I’ve often thought that if I weren’t so happy being a Methodist, I might make a good Quaker. I’d probably have trouble with the part where you’re expected to sit silently in a room with others and wait for the still, small voice of God within to speak, but I’d be good with all the rest. Opposing slavery. Embracing diversity. Accepting other faiths. Committing to work tirelessly for equality, justice and peace.
Peace is the part of that equation today’s column is about. Because the powers-that-be in the good ole USA are proving once again that they don’t have a pacifist bone in their bodies.
Last week, President Trump declared that, going forth, the United States Department of Defense will be known as the Department of War. That was its name way back in 1789 when it was established as a Cabinet-level department under President George Washington. In its nearly 160-year existence, the department oversaw wars against Great Britain, Spain, Mexico, the Philippines, the Central Powers during World War I, the Axis Power during World War II and numerous armed conflicts against North America’s Indigenous peoples.
In 1947, shortly after World War II ended and with President Harry Truman occupying the Oval Office, the National Security Act consolidated the various military branches into a single entity to be overseen by what would now be called the Secretary of Defense. The thinking during that nascent nuclear age was that avoiding armed conflict made a whole lot more sense than provoking it. “Defense” rather than “War” seemed to strike a more measured tone, according to those who understood far too well the stakes of armed conflict with atomic bombs as part of the equation.
That’s not to say, of course, that the United States never got involved in another war. There was Korea. Vietnam. Afghanistan and Iraq. There were and are conflicts in a list of places too long to fit in this column. But not having a “Department of War” perhaps sent a let’s-keep-things-at-least-a-little-bit-under-control kind of vibe out to the world.
Not anymore. On September 5, President Trump signed an executive order changing the name back. Constitutionally, he isn’t allowed to do that. Congressional approval, while not required for dumb stuff like rebranding the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America, is required before the name of a cabinet department can be officially changed. Not surprisingly, that didn’t faze him or Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who puffed out his chest and declared, “We’re going on offense…Maximum lethality, not tepid legality…Violent effect, not politically correct…We’re going to raise up warriors, not defenders.”
Gosh. I know I sleep a whole lot better hearing all that.
The price tag for this name change is estimated at one billion dollars. That’s BILLION, with a B. Nine zeros. The words “Defense Department” have already been removed from a wall at the Pentagon and replaced with “War Department.” Signs, emblems, name badges, uniforms, letterheads, email addresses and on and on and on will have to be changed if Congress goes along with this foolishness. One billion dollars. Think about it and weep.
Maybe then you’ll want to pull up You Tube and watch the 1963 recording of the late, great Pete Seeger playing his banjo and singing “Down by the Riverside.” The refrain goes like this: I ain’t gonna study war no more, Ain’t gonna study war no more, I ain’t gonna study war no more.
Maybe you’ll make your way to a Quaker gathering or a Methodist worship service or any other place where people congregate and pray for peace. Or read the words in Chapter Two of the Old Testament book of Isaiah: “…They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.”
Last but not least, maybe you’ll contact your members of Congress and ask them to leave the name Department of Defense as it is.
(September 13, 2025)