[owlninja]

> But former President Jimmy Carter in 1980 reinstated the Selective Service in the event of a “national emergency,” where the registry could be used to “provide personnel to the Department of War and alternative service for conscientious objectors, if authorized by the President and Congress.”

Department of Defense*

[lfuller]

I found that strange as well. Who were they quoting, given that the Department of War hasn’t existed since 1947 and as far as I know Jimmy Carter didn’t pretend that it still did.

[PolygonSheep]

Is it just me or did the US get into a lot more foreign conflicts after they swapped "War" for "Defense" in the name?

[jfengel]

Depends on the term.

Things had been kinda quiet for the last couple of decades. We continue involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan but didn't start new ones. We even pulled out of those by five years ago. So yes, definitely, we did a lot more warring with the Department of War.

Longer term, the "Department of Defense" got into an awful lot of wars from its name change in 1947. The Department of War might have more wars on a per-day basis in its short time under that name, but not a lot more.

But really, the answer to your question is "yes". We decided we wanted to do a lot more war, and we branded the department to go along with it.

I'd be really grateful if it stopped.

[peyton]

Quit being obnoxious and have something of substance to say. It’s disrespectful to the author, senior defense reporter Ellen Mitchell, who is simply pulling from Selective Service’s materials.

[owlninja]

It has not been the department of war since 1947, it is more disrespectful to me, the reader.

[yawpitch]

Sorry, don’t you mean senior war reporter Ellen Mitchell?

[frugalmail]

It was historically called "Department of War" then renamed to "Department of Defense" and of course, recently reverted to the original name.

[Spooky23]

It did not. The Trumpist "Department of War" is stupid branding. No law passed to change the name.

[frugalmail]

It's one thing to not know and make a mistake, it's whole other thing to hear a claim from somebody, not even bother looking it up before you dispute it, and doubling down on ignorant.

[hunter-gatherer]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Wa...

Pick up any non fiction book about US foreign policy written before 1947 and you'll commonly see "War Department" or even "War Office".

[tbrownaw]

The comment you're replying to wasn't about the original name, it was about the current name.