James V. Forrestal

James V. Forrestal was a senior defense official in Harry S. Truman’s administration whose career placed him at the center of postwar military reorganization and disputes over national policy. Intensely dedicated to his work, he struggled to sustain his responsibilities as his health deteriorated. Truman eventually asked him to resign; Forrestal died by suicide shortly afterward, an outcome that stunned Washington and left the President and First Lady grieving.

Position and Work in the Administration

Forrestal was among the Roosevelt administration figures Truman inherited when he became President. At a landmark White House meeting on April 23, 1945, he sat with the group of experienced officials Franklin Roosevelt would have assembled, alongside Edward R. Stettinius Jr., Henry Morgenthau Jr., George C. Marshall, Ernest J. King, William D. Leahy, Averell Harriman, and Charles E. Bohlen. Truman had few advisers of his own in the room; the gathering represented continuity with the previous administration, even as the new President began confronting difficult questions about the Soviet Union and postwar policy.

Forrestal’s work also intersected with Truman’s insistence that major decisions remain under civilian authority. Truman’s support for placing the atomic-energy program under civilian control was a central example of that principle. David E. Lilienthal, whom Truman selected to lead the new Atomic Energy Commission, believed the President’s choice reflected a capable administration rather than the caricature that Truman had surrounded himself with provincial or ineffectual associates. Forrestal was one among several senior officials whose presence formed part of that broader national-security team.

By the period after the 1948 election, Forrestal was Secretary of Defense and faced the difficult task of reorganizing the military services. Truman believed he had become indecisive and preoccupied with details, and complained that he was not taking charge. The President also sent him a curt reminder that the problem before him was his responsibility. Their working relationship therefore combined Forrestal’s high office and substantial duties with Truman’s growing frustration about his performance.

Strain and Departure from Office

The book presents Forrestal’s deterioration as gradual, visible to colleagues before his departure. He had been looking weary and troubled since the previous summer, and his intense commitment to work left him nearing collapse. Rather than easing his pace, he wanted to remain in office and work harder. The responsibilities of reorganizing the military services were unusually demanding, and his increasing absorption in details contributed to Truman’s loss of confidence.

His condition became harder to overlook around the 1949 inauguration. A reporter was struck by his drawn appearance: Forrestal seemed baffled and aged, his shirt collars no longer fitting as they had. He suffered from insomnia and loss of appetite. At times he telephoned Truman several times in one day about the same subject, leaving the President puzzled. In private, he told a few close friends that his telephone was being tapped; during meetings, he scratched at one part of his scalp without seeming to notice, until it became raw. These reported signs conveyed the seriousness of his distress without giving Truman a clear account of what was happening to him.

In early February, Forrestal told Truman that he intended to resign and leave by June 1. Truman concluded that he would need to depart sooner. Forrestal knew that Truman had been considering Louis Johnson as his successor, and publicly he appeared to accept the choice. Johnson, after meeting him to discuss the transition, later expressed a grave personal impression of Forrestal’s condition, though the account does not establish a medical diagnosis. Truman later acknowledged that Forrestal had wanted to resign well before he did and that he had kept him from leaving; in hindsight, Truman thought he should have allowed the earlier departure.

On March 1, Truman summoned Forrestal to the White House and asked for his resignation. He urged him to take a vacation, but did not raise the possibility of medical treatment. Forrestal maintained his composure in public during the following weeks, though the book describes this as increasingly difficult. On March 28, he attended the Pentagon ceremony installing Johnson as Secretary of Defense. Later that day, at the White House, Truman presented him with the Distinguished Service Medal. The formal recognition and transfer of office occurred even as Forrestal’s private crisis continued.

Death and Its Impact

The day after those ceremonies, Forrestal was flown to Florida to stay at Robert Lovett’s home in Hobe Sound. He told Lovett that people were after him. In the days that followed, he made at least one suicide attempt. Truman, who did not know what was happening in Florida, heard reports that Forrestal believed foreign agents were following him. He asked the head of the Secret Service to investigate. A report dated March 31 judged Forrestal’s suspicions unfounded and described him as extremely nervous and emotional; by his final day as Secretary of Defense, the report said, he had not recognized his own servants.

Forrestal was later hospitalized. On May 22, he died by suicide. His death marked a rare and shocking event in Washington: a former Cabinet secretary had taken his own life. The news reached far beyond the circle of officials who had worked with him, making a private collapse into a national loss.

Truman said he was deeply shocked and grieved. Bess Truman was also shaken, and Margaret Truman later recalled the effect on her mother. The family’s recent contact with Forrestal made the loss especially immediate: at Easter, Bess had sent him roses, and he had responded with a note thanking her for the gesture and wishing the Trumans well. The exchange connected the public figure’s final months to an ordinary act of kindness from the President’s family.

Forrestal was buried with full military honors. The President and Vice President, former President Herbert Hoover, Cabinet members, much of Congress, members of the Supreme Court, the Joint Chiefs, and George C. Marshall attended; the gathering was estimated at six thousand people. The scale of the funeral testified to Forrestal’s position in public life, while the circumstances of his death revealed how little those honors could convey about the private distress that had preceded it.