late 40s, the United States began to actively prepare for a new war, this time with its former ally, the USSR. One of the most active figures in the American government, convinced of the need to destroy the Soviet Union, was General James Forrestal. He constantly demanded money from the president for the purchase of weapons for the army and navy and made angry speeches in which he branded "Russian spies" who allegedly leaked to the Capitol and sought to inflict damage on the combat capability of the United States.
Every day, the Minister’s behavior became more and more strange and causing concern among others. Finally, at the end of March 1949, Forrestal was removed from his post and placed in a special military hospital.
Illness and death
At the medical center, the former minister constantly repeated the phrase “Russians are coming”, lost a lot of weight and acted like a classic paranoid. A month later, on May 22, 1949, James Forrestal committed suicide. In any case, that was exactly what was written in official documents published by the FBI. It was also mentioned that before jumping out of the window of his house, the former minister left a suicide note with an excerpt from the ancient Greek tragedy of Ajax.
Death versions
For many years, the death of General Forrestal was controversial and overgrown with legends. Numerous versions have been put forward - from the terrorist attack carried out by the Israelis to the murder committed by US intelligence, fearing that he would reveal the details of the so-called Roswell incident. The latter theory even formed the basis of the plot of the television movie, which talks about how the US government is trying to hide the facts about contact with aliens. According to the creators of the picture, the alien ship crashed in New Mexico in 1947, when Forrestal was in charge of the military department, and he could tell the truth to strangers in paranoid delirium.
The feature film about the first US Secretary of Defense was also made by Clint Eastwood. The picture was called "Flags of Our Fathers", and the role of James Forrestal was made by actor Michael Kampsti.
Now you know who James Forrestal was and why he is considered one of the first victims of Cold War propaganda.