Readings for Unit 2

Other readings that I have found interesting include Cold War Triumphalism: The Misuse of History After the Fall of Communism. It is a collection of essays from several authors, and though many may find it 'revisionist' I suggest it for synthesis of other readings in which we are engaged.

Other helpful books are from my undergraduate studies, but still have great reference material: LaFeber's "The American Age, Vol. 2" and Merrill & Patterson's collection of primary sources,"Major Problems in American Foreign Relations".

For up coming units, I see some articles by Professor Roger Dingman of USC being helpful "Atomic Diplomacy during the Korean War" from International Security 13 (Winter 1988/89) and "Alliance in Crisis: The Lucky Dragon Incident and Japanese-American Relations" from Cohen and Iriye's book The Great Powers in East Asia, 1953-1960. Hopefully I will be able to get these incorporated into my discussions with you.

Just as a teaser, I will say that the article from Dingman on Atomic Diplomacy has one point I may make on more than one occasion throughout this Master's Program. Dingman cites James Shepley's article "How Dulles Averted War" from Life, January 16, 1956 pp.70-72 Dingman then say, "Dulles spoke in response to partisan critics at the beginning of an election year, but his words influenced policy and history long after the 1956 contest ended." This is exactly one of the biggest problems for US diplomacy and foreign relations: elected officials in the American political sphere are too often driven by the short sighted goal of re-election. But the effort to win in the American political sphere has far reaching consequences in the global political sphere. This ties in a bit to that saying of Tip O'Neil, that "All Politics is Local" but local in a way that does not serve the larger picture. I will have to dig out the reference, but to give an example, (perhaps it was in Beschloss's work, Taking Charge (1997) or Reaching for Glory: Lyndon Johnson's Secret White House Tapes, 1964-1965 there was a comment justifying the need to 'get into' Vietnam, not simply that Kennedy had been one of many Senators to sponsor Diem, but the statement had this effect: "If we don't get in there [Vietnam] we're going to look soft on communism and Goldwater is going to eat our lunch at the polls in November."

In other words, an Achilles heel for democracy (the US or elsewhere) is that candidates in electoral races put their re-election above all else. The same can be said for the missile gap controversy. These decisions that are made so lightly have heavy-water consequences on the global stage.