<P> Despite Secretary Forrestal's prediction, the Corps faced an immediate institutional crisis following the war . Army brass pushing for a strengthened and reorganized defense establishment also attempted to fold the Marine mission and assets into the Navy and Army . Drawing on hastily assembled Congressional support, the Marine Corps rebuffed such efforts to legislatively dismantle the Corps, resulting in statutory protection of the Marine Corps in the National Security Act of 1947 . Despite the introspective crisis, Marines also suffered from major post-war cutbacks and drawdowns in size . For example, aviation fell from 116,628 personnel and 103 squadrons on 31 August 1945 to 14,163 personnel and 21 squadrons on 30 June 1948, with another 30 squadrons in the reserves . </P> <P> Secretary of Defense Louis A. Johnson in particular singled the Navy and Marine Corps out for budget cuts . A strong believer in unification and the idea that the United States' monopoly on the atomic bomb was adequate protection against any and all external threats, he began a campaign to strip away much of America's military power, especially naval and amphibious . Shortly after his appointment, Johnson had a conversation with Admiral Richard L. Connally, giving a revealing look at his attitudes towards the Navy and Marine Corps and any need for non-nuclear forces: </P> <Table> <Tr> <Td> "</Td> <Td> Admiral, the Navy is on its way out . There's no reason for having a Navy and a Marine Corps . General Bradley tells me amphibious operations are a thing of the past . We'll never have any more amphibious operations . That does away with the Marine Corps . And the Air Force can do anything the Navy can do, so that does away with the Navy . </Td> <Td>" </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Td> "</Td> <Td> Admiral, the Navy is on its way out . There's no reason for having a Navy and a Marine Corps . General Bradley tells me amphibious operations are a thing of the past . We'll never have any more amphibious operations . That does away with the Marine Corps . And the Air Force can do anything the Navy can do, so that does away with the Navy . </Td> <Td>" </Td> </Tr>

Which came first the navy or the marines