Sir Thomas Gates

Sir Thomas Gates fl. 1585-1621, English colonial governor of Virginia. He was knighted for his services under the 2d earl of Essex in the successful expedition against Cádiz in 1596. Gates, who had been a lieutenant in the expedition (1585-86) under Sir Francis Drake that removed Sir Walter Raleigh's first colony from Roanoke Island, was the first named of the grantees in the original charter (1606) of the London Company , which founded Virginia. In 1609 he commanded, as deputy governor, the "third supply" to the colony, a fleet of nine ships with over 500 colonists. Two of the ships, including Gates's, the Sea Venture, were wrecked in the Bermudas (the story of this wreck apparently inspired William Shakespeare's Tempest ). The survivors supported themselves for 10 months in the Bermudas before they completed two pinnaces in which they finally reached Jamestown in May, 1610. Arriving to find that only about one tenth of the colonists had survived the rigorous winter, Gates resolved to abandon the colony. As he was departing for England in June, however, he was met by the governor, Lord De la Warr , heading a new relief. At De la Warr's orders the settlers turned back to Jamestown. That autumn Gates returned to England, and in Sept., 1611, he reappeared at Jamestown with a new expedition containing 300 persons (including his wife and daughters) and many cattle and swine. Since De la Warr had returned to England in March, Gates now served as governor until Mar., 1614, when he also went back to England. He planned further expeditions to Virginia, but they never materialized. He is thought to have died in the East Indies in 1621.

Gates, Thomas (1906–83) secretary of defense (1959–61) during President Dwight D. Eisenhower's administration, born in Germantown, Pennsylvania. Gates improved relations with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and created the Joint Strategic Target Planning Staff to coordinate targeting plans between the Strategic Air Command and the navy, resulting in the first SIOP, or Single Integrated Operational Plan. Gates also served as Secretary of the Navy (1957–59). As a navy officer in World War II, he participated in campaigns in the Pacific and Mediterranean, attaining the rank of lieutenant commander.

Gates, Thomas (1906–1983), secretary of defense (1959–61).Gates was born in Philadelphia and became an investment banker, serving in the navy in World War II. In the Eisenhower administration, he was successively undersecretary (1953–57) and secretary of the navy (1957–59) and deputy secretary of defense before succeeding Neil McElroy as secretary on 2 December 1959.

Gates moved quickly to establish close relations with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, meeting with them regularly to force decisions on disputed issues. Gates's principal contribution to defense planning was his institution of the Single Integrated Operating Plan (SIOP), which unified the targeting of all strategic nuclear weapons in general war. In doing so, he overrode strong opposition from the navy, with its traditional hostility to centralized defense organization.

While supporting President Dwight D. Eisenhower's effort to hold down defense spending, Gates recognized the need for a modest increase to meet growing Soviet power. He firmly and accurately denied the existence of a “missile gap”—an advantage in missiles favoring the Soviet Union. In 1969, President Richard M. Nixon appointed Gates to head a commission that successfully recommended replacing the conscription with an All‐Volunteer Force.
[See also Defense, Department of; McNamara, Robert S.]

Bibliography

James M. Roherty , Decisions of Robert S. McNamara: A Study of the Role of the Secretary of Defense, 1970.
Roger R. Trask , The Secretaries of Defense: A Brief History, 1947–1985, 1985.
Robert J. Watson , History of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Vol. 4, 1998.

Robert J. Watson