After Hiroshima: The United States, Race and Nuclear Weapons in Asia, 1945-1965

by Matthew Jones

Overview

By emphasising the role of nuclear issues, After Hiroshima, published in 2010, provides an original history of American policy in Asia between the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan and the escalation of the Vietnam War. Drawing on a wide range of documentary evidence, Matthew Jones charts the development of American nuclear strategy and the foreign policy problems it raised, as the United States both confronted China and attempted to win the friendship of an Asia emerging from colonial domination. In underlining American perceptions that Asian peoples saw the possible repeat use of nuclear weapons as a manifestation of Western attitudes of 'white superiority', he offers new insights into the links between racial sensitivities and the conduct of US policy, and a fresh interpretation of the transition in American strategy from massive retaliation to flexible response in the era spanned by the Korean and Vietnam Wars.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521881005
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	04/15/2010
Pages:	514
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Matthew Jones is Professor of American Foreign Relations at the University of Nottingham. His previous publications include Britain, the United States, and the Mediterranean War, 1942–44 (1996) and Conflict and Confrontation in South East Asia, 1961–1965 (Cambridge, 2002).

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements ix

List of acronyms xi

Introduction 1

1 In the shadow of Hiroshima: the United States and Asia in the aftermath of Japanese defeat 7

2 The Korean Wars, the atomic bomb and Asian-American estrangement 57

3 Securing the East Asian frontier: stalemate in Korea and the Japanese peace treaty 100

4 A greater sanction: the defence of South East Asia, the advent of the Eisenhower administration and the end of the Korean War 131

5 'Atomic Madness': massive retaliation and the Bravo test 162

6 The aftermath of Bravo, the Indochina crisis and the emergence of SEATO 199

7 'Asia for the Asians': the first offshore islands crisis and the Bandung Conference 240

8 A nuclear strategy for SEATO and the problem of limited war in the Far East 289

9 Massive retaliation at bay: US-Japanese relations, nuclear deployment and the limited war debate 318

10 The second offshore islands crisis and the advent of flexible response 362

11 The Chinese bomb, American nuclear strategy in Asia and the escalation of the Vietnam War 401

Conclusion: from massive retaliation to flexible response in Asia 450

Bibliography 465

Index 491

Editorial Reviews

"...Jones has made a valuable contribution to the evolving literature on both nuclear history and the Cold War in Asia." -Sean L. Malloy, The Journal of American History

‘The great strength of this empirically rich study lies in the important interconnections that it traces between two topics that scholars typically treat in isolation: race and nuclear strategy. …Matthew Jones has provided us with one of the most important books on U.S. policy toward early Cold War Asia in recent years.’ Robert J. McMahon, Journal of Cold War Studies

‘…After Hiroshima is authoritative, insightful, well crafted, and wise. It takes its place among the very few books that are essential reading on the subject of U.S. nuclear strategy in Asia during the first two decades of the Cold War.’ Andrew J. Rotter, Diplomatic History

‘Jones’s study is an important contribution to the growing body of scholarship that explores the transnational connections between race and American foreign relations. Thoroughly researched, lucidly written, and judiciously argued, this exemplary book demonstrates the links between racial sensitivities and U.S. national security policies during this perilous period of nuclear history.’ Journal of Military History.

‘…an original and valuable study that adds a new dimension to our understanding of American strategy in Asia.’ Marc Gallicchio, International Affairs

‘Matthew Jones’s superb After Hiroshima; The United States, Race, and Nuclear Weapons in Asia, l945-1965 joins a number of important books that have underscored the significance of race as a factor in American foreign relations, especially in Asia. … After Hiroshima is an important book. It deepens our understanding of American national security policy during an important period and the ways that it interacted with the expectations and apprehensions of Asian nations.’ Gary R. Hess, Bowling Green State University.

"Matthew Jones has given us in this book an excellent look at the self-deterring impact of the American use of the atom bomb at the end of World War II. It explores the frustrations and fantasies that came with possession of the bomb, and the ironic burden of having introduced a weapon that immediately became unusable. … [he] is to be congratulated for illuminating so much of the story of how we got into such a predicament." Lloyd Gardner, Rutgers University.

"To say that the advent of nuclear weapons heightened global insecurity and the potential costs of Cold War conflict is a truism. But to argue, as Matthew Jones does so convincingly in After Hiroshima, that possession of a nuclear strike force often diminished, rather than increased, US foreign policy options in Asia is something important and new." Martin Thomas, University of Exeter. From H-Diplo roundtable:

"…will certainly become required reading for those studying the Cold War.… [After Hiroshima is] a study that makes a crucial contribution not only to the history of the Cold War and nuclear policy, but also to the historiography of international relations and strategic studies." Pierre Grosser, Sciences Po, Paris

"…Matthew Jones has written an impressive study that both expands and enriches existing understanding of U.S. postwar security policy in Asia." James Matray, California State University, Chico

"This massive analysis of the racial dimension of American nuclear policies is first-rate scholarship comparable to John W. Dower’s seminal work, War without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War (1986)." Balázs Szalontai, East China Normal University

"U.S. policy toward Asia during the early Cold War has been a well-trodden scholarly ground, but as a result of Matthew Jones’s impressive illumination, the familiar landscape takes on new colors." Qiang Zhai, Auburn University Montgomery

From the Publisher