Tactical Nuclear Weapons and NATO.pdf - Program on Strategic ...

2. A peace treaty with Japan was finalized in 1951, entered
into force in 1952, <strong>and</strong> was revised in 1960. The year 1951 saw
the signing of the Australia, New Zeal<strong>and</strong>, United States Security
Treaty (ANZUS). The U.S. commitment to South Korea’s defense
continued after the 1953 armistice, with major U.S. forces
remaining on the peninsula. In response to People’s Republic of
China (PRC) saber-rattling in 1954, Washington signed a mutual
defense pact with the Kuomintang (KMT) government in Taipei
in 1955 pledging to come to the isl<strong>and</strong>’s aid (though not necessarily
to the defense of the disputed offshore isl<strong>and</strong>s). The year
1954 saw the formation of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization
(SEATO), which included the Philippines <strong>and</strong> Thail<strong>and</strong>. These alliances,
Washington believed, would strengthen the resolve <strong>and</strong>
coherence of the anti-Communist effort while also increasing the
effectiveness of U.S. forces, particularly through the ability to use
forward bases located on the territory of its allies. For a history of
this period, see, for instance, John Lewis Gaddis, The Cold War: A
New History, New York: Penguin Press, 2005, chaps. 1-2.
3. For Eisenhower’s explication of his logic, see Dwight D.
Eisenhower, The White House Years: M<strong>and</strong>ate for Change, 1953-1956,
New York: Signet, 1965, pp. 543-544. See also Aaron L. Friedberg,
In the Shadow of the Garrison State: America’s Anti-Statism <strong>and</strong> its
Cold War Gr<strong>and</strong> Strategy, Princeton: Princeton University Press,
2000.
4. For an account of this period <strong>and</strong> the interrelationship of
the perception of the Soviets as a clear <strong>and</strong> present threat <strong>and</strong> the
increasing availability of nuclear weapons, see Ernest R. May et
al., History of the Strategic Arms Competition, 1945-1972, Washington,
DC: U.S. Department of Defense Historical Office, 1981, esp.
pp. 104-152.
5. See David Alan Rosenberg, “The Origins of Overkill: <strong>Nuclear</strong>
<strong>Weapons</strong> <strong>and</strong> American Strategy, 1945-1960,” International
Security, Vol. 7, No. 4, Spring 1983, esp. pp. 29-31.
6. See David A. Rosenberg, “<strong>Nuclear</strong> War Planning,” in Michael
Howard et al., eds., The Laws of War: Constraints on Warfare
in the Western World, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1994,
pp. 171-173.
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