Partner David Roll Writes About Firm Founder

Louis Johnson and the Arming of America: The Roosevelt and Truman Years, by Keith D. McFarland and David L. Roll (October 14), provides insight into how FDR's chief war planner and Truman's Secretary of Defense set the stage for ongoing conflicts between State, Defense, and Congress.

(Bloomington, IN)—Harry Truman's second Secretary of Defense, whose 20-year public career spanned the tumultuous Roosevelt—Truman era, was among the most influential Americans of his time, yet his story never has been told. Louis Johnson and the Arming of America: The Roosevelt and Truman Years, by Keith McFarland and David Roll will remedy this historical oversight.

McFarland and Roll detail Johnson's distinction as the only civilian influential in shaping the national security and military preparedness policies of both the Roosevelt and the Truman presidencies. Johnson was the only top official used by each of these extraordinary presidents to confront and carry out extremely unpopular initiatives that FDR and Truman believed were vitally important to the nation's security and economic welfare. As Franklin Roosevelt's Assistant Secretary of War, Johnson—who comes to life as a big, beefy, former heavyweight boxing champ at the University of Virginia—was architect of the industrial mobilization plans used in World War II to put the nation on a war footing. In his role as principal war planner for FDR and his most effective advocate of air power, Johnson achieved national prominence and a permanent place in US military history. Unfortunately, he never had the opportunity to implement the plans he had put into place because he was deftly relieved (some would say fired) for political reasons from his post by President Roosevelt in June 1940.

During World War II, Johnson was Roosevelt's special envoy to India where he befriended Nehru and brokered a deal to defend the nation against the Japanese only to be undercut by Winston Churchill and Harry Hopkins. Following the war, Louis Johnson foreshadowed a movement by most of the established law firms in major US cities by opening an office of his West Virginia law firm, Steptoe & Johnson, in Washington, DC.  In 1948, when no one else would step forward to serve as finance chair for Harry Truman's presidential campaign, Johnson put his own fortune and reputation on the line and succeeded in raising the money that enabled Truman to pull off his stunning electoral upset.

In the spring of 1949, in a move that pundits called a political payoff, Louis Johnson was appointed by Truman to succeed James Forrestal as the nation's second Secretary of Defense. Ironically, Johnson, the outspoken champion of preparedness, was charged by Truman with the job of dismantling the vast postwar military arsenal for which he had laid the foundation in the period 1937-40. Johnson ruthlessly carried out the President's budget-cutting orders. By mid-1950, Truman's austere budget targets had been met and the size of US military forces had been dramatically reduced. But Johnson would never receive credit or public acclaim for carrying out his boss's directives. As he arrogantly hacked his way through the military establishment, he made mistakes, he made enemies, and he eventually alienated his old friend, the Commander in Chief. Johnson's cuts fomented a public revolt by several battle-hardened Navy admirals. He fought bitterly with Secretary of State Dean Acheson. And perhaps most damaging to his relationship with his boss, Johnson's presidential aspirations caused him to curry favor with Truman's opponents on Capitol Hill and with the controversial General Douglas MacArthur.

If North Korea had not attacked the South in the summer of 1950 and exposed America's lack of military preparedness, Johnson might have survived in the Truman administration. However, the attack came with devastating savagery and swiftness and Johnson, already vulnerable, became a scapegoat for Congress, the press, the public, and ultimately Harry Truman.

“As the first book to examine objectively Johnson's role and influence in this critical period, it offers fresh insights into the core beliefs, comparative political and leadership skills, and strengths and weaknesses of two of America's greatest, although vastly different, chief executives,” notes McFarland. Adds Roll, “The battles Johnson waged in serving these two presidents' titanic struggles with the likes of Henry Morgenthau, Secretary of War Woodring, Winston Churchill, Harry Hopkins, Dean Acheson, Averell Harriman, Paul Nitze and David Lilienthal—still resonate today in the profound disagreements between the national defense establishment headed by Donald Rumsfeld and the internationalists led by Colin Powell.”

As the book shows, in each role and for each President, Louis Johnson was an effective albeit blunt instrument of confrontation and at the same time he was a difficult, complicated, and totally fascinating character.

About the authors
David L. Roll is a partner in the law firm of Steptoe & Johnson LLP , founded by Louis Johnson. He focuses on antitrust and regulatory law and litigation.  Prior to joining Steptoe, he headed a team of antitrust lawyers at the Federal Trade Commission.

Keith D. McFarland is President of Texas A&M University–Commerce. He has published articles and books on the Roosevelt era, military preparedness and the Korean War, including a biography of Harry Hines Woodring, Roosevelt's Secretary of War from 1936 until June 1940.

Book Information
Louis Johnson and the Arming of America: The Roosevelt and Truman Years
By Keith D. McFarland and David A. Roll
456 pages, 24 b&w photos., bibliog., index, 6 1/8 x 9 1/4
Hardback $39.95  ISBN 0-253-34626-6
Published: October 14, 2005 by Indiana University Press