The American Occupation of Japan: The Origins of the Cold War in Asia - Hardcover

Schaller, Michael

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195036263 ISBN 13: 9780195036268

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1985

Synopsis

This book provides a novel perspective on the origins of the Cold War in Asia, tracing it all the way back to the occupation of Japan after the Second World War. Schaller argues that the reconstruction of postwar Japan not only shaped the future of that country but the future of U.S. policy throughout postwar Asia, leading up to the controversial interventions in China, Korea, and Vietnam.
The author shows how after the war, the United States sought to develop Japan as a stable bulwark against both Soviet expansion and Asian revolution. Schaller depicts the intense contest that raged among Americans, pitting the flamboyant Occupation Commander, General Douglas MacArthur, against virtually all civilian and military planners in Washington, including the president. First hailed as a hero and given nearly free reign to shape Japan's future, MacArthur was ultimately denounced by Truman and his advisors as a "bunko artist" who had wrecked Japan's economy and opened it to Communist influence. In place of MacArthur's ambitious social and economic reforms, the new Occupation program reconcentrated power in the hands of Japans's old elite. The book shows how Communist control of China and North Korea cut Japan off from its historic trading partners and forced officials to focus on developing the rich but unstable Southeast Asian states. Washington feared that economic blackmail alone would pull Japan into the Soviet orbit. Determined to secure Japan--the ultimate "domino"--the United States spurned possible detente with China, extended military aid to the French in Indochina, and finally entered the Korean War.

About the Author:

Michael Schaller is Professor of History at the University of Arizona

About this title

About the Author:

Michael Schaller, Professor History at the University of Arizona, is author of The U.S. Crusade in China, 1938-45 and The U.S. and China in the Twentieth Century.

Review:

"The first step toward significantly rewriting the history of an era...Schaller recounts in fine detail the five years during which the autocratic MacArthur vied with Washington for dominance in Japan and a role in world affairs."--Philadelphia Inquirer

"[A] brilliant, provocative study."--Journal of American History

"A valuable contribution to the understanding of the origins of the cold war in Asia....It is the first comprehensive and detailed study on the aspect of U.S. occupation policies."--International History Review

"A careful historian's account of the origins of the cold war in Asia with a particular focus on the U.S. occupation of Japan."--Foreign Affairs

"Schaller has written the best kind of history, the kind that has great scope, supported by solid scholarship."--Kirkus Reviews

"A very good book....Schaller points out...that American military and political advisers did not fashion their plans for the future of East Asia in a vacuum, but hammered them out in the context of their own ideological and strategical concerns."--The New Republic

"The research is exhaustive on the American side and the author is to be commended for his effective use of the Freedom of Information Act."--Pacific Affairs

"A lively and informative book on the American occupation of 1Japan....invigorating, scholarly, and engaging."--Science and Society

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1985
• ISBN 10: 0195036263
• ISBN 13: 9780195036268
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 363