Böcker av Lawrence S. Kaplan

The United States has looked inward throughout most of its history, preferring to avoid "e;foreign entanglements,"e; as George Washington famously advised. After World War II, however, Americans became more inclined to break with the past and take a prominent place on the world stage. Much has been written about the influential figures who stood at the center of this transformation, but remarkably little attention has been paid to Arthur H. Vandenberg (1884--1951), who played a crucial role in moving the nation from its isolationist past to an internationalist future.Vandenberg served as a U.S. senator from Michigan from 1928 to 1951 and was known in his early career for his fervent anti-interventionism. After 1945, he became heavily involved in the establishment of the United Nations and was a key player in the development of NATO. As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during 1947 and 1948, Vandenberg helped rally support for President Truman's foreign policy -- including the Marshall Plan -- and his leadership contributed to a short-lived era of congressional bipartisanship regarding international relations.In The Conversion of Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg, Lawrence S. Kaplan offers the first critical biography of the distinguished statesman. He demonstrates how Vandenberg's story provides a window on the political and cultural changes taking place in America as the country assumed a radically different role in the world, and makes a seminal contribution to the history of U.S. foreign policy during the initial years of the Cold War.

Kaplan's study provides a new perspective on nuclear disarmament during a critical period in US history and sheds light on Eisenhower's approach to international relations.

The creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was one of the most important accomplishments of American diplomacy in countering the Soviet threat during the early days of the Cold War.

.,."recommended as a purchase for extensive American history collections and strong collections on the nation's third president."-Library Journal

This conference-based work offers the views of seven American diplomatic historians on the role of NATO from an American perspective, placing the alliance within the larger frame of America's foreign policy as a superpower. Each reveals an aspect of how NATO has fashioned the ""American Century"".

Talks about the watershed year of 1948, when the United States reversed its position of political and military isolation from Europe and agreed to an entangling alliance with ten European nations. This book traces the tortuous and dramatic process, which struggled to reconcile the conflicting concerns on the part of the future partners.

Focuses on Thomas Jefferson's role as a maker of foreign policy. This biography explores how the concept of the United States' westward expansion worked as the moving force in forming Jefferson's judgments and actions in foreign relations.