Shield of the Republic: The United States Navy in an Era of Cold War and Violent Peace 1945-1962
Eisenberg, a history professor at the United States Naval Academy, calls the Navy "arguably the most potent means ever possessed by any nation for the day-to-day conduct of international affairs." In his majestic and exhaustive portrait of that institution, from the Japanese surrender aboard the Missouri to the Cuban missile crisis 17 years later, he traces developments largely from the viewpoint of the Chief of Naval Operations, who had prickly dealings with the Secretary of Defense, key members of Congress and the Commander-in-Chief. He reveals how policy and strategy were hammered out in connection with service unification, the configuration of the postwar Navy, the development of nuclear subs, power projection in the Mediterranean, Korea, Formosa, Lebanon and elsewhere during the earlier years of the Cold War. Eisenberg argues that the Navy's central role in the Cuban missile crisis was its finest hour in the period between WW II and the Vietnam War, and the most telling example of the use and value of sea power in the 20th century. Photos. History Book Club alternate.Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.