Full Description
This book discusses the role of the U.S. Navy within the country's national security structure during the first decade of the Cold War from the perspective of the service's senior uniformed officer, the Chief of Naval Operations, and his staff. It examines a variety of important issues of the period, including the Army-Navy fight over unification that led to the creation of the National Security Act of 1947, the early postwar fighting in China between the Nationalists and the Communists, the formation of NATO, the outbreak of the Korean War, the decision of the Eisenhower Administration not to intervene in the Viet Minh troops' siege of the French garrison at Dien Bien Phu, and the initiation of the Eisenhower "New Look" defense policy. The author relies upon information obtained from a wide range of primary sources and personal interviews with important, senior Navy and Army officers. The result is a book that provides the reader with a new way of looking at these pivotal events.
Contents
CONTENTS Acknowledgements ix A Note on Transliteration xiii Introduction 1 I. Wartime Organizational Changes in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations 13 II. Initial Challenges: Postwar and Demobilization Planning 66 III. The Navy and Unification 110 IV. The National Security Act Achieved 142 V. Preparing for a New Enemy 186 VI. War Ends in the Pacific 229 VII. Troubles Emerge in Postwar China, 1945-1946 269 VIII. Assessing and Responding to the Soviet Naval Threat 314 IX. Adjusting to the National Military Establishment 344 X. Living in 'Interesting Times' 387 XI. Slugging It Out on Capitol Hill 428 XII. Events in the Western Pacific 473 XIII. Troubles on the Korean Peninsula 506 XIV. Deciding to Fight 553 XV. Defending NATO Europe: Planning During the Initial Stages 591 XVI. The Eisenhower National Security Structure 644 XVII. Rethinking National Strategy 688 XVIII. Coping with the New Look 717 XIX. A Crisis Abroad and a CNO's Departure 751 XX. Conclusion 791 Abbreviations 798 Notes --- Bibliography 812 Index ---
