Creating an American lake : United States imperialism and strategic security in the Pacific Basin, 1945-1947 / by Hal M. Friedman ; foreword by Dirk Anthony Ballendorf.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Friedman, Hal M., 1965-

Series:

Contributions in military studies ; no. 198.

Contributions in military studies, 0883-6884 ; no. 198

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

National security--United States.

National security.

Imperialism--History--20th century.

Imperialism.

Cold War.

Pacific Islands (Trust Territory)--Strategic aspects.

Pacific Islands (Trust Territory).

Pacific Area--Strategic aspects.

Pacific Area.

Pacific Area--Foreign relations--United States.

United States--Foreign relations--Pacific Area.

United States.

United States--Foreign relations--1945-1953.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (253 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Distribution:

London : Bloomsbury Publishing, 2024

Place of Publication:

Westport, Conn. : Praeger, 2000.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Many historians of U.S. foreign relations think of the post-World War II period as a time when the United States, as an anti-colonial power, advocated collective security through the United Nations and denounced territorial aggrandizement. Yet between 1945 and 1947, the United States violated its wartime rhetoric and instead sought an imperial solution to its postwar security problems in East Asia by acquiring unilateral control of the western Pacific Islands and dominating influence throughout the entire Pacific Basin. This detailed study examines American foreign policy from the beginning of the Truman Administration to the implementation of Containment in the summer and fall of 1947. As a case study of the Truman Administration's Early Cold War efforts, it explores pre-Containment policy in light of U.S. security concerns vis-a-vis the Pearl Harbor Syndrome. The American pursuit of a secure Pacific Basin was inconsistent at the time with its foreign policy toward other areas of the world. Thus, the consolidation of power in this region was an exception to the avowed goal of a multilateral response to the policies of the Soviet Union. This example of national or strategic security went much further than simple military control; it included the cultural assimilation of the indigenous population and the unilateral exclusion of all other powers. Analyzing traditional archival records in a new light, Friedman also investigates the persisting American notions of a Westward moving frontier that stretches beyond North American territorial bounds.

Contents:

Cover

Creating an American Lake

Contents

Foreword

Preface

Abbreviations

Introduction

RESEARCH PATTERNS AND CONCEPTS

SYNOPSIS

Chapter 1 Modified Mahanism: Pearl Harbor, the Pacific War, and the Mobile Defense of the Postwar Basin

THE PREWAR AND WARTIME CONTEXTS

MAHANIAN OFFENSIVE-DEFENSIVE WARFARE AND THE USE OF MOBILE MILITARY FORCE IN THE POSTWAR PACIFIC

STRATEGIC PHYSICAL COMPLEXES, STRATEGIC DENIAL, AND THE DEFENSE OF THE POSTWAR PACIFIC

CONCLUSION

Chapter 2 A Security Blanket for Paradise: The American Lake Effect and US Pacific Basin Security Policy in the 1940s

BLANKETING THE PACIFIC

THE AMBIVALENCE OF PRIORITIZATION

Chapter 3 The Bear in the Pacific? US Intelligence Perceptions of Soviet Power Projection in the Pacific Basin

THE CONTEXT

THE ''BEAR'' IN PARADISE?

AN ASSESSMENT

Chapter 4 The Limitations of Collective Security: The United States, the Great Powers, and the Pacific Basin

INTER-ALLIED DISPUTES

THE UN AND POSTWAR AMERICAN SECURITY IN THE PACIFIC

STATES DIRECTLY CONCERNED

THE PACIFIC ISLANDS AND SOVIET-AMERICAN RELATIONS

TERRITORIAL AGGRANDIZEMENT

Chapter 5 Chosen Instruments and Open Doors in the Pacific: US Strategic Security and Economic Policy in the Pacific Islands

AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM AND THE POSTWAR PACIFIC

ECONOMIC SECURITY AND THE POSTWAR PACIFIC

SELF-SUFFICIENCY AND CHOSEN INSTRUMENTS IN THE POSTWAR PACIFIC

THE OPEN DOOR IN THE PACIFIC?

Chapter 6 ''Races Undesirable from a Military Point of View'': US Cultural Security and the Pacific Islands

CULTURAL SECURITY IN THE POSTWAR PACIFIC

MEXICANS, FILIPINOS, AND AFRICAN-AMERICANS IN THE POSTWAR PACIFIC BASIN

CONCLUSION.

Chapter 7 ''As a Forward Bulwark of the American Way of Life'': Americanization as a Strategic Security Measure

Conclusion Out with the Old, in with the New? Continuities and Changes in American Pacific Policy

Notes

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

Bibliography

PRIMARY SOURCES

Manuscripts and Archival Records

Microfilm Collections

US Government Publications

Telephone Inquiries

Contemporary Publications

SECONDARY SOURCES

TERTIARY SOURCES

Index

About the Author.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. [181]-196) and index.

ISBN:

9798400633195

9780313001710

0313001715

OCLC:

614677952