Council of War: A History of the Joint Chiefs of Staff 1942-1991 (ePub eBook)

Council of War: A History of the Joint Chiefs of Staff 1942-1991 (ePub eBook)
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Council of War: A History of the Joint Chiefs of Staff 1942-1991 (ePub eBook)
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Established during World War II to advise the President on the strategic direction of the Armed Forces of the United States, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) continued in existence after the war and, as military advisers and planners, have played a significant role in the development of national policy. Knowledge of JCS relations with the President, the Secretary of Defense, and the National Security Council is essential to an understanding of the current work of the Chairman and the Joint Staff. A history of their activities, both in war and peacetime, also provides important insights into the military history of the United States. For these reasons, the Joint Chiefs of Staff directed that an official history of their activities be kept for the record. Its value for instructional purposes, for the orientation of officers newly assigned to the JCS organization, and as a source of information for staff studies is self-apparent.

Council of War: A History of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 1942–1991 follows in the tradition of volumes previously prepared by the Joint History Office dealing with JCS involvement in national policy, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. Adopting a broader view than earlier volumes, it surveys the JCS role and contributions from the early days of World War II through the end of the Cold War. Written from a combination of primary and secondary sources, it is a fresh work of scholarship, looking at the problems of this era and their military implications. The main prism is that of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, but in laying out the JCS perspective, it deals also with the wider impact of key decisions and the ensuing policies.

The narrative that follows traces the role and influence of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from their creation in 1942 through the end of the Cold War in 1991. It is, first and foremost, a history of events and their impact on national policy. It is also a history of the Joint Chiefs of Staff themselves and their evolving organization, a reflection in many ways of the problems they faced and how they elected to address them. An overview, it highlights the involvement of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the policy process and in key events and decisions.

Table of Contents

Contents

Foreword. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .ix

Preface . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xi

Chapter 1. The War in Europe. . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
The Origins of Joint Planning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
The North Africa Decision and Its Impact. . . . . .9
The Second Front Debate and JCS Reorganization. . . . . 12
Preparing for Overlord. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15
Wartime Collaboration with the Soviet Union. . . .. . . . 18

Chapter 2. The Asia-Pacific War and the Beginnings of Postwar Planning. . . . . .. 29
Strategy and Command in the Pacific. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29
The China-Burma-India Theater. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . .33
Postwar Planning Begins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .38
Ending the War with Japan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43
Dawn of the Atomic Age. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . .46

Chapter 3. Peacetime Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . .59

Defense Policy in Transition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . .61

Reorganization and Reform. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . .64

War Plans, Budgets, and the March Crisis of 1948. . . . . . . . .. . .69

The Defense Budget for FY 1950 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76

The Strategic Bombing Controversy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81

Chapter 4. Militarizing the Cold War. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Pressures for Change. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . .95
The H-Bomb Decision and NSC 68. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Onset of the Korean War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . 102
The Inch’on Operation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Policy in Flux. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . 108
Impact of the Chinese Intervention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
MacArthur’s Dismissal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . .113
Europe—First Again. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 116

Chapter 5. Eisenhower and the New Look. . . . . . . . . . . . 133
The 1953 Reorganization. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 134
Ending the Korean War. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . .137
A New Strategy for the Cold War. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Testing the New Look: Indochina. . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . 146
Confrontation in the Taiwan Strait . . . . . . . . . . 149
The “New Approach” in Europe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .152
NATO’s Conventional Posture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .156
Curbing the Arms Race. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . .158

Chapter 6. Change and Continuity. . . . . . . . . . . .. 173
Evolution of the Missile Program. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 174
The Gaither Report. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .177
The “Missile Gap” and BMD Controversies. . . . . . . . .  . 179
Reorganization and Reform, 1958–1960 . . . . . . . . . . .183
Defense of the Middle East. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Cuba, Castro, and Communism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
Berlin Dangers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

Chapter 7. Kennedy and the Crisis Presidency. . . . . . . .211
The Bay of Pigs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . 213
Berlin under Siege. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .216
Laos. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
Origins of the Cuban Missile Crisis. . . . . . . . . 224
Showdown over Cuba. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
Aftermath: The Nuclear Test Ban. . . . . . . . . . . . . .233

