From Colony to Superpower: U.S. Foreign Relations Since 1776 (161 page)

The Truman years mark a revolutionary period in U.S. foreign policy, and the writing on them has been voluminous. Alonzo L. Hamby,
Man of the People: A Life of Harry S. Truman
(New York, 1999) and Robert L. Beisner,
Dean Acheson: A Life in the Cold War
(New York, 2006) are the best biographies of two key figures. James Chace,
Acheson: The Secretary of State Who Created the American World
(New York, 1998) and Mark A. Stoler,
George C. Marshall: Soldier-Statesman of the American Century
(Boston, 1989) are also very good. Acheson's memoir,
Present at the Creation: My Years in the State Department
(New York, 1969) is a classic, as is George F. Kennan,
Memoirs, 1925–1950
(New York, 1967). Clark Clifford with Richard Holbrooke,
Counsel to the President: A Memoir
(New York, 1991) is especially valuable for connections between domestic and foreign policy. Walter Isaacson and Evan Thomas,
The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made
(New York, 1986) is excellent on Truman's key advisers. Lloyd C. Gardner,
Architects of Illusion: Men and Ideas in U.S. Foreign Policy, 1941–1949
(Chicago, 1970) is insightful for lesser figures as well. Valuable general studies of the Cold War reflecting different points of view include Walter LaFeber,
America, Russia, and the Cold War, 1945–2005
(rev. ed., New York, 2008), Thomas G. Paterson,
On Every Front: The Making and Unmaking of the Cold War
(2nd ed., New York, 1992), which focuses on the Truman years, John Lewis Gaddis,
The Cold War: A New History
(New York, 2005), and Thomas J. McCormick,
America's Half Century: United States Foreign Policy in the Cold War
(Baltimore, Md., 1989). Vladislav Zubok and Constantine Pleshakov,
Inside the Kremlin's Cold War: From Stalin to Khrushchev
(Cambridge, Mass., 1996) is valuable for the Soviet side. Two superb up-to-date analyses of the Truman policies setting forth different interpretations are Melvyn P. Leffler,
A Preponderance of Power: National Security, the Truman Administration, and the Cold War
(Stanford, Calif., 1992) and the more critical Arnold A. Offner,
Another Such Victory: President Truman and the Cold War, 1945–1953
(Stanford, Calif., 2000). Robert L. Messer,
The End of Alliance: James F. Byrnes, Roosevelt, Truman, and the Origins of the Cold War
(Chapel Hill, N.C., 1982) is good for the immediate postwar period, Thomas G. Paterson,
Soviet-American Confrontation: Postwar Reconstruction and the Origins of the Cold War
(Baltimore, Md., 1973) on
economic issues. Michael J. Hogan,
A Cross of Iron: Harry S. Truman and the Origins of the National Security State, 1945–1954
(New York, 1998) is essential. Important monographs on the reconstruction of Europe include Howard Jones,
"A New Kind of War": America's Global Strategy and the Civil War in Greece
(New York, 1989) and Lawrence S. Wittner,
American Intervention in Greece
(New York, 1982), which offer contrasting views on implementation of the Truman Doctrine, Michael J. Hogan,
The Marshall Plan: America, Britain, and the Reconstruction of Western Europe, 1947–1952
(New York, 1987), Irwin W. Wall,
The United States and the Making of Postwar France, 1945–1954
(New York, 1991), William I. Hitchcock,
France Restored: Cold War Diplomacy and the Quest for Leadership in Europe, 1944–1954
(Chapel Hill, N.C., 1998), Brian Angus McKenzie,
Remaking France: Americanization, Public Diplomacy, and the Marshall Plan
(New York, 2005), James Edward Miller,
The United States and Italy, 1940–1950: The Politics and Diplomacy of Stabilization
(Chapel Hill, N.C., 1986), John Lamberton Harper,
America and the Reconstruction of Italy, 1945–1948
(New York, 1986), Carolyn Woods Eisenberg,
Drawing the Line: The American Decision to Divide Germany
(New York, 1996), and Thomas Alan Schwartz,
America's Germany: John J. McCloy and the Federal Republic of Germany
(Cambridge, Mass., 1991). Richard Pells,
Not Like Us: How Europeans Have Loved, Hated, and Transformed American Culture Since World War II
(New York, 1997) looks at cultural interchange. Thomas Borstelmann,
Apartheid's Reluctant Uncle: The United States and Southern Africa in the Early Cold War Years
