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

Discusses the national security state that emerged in the first decade of the Cold War.

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.

Preface and acknowledgements; 1. The National Security discourse: ideology, political culture and state making; 2. Magna Charta: the National Security Act and the specter of the Garrison state; 3. The high price of peace: guns-and-butter politics in the early Cold War; 4. The time tax: American political culture and the UMT debate; 5. 'Chaos and conflict and carnage confounded': budget battles and defense reorganization; 6. Preparing for permanent war: economy, science and secrecy in the National Security state; 7. Turning point: NSC-68, the Korean war and the National Security response; 8. Semiwar: the Korean war and rearmament; 9. The Iron Cross: solvency, security and the Eisenhower transition; 10. Other voices: the public sphere and the National Security mentality; 11. Conclusion; Selected bibliography; Index.

This title provides a comprehensive account of the national security state that emerged in the first decade of the Cold War. President Harry S. Truman and his successor contested the nation's political identity and postwar purpose, and determined the size and shape of the resultant national security state.