Chapter 8. The McNamara Era. . . . . . . . . . . 245
The McNamara System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . 245
Reconfiguring the Strategic Force Posture. . . . . . . . . . 247
NATO and Flexible Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .251
The Skybolt Affair. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .253
Demise of the MLF. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . .255
A New NATO Strategy: MC 14/3. . . . . . . .. . . . . . .258
The Damage Limitation Debate. . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . 261
Sentinel and the Seeds of SALT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267

Chapter 9. Vietnam: Going to War. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
The Roots of American Involvement. . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 277
The Road to an American War. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
The Gulf of Tonkin Incident and Its Aftermath. . . . . .  . . . 284
Into the Quagmire. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . 292

Chapter 10. Vietnam: Retreat and Withdrawal . . . . . .. . . .305
Stalemate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . .305
Tet and Its Aftermath. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .310
Nixon, the JCS, and the Policy Process. . . . . . . .  . .313
Winding Down the War. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . .316
Back to Airpower. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 321
The Christmas Bombing Campaign. . . . . . . . . .  . . 324
The Balance Sheet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . 326

Chapter 11. Détente . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . .335
SALT I. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . .336
Shoring Up the Atlantic Alliance. . . . . . . .  . . . . . 342
China: The Quasi-Alliance . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 347
Deepening Involvement in the Middle East. . . . . . ..351

Chapter 12. The Search for Strategic Stability. . . . . . . . . . .365
The Peacetime “Total Force”. . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . 365
Modernizing the Strategic Deterrent. . . . . . . .. . . . . .367
Targeting Doctrine Revised. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .371
SALT II Begins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .375
Vladivostok. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378
Marking Time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381

Chapter 13. The Return to Confrontation. . . . . . . . .391
Carter and the Joint Chiefs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .391
Strategic Forces and PD-59. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394
SALT II. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397
NATO and the INF Controversy. . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . 400
The Arc of Crisis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403
Rise of the Sandinistas. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 407
Creation of the Rapid Deployment Force. . . . . . . . . . 408
The Iran Hostage Rescue Mission. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411

Chapter 14. The Reagan Buildup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421
Reagan and the Military. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421
Forces and Budgets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425
Military Power and Foreign Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . 429
The Promise of Technology: SDI. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432
Arms Control: A New Agenda. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438

Chapter 15. A New Rapprochement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449
Debating JCS Reorganization. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449
The Goldwater-Nichols Act of 1986 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454
NATO Resurgent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457
Gorbachev’s Impact. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . 459
Terrorism and the Confrontation with Libya. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462
Showdown in Central America. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464
Tensions in the Persian Gulf. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467
Operation Earnest Will. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469

Chapter 16. Ending the Cold War. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 479
Policy in Transition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 479
Powell’s Impact as Chairman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481
The Base Force Plan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .485
Operations in Panama. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489
The CFE Agreement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 493
START I and Its Consequences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495

Chapter 17. Storm in the Desert. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505
Origins of the Kuwait Crisis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505
Framing the U.S. Response. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 508
Operational Planning Begins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .510
The Road to War. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .515
Final Plans and Preparations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .518
Liberating Kuwait: The Air War. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 522
Phase IV: The Ground Campaign. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 525
The Post-hostilities Phase. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 528

Chapter 18. Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .537

Glossary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549

Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 555

About the Author. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 585

Audience

Students of military history and national security affairs will find this publication a useful tool and convenient reference point for further research and study.

Reviews

June 2013

Selected as Library Journal's 2012 Notable Government Documents

Praise for the printed edition:

Council of War: A History of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 1942–1991. by Steven L. Reardon. National Defense Univ. for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Office of the Director, Joint History Office. 2012. 584p. illus. ISBN 9780160912238. SuDoc# D 5.2:H 62/5. GPO Stock# 008-020-01622-5. $70.This scholarly history traces the development of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) from its origins during World War II through the Cold War. It documents the JCS coordination of national strategic policy and the impact on defense and domestic policies in the period as the United States emerged as a superpower.
http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2013/06/publishing/notable-government-docum...

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