Editing National Security Act of 1947 (section)

=== Debates ===
On July 7, 1947, the National Security Act of 1947 was debated for the first time in the Senate, two days after the Senate Committee on Armed Services reported the bill to the Senate.<ref name=":3" /> On July 9, 1947, the Senate continued debates and, with an [[amendment]] to the title, passed the bill by a [[voice vote]].<ref name=":7">Legislative Insight. (n.d.). ''National Security Act of 1947''. ProQuest. https://congressional.proquest.com/legisinsight?id=PL80-253&type=LEG_HIST{{subscription required}}</ref>

On July 15, 1947, having already been passed in the Senate, the National Security Act of 1947 was debated in the House of Representatives.<ref name=":7" /> The House introduced [[Resolution (law)|Resolution]] 80 H.Con.Res. 70 on the same day.<ref name=":7" /> The Senate agreed to the Resolution on July 16, 1947.<ref name=":7" /> The House debated and passed the National Security Act of 1947, along with 80 H.R. 4214, on July 19, 1947.<ref name=":7" /> The [[conference report]] 80 H. rp. 1051 was agreed to in the Senate on July 24, 1947, and was agreed to in the House on July 25, 1947.<ref name=":7" /> The recorded votes on the bill itself "drew strong [[Bipartisanship|bipartisan]] support."<ref name=":3" />

==== Senate ====
During the July 7, 1947, and July 9, 1947, debates in the Senate, members of the Senate Committee on Armed Services spoke the most, with major proponents being Senators Lodge (R-MA), [[Leverett Saltonstall|Saltonstall]] (R-MA), [[Raymond E. Baldwin|Baldwin]] (R-CT), [[Wayne Morse|Morse]] (R-[[Oregon|OR]]), [[Millard Tydings|Tydings]] ([[Democratic Party (United States)|D]]-[[Maryland|MD]]), [[Burnet R. Maybank|Maybank]] (D-[[South Carolina|SC]]), and [[J. Lister Hill|Hill]] (D-[[Alabama|AL]]).<ref name=":3" /> Arguments in support of the bill included Senator Gurney's reasoning that there were "personnel problems in the Army and Navy, including the [[United States Air Force|Air Forces]]" and that "the unification bill is a sincere and earnest attempt to put into effect by legislation a security organization which is adequate, effective, modern – and yet economical."<ref>''Debated in Senate''. (July 7, 1947). ProQuest. Retrieved October 29, 2021, from https://congressional.proquest.com/legisinsight?id=CR-1947-0707-PL80-253-S&type=CONGRESSIONAL_RECORD{{subscription required}}</ref>

Senator [[Edward V. Robertson|Robertson]] (R-[[Wyoming|WY]]) was a staunch opponent of the bill, arguing that the bill would cost the country too much considering it would not be able to make the armed services any more efficient, and that the [[United States Secretary of Defense|secretary of defense]] would have too much power.<ref name=":3" />

Senator Robertson offered three amendments during debates, all of which were defeated by voice vote.<ref name=":3" /> Senator [[Joseph McCarthy|McCarthy]] (R-[[Wisconsin|WI]]) offered an amendment that stipulated that the "existing status of Marine Corps and Naval Aviation not to be altered or diminished; their existing functions not to be transferred to other services"; the Senate debated this amendment the most until it was defeated by a 52–19 [[roll call vote]].<ref name=":3" /> The only amendment that passed (by voice vote) in the Senate was offered by Senator [[Robert A. Taft|Taft]] (R-[[Ohio|OH]]) in which the [[United States National Security Council|National Security Council]] was to only be focused on [[national security]] matters.<ref name=":3" />

==== House of Representatives ====
During the July 15, 1947, and July 19, 1947, debates in the House of Representatives, major proponents of the National Security Act of 1947 included Representatives [[James Wolcott Wadsworth Jr.|Wadsworth]] (R-[[New York (state)|NY]]), [[John W. McCormack|McCormack]] (D-MA), and [[Carter Manasco|Manasco]] (D-AL), who were all on the Expenditures Committee as high-ranking members, and the [[United States House Committee on Armed Services|House Armed Services Committee]] Chairman Walter G. Andrews (R-NY).<ref name=":3" />

Opponents of the bill in the House included Representatives [[W. Sterling Cole|Cole]] (R-NY), [[Harry R. Sheppard|Sheppard]] (D-[[California|CA]]), [[Edith Nourse Rogers|Rogers]] (R-MA), and [[John Taber|Taber]] (R-NY).<ref name=":3" /> Representatives Cole, Sheppard, and Rogers argued that the Navy did not have enough protections under the bill, while Representative Taber argued against the budgetary aspect.<ref name=":3" />

Minor amendments were passed during debates in the House. Some of Representative Cole's amendments protecting the Navy and limiting the secretary of defense's powers were passed by voice vote (though others he offered were defeated).<ref name=":3" /> Representatives [[Walter Judd (politician)|Judd]] (R-[[Minnesota|MN]]) and [[Clarence J. Brown|Brown]] (R-OH) were able to pass amendments by voice votes that required the director of Central Intelligence to be appointed by the president from civilian life and confirmed by the Senate, and Representative Judd passed an amendment allowing the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] and the [[United States Atomic Energy Commission|Atomic Energy Commission]] to conduct secret operations without the inspection of the director of Central Intelligence.<ref name=":3" /> Amendments offered by Representatives [[George MacKinnon|MacKinnon]] (R-MN), [[Clifford P. Case|Case]] (R-[[New Jersey|NJ]]), Mitchell (R-[[Indiana|IN]]), [[Charles R. Clason|Clason]] (R-MA), and [[Thomas L. Owens|Owens]] (R-[[Illinois|IL]]) were defeated.<ref name=":3" />