AUSA BACKGROUND BRIEF
No. 70
March 1996
U.S. DEFENSE POLICIES SINCE WORLD WAR II
Major world events and crises of the post-World War II (WWII) period were important
benchmarks in the evolution ofU.S. national security policies, international security and arms
control agreements, bilateral and multilateral summits, and use of military force. However,
over time the correlation of these world events with U.S. defense policies and U.S.
decisionmakers can become confusing and out of sequence. The chart that follows attempts
to overcome this problem by providing a chronological reference to the major world events
and crises which shaped U.S. national security policies.
The original chart covered the period from the end of WWII through 1984 and was used
in the (:Ourses of instruction at the U.S. Army War College and U.S. Army Command and
General Staff College. With the end of the Cold War symbolized by the dismantling of the
Berlin Wall, the time was right to update the chart. It was updated through 1989 and again
through 1993 by the IL W staff.
The Cold War had an East-West orientation with the major arena focused on Europe and
the potential for a NATO-Warsaw Pact war and escalation possibly to a thermonuclear
exchange between the United States and the Soviet Union. Events tended to be perceived
through a common set of Cold War prisms. That period, as frightening as the prospects for
mutual destruction were, is now regarded as far more ordered and predictable than the era
going into the 21st century.
The world events of the post-Cold War era have extended into otherwise unfamiliar
geographic areas. In place of a world war are the prospects of regional, ethnic wars where
weapons of mass destruction- chemical, biological and nuclear- could come into play.
The U.S. armed forces have been involved in a wide range of operations- peacekeeping
and humanitarian assistance as well as warfighting - as the events recorded on the chart
reflect.
This third update of the chart extends the timespan of major national security events
through 1995.
U.S. DEFENS
MASSIVE RETALIATION
"NEW lOOK" ·ECONOMIC RETRENCHMENT
KENNEDY
EISENHOWER
TRUMAN
HE
LOVETT
UN
FOUNDED
MARSHA
PLAN
NSC-
MOSCOW
C NF
NSC-
PARIS PEACE
CONF
VANDENBURG
RESOLUTION
RIO
TREATY
*SECRETARY OF WAR
162
VIENNA SUMMIT
CONFEREN C E
GENEVA CONF
KOREAN WAR
NATO DEF
NAT'L
ACT-47
McNAMARA
GATES
RESERVES
MOBILIZED
NSC-
68
LONDON
r. NF
McELROY
WILSON
SEATO TREATY
BAGHDAD
PACT
ANZUS TREATY
(
LIMITED TEST
BAN TREATY
WASH-MOSCOW
HOT LINE
EEC FORMED
[
: POLICIES SINCE WORLD WAR II
CONVENTIONAL RETALIATION
PARITY
SUFFICIENCY
ESSENTIAL EQUIVALENCE
FORD
NIXON
JOHNSON
ROGERS
KISSINGER
SCHLESINGER
LAIRD
FRENCH FORCE
LEAVE NATO
NIXON (GUAM)
DOCTRINE
KENT
STATE
CARTER
REA
VANCE
HA�G
SCHULT
BROWN
RUMSFELD
WEINBER
U S HOSTAGES
NIXON TO
PRC
IN IRAN
MIDEAST PEACE NEGOTIATIONS
CONTADORA PROCESS
SHANGHAI
COMMUNIQUE
VIETNAM WAR
SALT I TALKS
SALT I
SALT· . .LKS co;
INUE
SALT II
START
GE
STRATEGY OF
ENGAGEMENT
AND ENLARGEMENT
STAAT£ !C REDIR )liON
PROJECTION FORCE
CONVENTIONAL AND STRATEGIC REASSESSMENT
FORCE DRAWDOWN AND
REDEPLOYMENT TO U.S.
BUSH
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CLINTON
BAKER
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CARLUCCI
BER
REAGAN·GORBACHEV
ICELAND SUMMIT
GORBACHEV ANNOUNCES
BUSH PROPOSES U.S.
TROOP REDUCTIONS
IN EUROPE
TROOP REDUCTION
FROM NATO
INF TREATY
LIBYA AND CHAD
BUSH CHEMICAL
ELIMINATION
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CHRISTOPHER
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WARSAW PACT COUNTRIES
START
START II SIGNED
BY U.S. I RUSSIA