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we are bound to suffer ourselves. … Let us win the war without destroying our victory.”) At the sametime, Catholic chaplains were known for their zealous vigilance of GI sexual practices, including theuse of prophylactics. 63From the time the U.S. was attacked at Pearl Harbor to Japan’s surrender aboard the battleship USSMissouri September 2, 1945, nine percent of the American Catholic clergy served as commissionedchaplains—2,453 in the Army and 817 in the Navy—a number that does not include the nearly2,000 civilian auxiliary chaplains laboring under the auspices of the Military Ordinate. Seventy-sixchaplains died while on active duty and 832 received decorations and citations for bravery. 64Military Chaplains as Strategic Communicators in U.S. Army Character Education Program(1947-1977)In the U.S. military, character was considered to be the foremost of the “important and manifold”personal qualifications that created leaders. Brig. General Edward L. King, commandant of theGeneral Service Schools in Leavenworth, Kansas, said in a speech in the aftermath of World War I,that character “possesses vigor and strength.And a leader, whether he leads a pack of dogs or a company of men must evidence that hepossesses it. A leader who gives orders and allows them to be disobeyed is soon despisedby his command, because the command, like a pack of wild dogs, instinctively demands thequality in their leader, which is needed for the safety of the pack or for the well-being of thecommand … An army is happy under a strong leader, but not under a soviet committee. 65In the aftermath of World War II, like other Americans, military chaplains sought to adjust topeacetime circumstances even as the chill of the Cold War was beginning to create pallor over thepeace. A retired Presbyterian Navy chaplain “who apparently knows hundreds of people in keyplaces in the Government” sounded out the U.S. Catholic Church authorities about setting up anorganization to be called the “United Nations Chaplains’ League.” The proposal, which wouldhave taken chaplains down a new strategic communications path, was meant “to weld together thechaplains of all countries into a unit for the exchange of ideas and to combat subversive activities.”Its secular purpose was reflected in its proposal for membership, as the “(b)asis for cooperation is tobe merely a belief in the natural law, without any other theological overtones.” 66Closer to home, in 1947, the U.S. Army embarked upon program of character education. Thecourse reflected current thinking about religion and personal morality as key elements of training.Its “national preparedness ideology” formed part of an emerging national security system that tookits global responsibility as a shared enterprise between civilian and military spheres of life that wasinexorably tied to the United States’ “moral power,” the boundaries between them which appearedincreasingly tenuous. 67 The program reflected the view of President Harry S Truman and othersthat “the spiritual and moral health of the Armed Forces is a vital element in our national security.Together with a universal understanding of the principles of citizenship and American democracy, itconstitutes the bedrock on which security and the success of military preparedness depend.” 68The Character Guidance effort grew out of an experiment at Fort Knox, Kentucky, which as partof 40-hour weekly basic military training, moral, religious and citizenship lessons were offered bythree chaplains in the form of 50-minute lectures. The program, although a command responsibility,63Spellman, op. cit., p. 75.64http://www.milarch.org/history/index.html; Mode, The Grunt Padre, op. cit.65“Leadership: A Resume of a Lecture by General Edward L. King, January 4, 1926,” The Chaplains’ School Class Bulletin, Twelfth Session, FortLeavenworth, Kansas, March Twelfth, 1926.” Box 57, Folder: “Military Affairs: Chaplains’ Conference, 1926-1940;” ACUA, op. cit.66Memorandum to Father Kenny, from W.C. Smith, re: “Chaplains of the United Nations,” November 22, 1946;” Box 57, Folder: “Military Affairs:Chaplains, 1945-1950;” ACUA.67Loveland, “Character Education in the U.S. Army, 1847-1977,” Journal of Military History, Vol. 64, No. 3 (July, 2000), pp. 801-803.68Truman, “Statement by the President Making Public a Report on Moral Safeguards for Selective Service Trainees, September 16, 1948,” p. 488.Security and Defense Studies Review 2009/Edición 2009/ Edicão 2009/ Volume 9, Issues 1 & 2 129