The Education and Development of the Strategic Leader From 1919 - 1940 -- Is There Relevance Today

Abstract

Abstract : The inter-war years from 1919 to 1940 were a time for America to catch her breath and re-evaluate her role in world leadership. This was also a time for the next generation of Army leaders to study the lessons learned from World War I and gain the knowledge necessary to transform the Army into a force capable of protecting the nation in case of war. From its earliest days in 1903, the United States Army War College (USAWC) was intended a% a finishing school for senior Army leaders. Initially, because of Secretary of War Elihu Root's ongoing reform initiatives, the College served a primary role as the Army's General Staff War Plans Division. When the College reopened in 1919 after WW 1, the curriculum was adjusted to reflect the professional and educational needs of the senior officer training to wage war at the strategic level. Specifically the College taught the student of the 1920s and 1930s the preparation for and the conduct of war. By employing wargaming in early joint war fighting educational experiences and stressing individual as well as committee projects the USAWC helped forge many of WW l's senior leaders in the strategic art. As such, the purpose of this Strategy Research Project is to examine the academic development of the senior strategic leader approximately 75 years ago during the inter-war period and derive any lessons learned to better prepare today's senior leaders for the challenges of the next 15 - 25 years. President Eisenhower in 1958 told Congress, No military task is of greater importance than the development of strategic plans which relate our revolutionary new weapons and force development to national security objectives. Regardless of all else, the development of the senior leader in the strategic art must remain paramount in the USAWC curriculum as the Army looks towards tomorrow.