Arguing over the American Lake: Bureaucracy and Rivalry in the U.S. Pacific, 1945-1947

Between 1945 and 1947, the United States sought an imperial solution to its security problems in the Pacific Basin. Faced with fears of a future Pearl Harbor-style attack by a potentially resurgent Japan, and facing an even more realistic confrontation with the Soviet Union, American policymakers, planners, and strategic analysts saw the creation of an American lake in the postwar Pacific as the best means by which to guarantee U.S. security interests with regard to East Asia. Because of policy differences among the executive branch departments that had responsibilities in the area, the vision proved difficult to achieve. Hal M. Friedman analyzes the major issues concerning the Pacific Basin that confronted the four departments between 1945 and 1947. Helping to fill a regional gap in Cold War historiography, Arguing over the American Lake will be of great interest to military and political historians, those interested in strategic studies, and students and scholars of foreign relations policy and history.