A Preponderance of Power: National Security, the Truman Administration, and the Cold War

Offering a new slant on the early years of the Cold War, this major reassessment traces the development of national security policy during the Truman administration. Based on a rich vein of recently declassified material, Leffler's majestic study describes how Harry Truman and his advisers sought to mobilize America's power in order to deal with the dangers of the postwar world and create a global environment hospitable to U.S. interests and values. There was much to be apprehensive about, in particular, the presence of Soviet armies in Eastern Europe and Northeast Asia; the rise of the left in Greece, Italy, France, China and Korea; nationalist uprisings in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and North Africa. Leffler, a history professor at the University of Virginia and author of America's Pursuit of European Security and French Stability, 1919-1933 , analyzes the daring American initiatives launched during this period, including the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, the effort to promote economic recovery in Japan and the commitment of troops to the defense of South Korea in 1950. Illustrations. (Feb.)