Prudens Futuri; The U.S. Army War College, 1901-1967

Carlisle Barracks, PA: The Alumni Association of the US Army War College, 1967. First Printing. Two hole punched stiff card covers. Fair. xx, 336, Appendices (approximately 55 pages, including appendices, notes. Ex-library with usual library markings. Some editing marks. Rare surviving mimeograph 'galley proof' type copy. The United States Army War College (USAWC) is a U.S. Army educational institution in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, on the 500-acre (2 km²) campus of the historic Carlisle Barracks. It provides graduate-level instruction to senior military officers and civilians to prepare them for senior leadership assignments and responsibilities. Each year, a number of Army colonels and lieutenant colonels are considered by a board for admission. Approximately 800 students attend at any one time, half in a two-year-long distance learning program, and the other half in an on-campus, full-time resident program lasting ten months. Upon completion, the college grants its graduates a master's degree in Strategic Studies. Established from the principles learned in the Spanish-American War, the College was founded by Secretary of War Elihu Root and U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, and formally established by General Order 155 on 27 November 1901. Washington Barracks-now called Fort Lesley J. McNair-in Washington, D.C. was chosen as the site. The first president of the Army War College was Major General Samuel B. M. Young in July 1902 and the first students attended the College in 1904. During the presidency of Montgomery M. Macomb in 1916, President Woodrow Wilson accused students and staff of planning for taking part in an offensive war, even though the United States had not entered World War I. Wilson was unconvinced by Macomb's explanation that the college was concerned only with the intellectual growth and professional development of its students, and insisted that the school curtail its activities in order to ensure that the U.S. maintained its neutrality.