James V. Forrestal, Class of 1915

James Forrestal was Secretary of the Navy from 1944 to 1947 and the nation’s first Secretary of Defense, overseeing the unification of the U.S. military departments. This bronze bust of Forrestal by the sculptor Elisabeth Gordon is identical to one commissioned for the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal, the world’s first super carrier. Also named in Forrestal’s honor is Princeton University’s James Forrestal Campus, where this bust was first unveiled in 1958. Forrestal’s senior class of 1915 voted him “Most Likely to Succeed.” A lucrative career as an investment banker was followed by his second career in government service, beginning as a Navy flier during World War I. The creation of the Office of Naval Research in 1946 was one of Forrestal’s greatest achievements, leaving a legacy of grants to universities for research in science and technology.