On Aug. 16, 1949, Army Gen. Omar N. Bradley was sworn in as the first chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff by then Secretary of Defense Louis A. Johnson in Washington, D.C. This followed an amendment to the National Security Act, signed by President Harry Truman on Aug. 10, 1949, which officially created the position of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to help provide unified direction of the services following World War II to address the growing nuclear Soviet threat.