(New York, 1993), Peter L. Hahn,
Caught in the Middle East: U.S. Policy Toward the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1945–1961
(Chapel Hill, N.C., 2004), and Robert J. McMahon,
Colonialism and Cold War: The United States and the Struggle for Indonesian Independence, 1945–1949
(Ithaca, N.Y., 1981) make clear the global impact of the Cold War. Mark Philip Bradley,
Imagining Vietnam and America: The Making of Postcolonial Vietnam, 1919–1950
(Chapel Hill, N.C., 2000) is an excellent cross-cultural analysis. Nancy Bernkopf Tucker,
Patterns in the Dust
(New York, 1983) covers U.S. domestic reaction to the fall of China. John Dower,
Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II
(New York, 1999) is superb on the occupation of Japan. Gregg Herken,
Winning Weapon: The Atomic Bomb in the Cold War, 1945–1950
(New York, 1980) and David Holloway,
Stalin and the Bomb: The Soviet Union and Atomic Energy, 1939–1956
(New Haven, Conn., 1994) discuss the origins of the nuclear arms race from U.S. and Soviet perspectives. Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin,
American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer
(New York, 2005) is superb. A good survey of the
Korean War is Burton I. Kaufman,
The Korean War: Challenges in Crisis, Credibility, and Command
(New York, 1986). William Stueck,
The Korean War: An International History
(Princeton, N.J., 1995) is more detailed and broader in perspective. Peter Lowe,
The Origins of the Korean War (
2nd ed., New York, 1997) and Allan R. Millett,
The War for Korea, 1945–1950: A House Burning
(Lawrence, Kans., 2005) are excellent on the beginnings. Bruce Cumings's
The Origins of the Korean War: Liberation and the Emergence of Separate Regimes, 1945–1947
(Princeton, N.J., 1981) and
The Origins of the Korean War: The Roaring of the Cataract, 1947–1950
(Princeton, N.J., 1990) are richly detailed and outspokenly revisionist. Chen Jian,
China's Road to the Korean War: The Making of the Sino-American Confrontation
(New York, 1994) and Rosemary Foot,
The Wrong War: American Policy and the Dimensions of the Korean Conflict, 1950–1953
(Ithaca, N.Y., 1985) and
A Substitute for Victory: The Politics of Peacemaking at the Korean Armistice Talks
(Ithaca, N.Y., 1990) are most valuable.

An excellent overview of the postwar era with chapters on the Eisenhower years is James T. Patterson,
Grand Expectations: The United States, 1945–1975
(New York, 1996). Stephen J. Whitfield,
The Culture of the Cold War
(2nd ed., Baltimore, Md., 1996) is also important for the domestic context. There is no up-to-date biography of Eisenhower. Chester J. Pach,
The Presidency of Dwight Eisenhower
(Lawrence, Kans., 1991) is an able survey. An early example of Eisenhower revisionism, Robert A. Divine,
Eisenhower and the Cold War
(New York, 1981) finds much to praise. Fred Greenstein,
The Hidden-Hand Presidency: Eisenhower as Leader
(New York, 1982) is another influential work of revisionism by a political scientist. Robert R. Bowie and Richard H. Immerman,
Waging Peace: How Eisenhower Shaped an Enduring Cold War Strategy
(New York, 1998) discusses the way policy was formulated as well as the policies. Townsend Hoopes,
The Devil and John Foster Dulles
(Boston, 1973) is highly critical of its subject; Frederick W. Marks III,
Power and Peace: The Diplomacy of John Foster Dulles
(Westport, Conn., 1993), quite positive. Richard H. Immerman,
John Foster Dulles: Piety, Pragmatism, and Power in U.S. Foreign Policy
(Wilmington, Del., 1999) strikes a persuasive balance. Peter A. Grose,
Gentleman Spy: The Life of Allen Dulles
(Boston, 1994) is a readable biography of the spymaster. H. W. Brands,
Cold Warriors: Eisenhower's Generation and American Foreign Policy
(New York, 1988) examines lesser but still important figures. Eisenhower's antagonist is capably analyzed in William Taubman,
Khrushchev: The Man and His Era
(New York, 2003) and Alexander Fursenko and Timothy Naftali,
Khrushchev's Cold War
:
The Inside Story of an American Adversary
(New York, 2006). Propaganda formed an important part of the Eisenhower
policies. Walter L. Hixson,
Parting the Curtain: Propaganda, Culture, and the Cold War, 1945–1961
