William B. Franke

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William B. Franke

William Birrell Franke (born April 15, 1894 in Troy , New York , †  June 30, 1979 in Rutland , Vermont ) was an American politician who served as Secretary of State for the United States from 1959 to 1961 .

Life

William Franke was educated at Pace College, New York State. After graduating there, he embarked on a professional career as a certified public accountant and in 1929 became a partner in a corresponding office. He gained a reputation as a financial expert and subsequently belonged to the supervisory boards of several industrial companies and banks. He later earned doctorates from Pace College and the University of Louisville .

Franke first came into contact with the US armed forces in 1948 as a member of an advisory committee for the US Army auditor . In 1951, he became special advisor to the Secretary of Defense on finance, before being named the first Assistant Secretary of the Navy in 1954 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to be responsible for the financial management of the US Navy . In August 1957 he was promoted to Deputy Secretary of the Navy ( Under Secretary of the Navy ), succeeding Thomas S. Gates , who in turn was the new Secretary of the Navy . After Gates' resignation in June 1959, Franke was again his successor.

The appointment as head of the Department of the Navy came at a time when the US armed forces were restructuring. In order to do justice to the concept of flexible response in the Cold War , a modernization of the material and the armament was necessary. However, this was in contrast to the non-increasing financial resources. The majority of the defense budget went to the Air Force , which was intended to play a decisive role in the event of a conflict with the Warsaw Pact . A quarter of the total budget was available to the Navy, with a significant portion going into the new nuclear submarines. With the remaining funds, Franke was given the task of withdrawing some of the ships that had already been used in World War II and replacing them with modern new ships. In the year he took office, he stated: “Only the ships at the top of the priority list can be built, converted or modernized.” The quality of the new ships is excellent, but their number is too small to deal with the problem of replacing the old ships to manage something. He also found cause for critical thoughts in personnel requirements. In his opinion, modern weapons and ships require personnel whose training must be longer and more complex. In addition, many potential Navy employees would be poached by the private industry after completing their training. In this way, only an inadequate result would be achieved with great effort. With a stock of 625,000 active soldiers and an additional 175,000 Marines , the Navy is not equipped for the tasks of the future.

By the time he raised these concerns, it was already clear that Republican President Eisenhower would be replaced by Democrat John F. Kennedy . One day before he took office, on January 19, 1961, Franke resigned as Secretary of the Navy ; he was succeeded by John Connally . William Franke then no longer held any public office. He was awarded the Department of Defense's Distinguished Service Award and the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his achievements . He died on June 30, 1979 from complications from gallbladder surgery .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ United States Navy and the Vietnam Conflict. From military assistance to combat, 1959-1965
  2. ^ US Department of State: 129th Memorandum of Discussion at the 469th Meeting of the National Security Council
personal data
SURNAME Franke, William B.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Franke, William Birrell (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American politician
DATE OF BIRTH April 15, 1894
PLACE OF BIRTH Troy , New York
DATE OF DEATH June 30, 1979
Place of death Rutland , Vermont