Forrestal, << FAWR ihst uhl, >> James Vincent (1892-1949), was the first United States secretary of defense. He served from September 1947 until March 1949. He also served as secretary of the Navy from 1944 to 1947 and helped build the U.S. fleet into the largest in the world. In 1954, the Navy named a class of aircraft carriers the Forrestal in his honor.
When Congress passed the National Security Act in 1947 to unify the armed forces, it created a civilian secretary of defense. President Harry S. Truman appointed Forrestal to the post. Forrestal resigned in 1949 due to mental and physical exhaustion. The strain of his job was blamed by many for his suicide two months later, on May 22.
Forrestal was born on Feb. 15, 1892, in Beacon, New York. In World War I (1914-1918), he was a naval aviator and then turned to a financial career in New York City.
