David L. Roll

Author Event: David Roll
October 18, 2005 

On October 18, 2005, the Eisenhower Institute invited author David Roll to speak about his recently released book, Louis Johnson and the Arming of America; The Roosevelt and Truman Years.

Louis Johnson was FDR's Assistant Secretary of War and the architect of the industrial mobilization plans that put the nation on a war footing prior to its entry into World War II. Later, as Truman's Secretary of Defense, Johnson was given the difficult job of unifying the armed forces and carrying out Truman's orders to dramatically reduce defense expenditures. In both administrations, he was asked to confront and carry out extremely unpopular initiatives - massive undertakings that each president believed was vital to the nation's security and economic welfare.

Johnson's conflicts with Henry Morganthau, Secretary of War Harry Woodring, Winston Churchill, Harry Hopkins, Dean Acheson, Averell Harriman, and Paul Nitze find contemporary parallels in the recent disagreements between the national defense establishment and the State Department.

"A remarkably objective, yet sympathetic, study of Louis Johnson's life and career. Now only half-remembered, . . . Johnson was major national figure. Colorful, aggressive, independent-minded, egotistical, his strong views and conflicts with Dean Acheson proved to be his undoing. All in all, a fascinating tale." - James R. Schlesinger, former Secretary of Defense.

David L. Roll is a Steptoe & Johnson partner whose law practice focuses on anti-trust and regulatory law and litigation. For a transcript of his remarks, click here.