HISTORICAL OFFICE
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE
What's New
September 2012
September 27, 2012 —Dr. Marolda is a faculty member at Georgetown University and the former Senior Historian of the U.S. Navy. He holds a PhD in history from The George Washington University and served as a U.S. Army officer during the Vietnam War. He has authored, coauthored, or edited twelve books on U.S. naval history. Dr. Marolda will discuss the impact of U.S. maritime power on the modern history of Asia based on his "Ready Seapower: a History of the U.S. Seventh Fleet," recently published by the Naval History and Heritage Command. Since its birth in World War II, the Seventh Fleet has served as one of the primary instruments of U.S. foreign policy in the vital but volatile region, buttressed America's Far Eastern alliances, protected oceangoing commerce, and battled America's foes in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and the Arabian Gulf. Today, and indeed throughout the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the fleet has also worked to deter armed aggression and to defeat piracy, terrorism, and weapons' proliferation. Fleet units have often acted quickly to help Asian peoples recover from typhoons, volcanoes, tsunamis, and other natural disasters. There will be time for questions and audience participation.
September 4, 2012 — Dr. Thomas Clemens is a retired professor of history who has long specialized in the Battle of Antietam, to include leading regular tours of the battlefield. He has edited, annotated, and published a two-volume study of the campaign originally researched and written by Ezra Carman, a regimental commander in the battle. The Maryland Campaign of September 1862 is widely regarded as one of the best accounts of the pivotal operation. The battle of Antietam is often called a tactical draw, but a strategic victory for the Union forces. Dr. Clemens’ presentation will examine the army which George McClellan led, what he did with it, and his advantages and disadvantages. Much is often made of the logistical challenges faced by Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, but few have studied the similar constraints faced by McClellan in this campaign. This reappraisal is long overdue and the conclusions may surprise those accustomed to the traditional "bumbling and cautious" interpretation of the man Lee called "the most able general I faced.
August 2012
August 28, 2012 — Dr. Birtle is chief of the Military Operations Branch at the Army Center of Military History. He is the author of U.S. Army Counterinsurgency and Contingency Operations Doctrine, 1860-1941 and a companion volume covering the period 1942-1976, and is currently writing the Army’s official history of its advisory program in Vietnam covering 1961-1965. General Zinni’s 35 years of service in the Marine Corps included two tours in Vietnam, as a company command and as an advisor to a Vietnamese Marine Corps battalion. His last active duty billet was Commander in Chief of U.S. Central Command during 1997-2000. Dr. Willbanks retired from the Army as a Lieutenant Colonel with twenty-three years service as an Infantry officer in various assignments, to include a tour as an advisor with a South Vietnamese infantry regiment during the 1972 North Vietnamese Easter Offensive. He has been on the faculty at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College since 1992. His published books include Abandoning Vietnam; The Battle of An Loc and The Tet Offensive: A Concise History. Dr. Birtle will open the program with a brief overview of the U.S. advisory effort in Vietnam. General Zinni and Dr. Willbanks will then talk about their experiences as advisors in Vietnam, any conclusions they drew from that experience about the overall advisory effort, and their observations that might be relevant to the recent effort in Iraq and the current effort in Afghanistan.
July 2012
July 17, 2012 — Christopher George was born in Liverpool, England, in 1948, and became a U.S. citizen in 1995. He admits to “divided loyalties on the War of 1812” but strives to take an objective view of the war. Author of Terror on the Chesapeake: The War of 1812 on the Bay, he has served as editor of the Journal of the War of 1812 since 1996, as well as coordinator of the National Symposium of the War of 1812 series held annually in Baltimore in October. His presentation will explore the causes of the war and the political conditions that pitted President Madison's ruling Republican Party against the Federalists, with consequent affect on the American war effort in the opening months of the conflict. Mr. George also will contrast the initial U.S. failures on land with a more successful record at sea based on the victories of U.S.S. Constitution, as well as American privateers preying on British commercial shipping.
June 2012
June 15, 2012 — Robert Krick, retired Chief Historian for the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, will give a presentation which will focus on Jackson's initial operations in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley in 1862 and explain how his success there catapulted him to national and international prominence. His highly drilled infantrymen covered ground so fast in moving from one battle to the next that they soon were dubbed "foot cavalry." Despite being outnumbered 3 to 1, he maneuvered his forces skillfully and made them appear to be numerically much stronger. He would prove to be one of the most effective commanders for the South until he died in action at the Battle of Chancellorsville in May 1863.
May 2012
May 10, 2012 — This presentation launches the OSD Historical Office’s just-published book Rearming for the Cold War, 1945-1960. This is the first volume of five in the Defense Acquisition History series. The project began several years ago under the auspices of the Army Center for Military History and has received support from the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology & Logistics, as well as the service history offices. The OSD Historical Office now has oversight. Although numerous studies have looked in depth at particular weapons programs, this series is the first to provide an overarching account of defense acquisition from 1945 to the end of the 20th century. Dr. Elliott V. Converse III, a retired Air Force officer and author of the book, will lead off and talk about his project. Professor Benjamin F. Cooling of the Industrial College of the Armed Forces will set the book in the overall historical context of defense acquisition. Dr. Jacques S. Gansler, a former Under Secretary for AT&L, will follow with perspectives on the topic based on his experience managing DoD acquisition. Dr. Roy L. Wood, dean of the Defense Systems Management College, will moderate the panel and the question and answer session with the audience that will close out the presentation.
April 2012
April 11, 2012 — Dr. Ethan Rafuse, a widely published author on the Civil War, will give the inaugural presentation of the DoD Historical Speaker Series at 1130 on 11 April in the Pentagon Auditorium. His talk will assess the opening months of the conflict President Lincoln called "A People's Contest." The ongoing program is planned and coordinated by the historical offices of OSD, the Joint Staff, and the four military services. A primary theme will be the commemoration of our nation’s past conflicts, to include the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812 (1812–1815), the 150th anniversary of the Civil War (1861–1865), the 100th anniversary of World War I (1914–1918), and the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War (1956–1975).
April 10, 2012 —The OSD Historical Office recently released its newest publication and latest addition to the Secretary of Defense Historical Series--McNamara, Clifford, and the Burdens of Vietnam, 1965-1969. In conjunction with the National Archives and the Vietnam Center at Texas Tech University, the office is sponsoring a program about the book. The author, Dr. Edward Drea, will join with noted Vietnam historian George C. Herring and former Secretary of Defense Harold Brown to discuss the book and pertinent issues related to the Vietnam War and the direction of that war effort coming from the Department of Defense. The program will begin at noon on Tuesday 10 April at the National Archives.
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