A Cross of Iron: Harry S. Truman and the Origins of the National Security State, 1945–1954

by Michael J. Hogan

• ISBN13: 9780521640442
• ISBN10: 052164044X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1998-08-28
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

In A Cross of Iron, one of the country's most distinguished diplomatic historians provides a comprehensive account of the national security state that emerged in the first decade of the Cold War. Michael J. Hogan traces the process of state-making as it unfolded in struggles to unify the armed forces, harness science to military purposes, mobilize military manpower, control the defense budget, and distribute the cost of defense across the economy. At stake, Hogan argues, was a fundamental contest over the nation's political identity and postwar purpose. President Harry S. Truman and his successor were in the middle of this contest. According to Hogan, they tried to reconcile an older set of values with the new ideology of national security and the country's democratic traditions with its global obligations. Their efforts determined the size and shape of the national security state that finally emerged.

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments	ix
The National Security Discourse: Ideology, Political Culture, and State Making	1	(22)
Magna Charta: The National Security Act and the Specter of the Garrison State	23	(46)
The High Price of Peace: Guns-and-Butter Politics in the Early Cold War	69	(50)
The Time Tax: American Political Culture and the UMT Debate	119	(40)
``Chaos and Conflict and Carnage Confounded'': Budget Battles and Defense Reorganization	159	(50)
Preparing for Permanent War: Economy, Science, and Secrecy in the National Security State	209	(56)
Turning Point: NSC-68, the Korean War, and the National Security Response	265	(50)
Semiwar: The Korean War and Rearmament	315	(51)
The Iron Cross: Solvency, Security, and the Eisenhower Transition	366	(53)
Other Voices: The Public Sphere and the National Security Mentality	419	(44)
Conclusion	463	(20)
Selected Bibliography	483	(24)
Index	507