42 Years Ago In TIME

Depending on the dangers and conflicts of the era, U.S. MILITARY STRENGTH has been built up and sometimes cut back. In 1961, as TIME reported in a cover story on "The Growing Army," a new President was expanding the armed forces to deal with multiple hot spots around the world.

Behind the preparations being made by Abe Abrams and his U.S. Army fighting comrades lies the decision made by President John Kennedy last spring to increase the flexibility of the nation's defenses ... In appropriations, the Army got an extra $1.4 billion with instructions to spend it mainly on the men and materiel of limited war. Around the world, Army units are getting a badly needed transfusion of modern equipment ... By the end of the year the Army will have increased from 856,000 to 1,080,000 men. Three Stateside training divisions are being elevated to combat readiness. Two National Guard divisions ... have been called up ... The minimum aim of the Army is to be able to fight two limited wars simultaneously in such distant corners of the world as Southeast Asia and the Middle East. --TIME, Oct. 13,1961