Joint Chiefs of Staff in the Early Cold War, 1946-1960
As the principal group of military advisers to the president of the United States, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is arguably the most important body of military leaders in the world. Records of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the Early Cold War contains the formerly classified and secret proposals that, when approved by the president, became the military and foreign policies of the United States. These records offer a behind-the-scenes view of the highest levels of U.S. military decision-making. The reports in this module were written by hundreds of JCS staff members--experts in fields ranging from Chinese defense strategy to U.S. military counterintelligence. The records of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for 1946-1960 cover the early years of the Cold War, focusing on the threat of Soviet expansion, Europe and NATO, the Chinese Civil War, the Korean War, the beginnings of the nuclear arms race, and the Arab-Israeli conflict and other developments in the Middle East, especially regarding Middle East oil and Iran.