American Cold War Strategy : Interpreting NSC 68

by May, Ernest R.

• ISBN13: 9780312066376
• ISBN10: 0312066376
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1993-03-15
• Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin's

Summary

Written in 1950, NSC 68 laid out the rationale for American Cold War strategy. This volume includes the complete text of NSC 68, followed by commentaries from former officials, specialists on American foreign policy, and American and foreign scholars. Ernest May's analytical essays discuss the many ways in which this historical document can be read, remembered, and understood.

Author Biography

Ernest R. May is one of the leading diplomatic historians in the United States. He is the Charles Warren Professor of History at Harvard University, where he has taught for over three decades and served as dean of Harvard College, director of the Institute of Politics at the Kennedy School of Government, and chair of the History Department. In 1988 he won the Gravemeyer Award for Ideas Contributing to World Order. Among his many books, the most recent are Thinking in Time: The Uses of History for Decision Makers, and The Making of the Monroe Doctrine. He is also the advisory editor to the Bedford Books in American History series.

Table of Contents

Foreword	v	(2)
Preface	vii
INTRODUCTION NSC 68: The Theory and Politics of Strategy	1	(20)
PART ONE The Document	21	(62)
NSC 68: United States Objectives and Programs for National Security (April 14, 1950)	23	(60)
PART TWO Commentaries	83	(119)
1. Biases, Official and Scholarly	85	(9)
2. Eyewitness Testimony	94	(14)
George F. Kennan, Director of the State Department Policy Planning Staff, 1947-1950	94	(2)
Dean Acheson, Secretary of State, 1949-1953	96	(3)
Paul H. Nitze, Director of the State Department Policy Planning Staff, 1950-1953	99	(9)
3. Later Officials' Retrospects	108	(22)
Robert R. Bowie, Director of the State Department Policy Planning Staff, 1953-1957	109	(7)
Carl Kaysen, Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, 1961-1963	116	(4)
Robert D. Blackwill, Assistant to the President for European and Soviet Affairs, 1989-1990	120	(4)
Georgi M. Kornienko, American Expert, Foreign Ministry of the USSR, 1949-1990	124	(6)
4. Interpreters of U.S. Foreign Policy	130	(22)
Realism: Paul Y. Hammond	130	(3)
Revisionism: William Appleman Williams	133	(2)
Neorealism: Samuel F. Wells, Jr.	135	(5)
Postrevisionism: John Lewis Gaddis	140	(6)
Post-Postrevisionism: Lloyd Gardner	146	(6)
5. American Interpreters of American History	152	(13)
U.S. Political History: Alonzo L. Hamby	152	(4)
U.S. Intellectual History: Bruce Kuklick	156	(4)
U.S. Cultural History: Emily S. Rosenberg	160	(5)
6. A World Historian and a Social Scientist	165	(13)
Modern World History: Walter McDougall	165	(7)
International Relations and Foreign Policy Theory: Deborah Welch Larson	172	(6)
7. Foreign Scholars	178	(21)
The United Kingdom: Zara Steiner	178	(4)
Germany: Helga Haftendorn	182	(2)
Norway: Geir Lundestad	184	(5)
Russia: Vladislav Zubok	189	(4)
People's Republic of China: Shu Guang Zhang	193	(6)
8. Afterword	199	(3)
APPENDICES	202	(10)
Appendix A. Chronology of the Cold War, 1944-1954	202	(4)
Appendix B. Some Public Opinion Polls, 1948-1951	206	(3)
Suggestions for Further Reading	209	(3)
Index	212	(12)
The Postwar Division of Europe (map)	224	(2)
The Spread of Communism in China and Korea (map)	226