The document “The Home Guard” records the U.S. Senate hearings of 1940 by the Committee on Military Affairs, which examined Senate Bill 4175—a proposal to amend the National Defense Act of 1916 to allow states to create and maintain State Guards for local defense whenever their National Guards were federalized during wartime. Testimony from Colonel J.M. Churchill and other War Department officials emphasized the need for states to have organized forces to protect vital infrastructure such as bridges, power plants, railroads, and water systems from sabotage while the National Guard served overseas. The War Department endorsed the plan, recommending limits that ensured State Guards would operate only under the authority of governors and could receive surplus federal equipment. The hearings also rejected competing proposals to establish federally controlled “Home Defense” or “Industrial Defense” corps, concluding that such nationalized units would duplicate Army functions and undermine state control. Drawing lessons from World War I, when State Guards and the federal United States Guards successfully defended key installations, senators agreed that reestablishing state-level defense forces was essential to relieve the Army of domestic duties and bolster internal security as the nation prepared for possible involvement in World War II, laying the groundwork for the modern State Defense Force system.
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