from filling vacant positions unless absolutely necessary. Construction work was reduced to only that which was critical. He even refused to replace government cars unless they were six years old and had 60,000 miles of service. Dodge himself never replaced his own official car. "This is something you do all the time in business. But the subtractive process had all but disappeared in the government until we restored it." The New Look was the administration department's attempt to balance national defense needs with those of a healthy economy. Dodge, being the first director of budget to also hold a membership in the cabinet and National Security Council, strongly supported the New Look. Ultimately, Dodge successfully removed $12 billion of extraneous government spending. Despite his apparent success, Dodge was unable to meet the balanced budget goals he had aimed for. 70% of government spending was devoted toward national security programs such as the United States Department of Defense, the mutual security pacts, and atomic energy. Similarly, existing legislation claimed another 20% of funds. Finally, the government had to continue paying interest on their national debt, another 8%. The last federal budget Dodge attempted to balance, before his resignation in March 1954, was fiscal 1955, which he was ultimately unable to balance even with a $5 billion reduction in defense spending through the New Look. Regardless, many considered his work a reassertion of control over the federal budget. Final work and resignation Dodge returned as chairman to the Detroit Bank briefly before accepting several presidential delegations to both government committees and advisory boards. Dodge was reviewing long-range American plans for foreign economic aid programs in September 1954 and reappointed as President Eisenhower's special assistant three months later. As such, he was appointed the new cabinet-level position as chairman of the Council on Foreign Economic Policy from 1954 to 1956. In June 1956, Dodge became chairman of the reorganized Detroit Bank and Trust Company who had merged with three local financial institutions and whose assets exceeded $1 billion. Under request of Eisenhower, he served as a member of the Special Committee to Study the Military Assistance Program from 1958 to 1959 as well as a consultant to the National Security Council in 1959. Dodge's final public service was in the Tractors for Freedom Committee, who tried to trade farm equipment as ransom for prisoners from the Bay of Pigs invasion, acting as their