Terrence J. Gough

“ Secretaries in the late nineteenth century, seeing the Commanding General as a rival for power and seeking to exercise their statutory control of the War Department's fiscal affairs, generally allied themselves with the bureau chiefs. In the absence of any retirement system, the bureau chiefs enjoyed virtual lifetime appointments, thereby greatly limiting the actual influence of Secretaries who came and went every few years. Real power lay in a congressional-bureau alliance that produced a geographical pattern of Army expenditures little related to any national conception of military policy. ”

“ Congress rejected the consolidation of supply bureau functions. But when Lt. Gen. Samuel B. M. Young became the first Chief of Staff on 15 August 1903, it marked the beginning of a modern command structure for the Army. T ransformation to the efficient, coordinated fighting force of Root's vision did not follow immediately or easily. Large organizations -- including the 1903 Army of 69,595 men -- do not accomplish change effortlessly. Officers of the General Staff in its early years had to pioneer and define its functions by performing them. ”

“ Secretary of War Elihu Root, who took office in August 1899, accepted the challenge. Taking the counsel of officers who sought reform, he stressed to Congress that a modern army must be able both to plan efficiently for future operations and to exert executive control over current ones. ”