(New York, 1997) is an important overview. Kenneth Osgood,
Total Cold War: Eisenhower's Secret Propaganda Battles at Home and Abroad
(Lawrence, Kans., 2006) is exhaustively researched and comprehensive in coverage. Reinhold Wagnleitner,
Coca-Colonization and the Cold War: The Cultural Mission of the United States in Austria After the Second World War
(Chapel Hill, N.C., 1994) is a valuable study of an individual country. See also Penny von Eschen,
Satchmo Blows Up the World: Jazz, Race, and Empire During the Cold War
(Cambridge, Mass., 2005). For the Soviet invasion of Budapest, see Erich Lessing,
Revolution in Hungary: The 1956 Budapest Uprising
(London, 2006) and Victor Sebestyen,
Twelve Days: The Story of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution
(New York, 2006). Important regional and country studies include Marc Trachtenberg,
A Constructed Peace: The Making of the European Peace Settlement, 1945–1963
(Princeton, N.J., 1999), Hahn,
Caught in the Middle East
, Michelle Mart,
Eye on Israel: How America Came to View Israel as an Ally
(Albany, N.Y., 2006), Nathan J. Citino,
From Arab Nationalism to OPEC
(Bloomington, Ind., 2002), Diane B. Kunz,
The Economic Diplomacy of the Suez Crisis
(Chapel Hill, N.C., 1991), Wm. Roger Louis,
Ends of British Imperialism: The Scramble for Empire, Suez, and Decolonization
(London, 2007), and Salim Yaqub,
Containing Arab Nationalism: The Eisenhower Doctrine and the Middle East
(Chapel Hill, N.C., 2004) for the Middle East. On Iran, see Mary Ann Heiss,
Empire and Nationhood: The United States, Great Britain, and Iranian Oil, 1950–1954
(New York, 1997). For South Asia, see Robert J. McMahon,
The Cold War on the Periphery: The United States, India, and Pakistan
(New York, 1994), Andrew J. Rotter,
Comrades at Odds: The United States and India, 1947–1964
(Ithaca, N.Y., 2000), a stimulating cultural approach, and Dennis Merrill,
Bread and the Ballot: The United States and India's Economic Development, 1947–1963
(Chapel Hill, N.C., 1990). See also Nick Cullather,
Illusions of Influence: The Political Economy of United States-Philippine Relations, 1942–1969
(Stanford, Calif., 1994). Among the most valuable studies of early U.S. involvement in Vietnam are Lloyd C. Gardner,
Approaching Vietnam: From World War II to Dienbienphu
(New York, 1988), David L. Anderson,
Trapped by Success: The Eisenhower Administration and Vietnam
(New York, 1991), Kathryn Statler,
Replacing France: The Origins of American Intervention in Vietnam
(Lexington, Ky., 2007), and Mark Atwood Lawrence,
Assuming the Burden: Europe and the American Commitment to War in Vietnam
(Berkeley, Calif., 2005). Stephen G. Rabe,
Eisenhower and Latin America: The Foreign Policy of Anticommunism
(Chapel Hill, N.C., 1988) is a
fine overview. For the Guatemalan coup, see Richard H. Immerman,
The CIA in Guatemala: The Foreign Policy of Intervention
(Austin, Tex., 1982), Piero Gleijeses,
Shattered Hope: The Guatemalan Revolution and the United States, 1944–1954
(Princeton, N.J., 1991), and Nick Cullather,
Secret History: The CIA's Classified Account of its Operations in Guatemala, 1952–1954
(Stanford, Calif., 1999). Kyle Longley,
The Sparrow and the Hawk: Costa Rica and the United States During the Rise of José Figueres
(Tuscaloosa, Ala., 1997) is a valuable account of a unique relationship. Thomas G. Paterson,
Contesting Castro: The United States and the Triumph of the Cuban Revolution
(New York, 1994) is excellent on this important topic. Civil rights and foreign relations became intricately connected during the postwar years. Carol Anderson,
Eyes off the Prize: The United Nations and the African American Struggle for Civil Rights, 1944–1955
(New York, 2003), Penny M. Von Eschen,
Race Against Empire: Black Americans and Anti-Colonialism, 1937–1957
(Ithaca, N.Y., 1997), Thomas Borstelmann,
The Cold War and the Color Line: American Race Relations in the Global Arena
(Cambridge, Mass., 2001), Mary L. Dudziak,
Cold War Civil Rights: Race and the Image of American Democracy
(Princeton, N.J., 2000), and Michael Krenn,
Black Diplomacy: African Americans and the State Department, 1945–1969
(Armonk, N.Y., 1999) shed much light on this important topic.

