Vessey Residence, Garrison, MN Transcribed By: Linda Gerber, February 2013 Edited for Clarity By: Thomas Saylor, Ph.D., June 2013 and February 2014
Narrator: Gen John W. Vessey, Jr Interviewer: Thomas Saylor, Ph.D. Date of interview: 18 October 2012 Location: Vessey residence, Garrison, MN Transcribed by: Linda Gerber, February 2013 Edited for clarity by: Thomas Saylor, Ph.D., June 2013 and February 2014 (00:00:00) = elapsed time on digital recording Avis Vessey comments at times during recordings. Identified: AVIS TS: Today is Thursday, 18 October 2012. This is another of our ongoing interviews with General John W. Vessey, Jr. My name is Thomas Saylor. It’s a cloudy fall day here at the Vessey residence outside of Garrison, Minnesota. The leaves have largely exited the trees. General Vessey, today we want to talk some about the Joint Chiefs of Staff itself and some of those issues surrounding the modernization and reform that you’ve identified as important to you during your time as Chairman. Let me go just for a few minutes to the JCS itself, and thinking of our possible audiences in the future too for this information. As a military man, how would you describe the origins of the JCS, its purpose and how it changed over time from its World War II beginnings to the time that you became the Chairman? JV: The JCS grew out of World War II actually – and of course from our history previous to World War II, World War I, and the intervening years – but Pearl Harbor and then the United States involvement in World War II, which was a shaping event for the defense establishment of the United States. As you recall, there were congressional investigations into, How did Pearl Harbor occur and why did it occur? In the military school system and in the doctrinal documents for the armed forces, ‘Never another Pearl Harbor’ was sort of number one on the list.
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