The Under Secretary of War was a position created by an act of 16 December 1940 (54 Stat. 1224). At the same time, section 5a of the National Defense Act (1920) was amended to allow the

United States Secretary of War The secretary of war was a member of the U.S. president's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration. A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War", had been appointed to serve the Congress of the ...

to assign his responsibilities for procurement to any of his subordinates. The statute formerly assigned these responsibilities to the

United States Assistant Secretary of War The United States Assistant Secretary of War was the second–ranking official within the American Department of War from 1861 to 1867, from 1882 to 1883, and from 1890 to 1940. According to thMilitary Laws of the United States "The act of August 5 ...

. The Assistant Secretary of War,

Robert P. Patterson Robert Porter Patterson Sr. (February 12, 1891 – January 22, 1952) was an American judge who served as United States Under Secretary of War, Under Secretary of War under President Franklin D. Roosevelt and US Secretary of War, U.S. Secretary of ...

was nominated and confirmed in the post. The Secretary of War delegated his responsibilities for procurement to the Under Secretary on 28 April 1941. By November 1941 the Office of the Under Secretary of War (OUSW) employed 1,136 people, of whom 257 were military officers and the remainder civilians.

List of Under Secretaries of War

The position of the Under Secretary of War was held by the following:

Notes

References

*{{Citation , last=Millett , first=John D. , author-link=John D. Millett , title=The Organization and Role of the Army Service Forces , publisher= Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army , location=Washington, DC , year= 1954 , url=http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/ASF/index.htm , access-date=13 April 2009 United States Department of War