Mr. X and the Pacific : George F. Kennan and American policy in East Asia / Paul J. Heer.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Heer, Paul J., 1959- author.

Series:

Cornell scholarship online.

Cornell scholarship online

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United States--Foreign relations--East Asia.

United States.

East Asia--Foreign relations--United States.

East Asia.

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

Kennan, George F. (George Frost), 1904-2005.

Kennan, George F.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (316 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Ithaca ; London : Cornell University Press, [2018]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

George F. Kennan is well known for articulating the strategic concept of containment, which would be the centerpiece of what became the Truman Doctrine. During his influential Cold War career he was the preeminent American expert on the Soviet Union. In Mr. X and the Pacific, Paul J. Heer explores Kennan's equally important impact on East Asia.Heer chronicles and assesses Kennan's work in affecting U.S. policy toward East Asia. By tracing the origins, development, and bearing of Kennan's strategic perspective on the Far East during and after his time as director of the State Department's Policy Planning Staff from 1947 to 1950, Heer shows how Kennan moved from being an ardent and hawkish Cold Warrior to, by the 1960s, a prominent critic of American participation in the Vietnam War.Mr. X and the Pacific provides close examinations of Kennan's engagement with China (both the People's Republic and Taiwan), Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. Country-by-country analysis paired with considerations of the ebb and flow of Kennan's global strategic thinking result in a significant extension of our estimation of Kennan's influence and a deepening of our understanding of this key figure in the early years of the Cold War. In Mr. X and the Pacific Heer offers readers a new view of Kennan, revealing his importance and the totality of his role in East Asia policy, his struggle with American foreign policy in the region, and the ways in which Kennan's legacy still has implications for how the United States approaches the region in the twenty-first century.

Contents:

Introduction : a strategic vision interrupted

Encounters with East Asia : inheritance of a strategic perspective

China : minimum aid and maximum flexibility

Japan : the father of reverse course policy

Ebb tide : Acheson takes the helm

Prelude to the Korean War : applying the strategic concept on the East Asian periphery

Korea : a labyrinth of ignorance and error and conjecture

Aftermath of Korea : the end of a strategic vision for East Asia

Vietnam : my piece has been spoken

Conclusion : legacies of engagement with East Asia.

Notes:

Previously issued in print: 2018.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781501770319

1501770314

9781501711169

1501711164

OCLC:

990183196