1961–1981:
David Halberstam,
The Best and the Brightest
(New York, 1972) captures better than anything else the ethos of the 1960s. Robert Dallek,
An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917–1963
(New York, 2003) is up to date and sympathetic. James M. Giglio,
The Presidency of John F. Kennedy
(rev. ed., Lawrence, Kans., 2006) is good on domestic and foreign policy. Deborah Shapley,
Promise and Power: The Life and Times of Robert McNamara
(Boston, 1992) is useful for an influential member of JFK's foreign policy "team." Warren I. Cohen,
Dean Rusk
(Totowa, N.J., 1980) and Thomas Zeiler,
Dean Rusk: Defending the American Mission Abroad
(Wilmington, Del., 2000) are valuable for his secretary of state. Michael Beschloss,
The Crisis Years: Kennedy and Khrushchev, 1961–1963
(New York, 1991) is a good early analysis of Cold War issues. Thomas G. Paterson, ed.,
Kennedy's Quest for Victory: American Foreign Policy, 1961–1963
(New York, 1989) contains essays dealing with the full range of foreign policy issues and is critical of the administration's aggressiveness. Lawrence Freedman,
Kennedy's Wars: Berlin, Cuba, Laos, and Vietnam
(New York, 2000) is excellent on these major crises. Valuable studies of specific topics include Howard Jones,
The Bay of Pigs
(New York, 2008), Jack M. Schick,
The Berlin Crisis, 1958–1962
(Philadelphia, 1971), Robert M. Slusser,
The Berlin Crisis of 1961: Soviet-American Relations and the
Struggle for Power in the Kremlin, June-November 1961
(Baltimore, Md., 1973), especially good on Soviet policy, Warren Bass,
Support Any Friend: Kennedy's Middle East Policy
(New York, 2003), which emphasizes the origins of the U.S.-Israel alliance, Stephen G. Rabe,
The Most Dangerous Area of the World: John F. Kennedy Contains Communist Revolution in Latin America
(Chapel Hill, N.C., 1999) and
U.S. Intervention in British Guiana: A Cold War Story
(Chapel Hill, N.C., 2005), Frank A. Mayer,
Adenauer and Kennedy
:
A Study in German-American Relations, 1961–1963
(New York, 1996), and Gordon H. Chang,
Friends and Enemies: The United States, China, and the Soviet Union, 1948–1972
(Stanford, Calif., 1990). Economic issues are discussed in Diane B. Kunz,
Butter and Guns: America's Cold War Economic Diplomacy
(New York, 1997), Thomas W. Zeiler,
American Trade and Power in the 1960s
(New York, 1992), and Francis J. Gavin,
Gold, Dollars, and Power: The Politics of International Monetary Relations, 1958–1971
(Chapel Hill, N.C., 2004). Elizabeth Cobbs Hoffman,
All You Need Is Love: The Peace Corps and the Spirit of the 1960s
(Cambridge, Mass., 1998) is excellent, and Michael E. Latham,
Modernization as Ideology: American Social Science and "Nation Building" in the Kennedy Era
(Chapel Hill, N.C., 2000), is an important monograph on a major subject. The Cuban missile crisis is among the most analyzed events in U.S. history. Robert F. Kennedy's posthumously published memoir,
Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis
(New York, 1969) conveys the mood. Graham Allison and Philip Zelikow,
Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis
(rev. ed., Boston, 1999) is a classic analysis. Mark J. White,
The Cuban Missile Crisis
(Basingstoke, Eng., 1996), is critical of JFK. Alexansdr Fursenko and Timothy Naftali,
"One Hell of a Gamble": Khrushchev, Castro, Kennedy, 1958–1964
(New York, 1997) is an up-to-date account using Soviet sources. Vietnam was the last crisis of JFK's short tenure, and his policies and intentions have provoked great controversy. Andrew Preston,
The War Council: McGeorge Bundy, the NSC, and Vietnam
(Cambridge, Mass., 2006) is a recent study. Freedman,
Kennedy's Wars
and Fredrik Logevall,
Choosing War: The Lost Chance for Peace and Escalation of the War in Vietnam
(Berkeley, Calif., 1999) argue convincingly that JFK might have sought a solution other than military escalation.