Joint Chiefs of Staff About The Joint Staff Chairman General of the Army Omar Nelson Bradley...

On August 15, 1953, General Omar Bradley left office as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff after four years and retired from active military service. An excerpt from the article:

"The Korean War dominated Bradley's tenure as Chairman. He wholeheartedly supported President Truman's decision to resist the North Korean attack and quickly became a key adviser to Truman. During the war's first weeks, Bradley went frequently to the White House to brief the President and present the recommendations of the Joint Chiefs.

Despite the Korean War, Bradley saw the Soviet Union as the greatest threat to US security and Western Europe as the Free World's greatest asset. Consequently, he opposed expansion of the Korean conflict to include China. Such a war, he said, would be "the wrong war, at the wrong place, at the wrong time, and with the wrong enemy." He opposed proposals by the US commander in the Far East, General Douglas MacArthur, for bombing and blockading China. President Truman concurred. When General MacArthur persisted in public criticisms of this policy decision, the Joint Chiefs reluctantly agreed that the President should relieve MacArthur. Truman promptly did so and, at the recommendation of Bradley and the Chiefs, named General Matthew B. Ridgway, USA, as the new commander in the Far East.

The war in Korea and the fear of further communist aggression triggered a major rearmament effort. Between June 1950 and December 1952 the armed forces grew from 1.45 to 3.51 million men. General Bradley refereed an interservice debate over the nature of this expansion. Working closely with Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Lovett, Bradley won JCS approval of a plan that emphasized Air Force expansion.

To deter aggression in Europe, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) set about creating an integrated military structure. General Bradley played a key role in establishing this structure. He spent much time negotiating with his British and French counterparts over the organization of NATO's Atlantic and Mediterranean commands.

Omar Bradley was promoted to the rank of General of the Army on 22 September 1950. He was the only Chairman to attain five-star rank. His tenure as Chairman ended on 15 August 1953, three weeks after the Korean armistice. As a five-star general, however, he did not retire.

After leaving the chairmanship, Bradley joined the Bulova Watch Company, subsequently becoming chairman of the board. In March 1968 he was one of the "wise men" who reviewed Vietnam policy for President Lyndon B. Johnson. In recognition of his longtime service to the nation, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977. Bradley died in New York on 8 April 1981."