Editing National Security Act of 1947 (section)

=== The Woodrum Committee ===
On March 28, 1944, the House passed a resolution introduced by Rep. [[James_W._Wadsworth_Jr.|James W. Wadsworth]] (R-NY) to create a Select Committee On Postwar Military Policy, and this began the debate. The committee chair was Rep. [[Clifton A. Woodrum]] (D-VA), and the committee itself was made up of seven members of the Naval Affairs Committee, seven members of the Military Affairs Committee, and nine other members.<ref name="OSDHistVol1" />

Though the War Department considered asking for the hearings to be postponed to prevent an interservice fight that could hurt wartime unity, they decided not to when Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox told Secretary of War Henry Stimson that he also favored unification.<ref name="USMCDU4447" />

The hearings began on April 24, 1944. On the second day, Lieutenant General [[Joseph_T._McNarney|Joseph McNarney]] presented the War Department's plan for unification, which was essentially Marshall's plan as laid out in his memo.<ref name="OSDHistVol1" /><ref name="USMCDU4447" />

On May 11th, the Commandant of the Marine Corps, Alexander Vandegrift, addressed the committee.<ref name="USMCDU4447" />

The hearings ended on May 19, 1944. Due to the increasingly apparent disagreements between the two departments, committee members and military leaders agreed that a fight between them would be bad for the war effort. In June, the committee reported the time was not right for legislation, but encouraged the two departments to continue to study unification.<ref name="USMCDU4447" />