From Disarmament to Rearmament: The Reversal of US Policy Toward West Germany, 1946-1955 PDF
Preview From Disarmament to Rearmament: The Reversal of US Policy Toward West Germany, 1946-1955
From Disarmament to Rearmament The Reversal of US Policy toward West Germany, 1946–1955 SHELDON A. GOLDBERG Foreword by Ingo Trauschweizer From Disarmament to Rearmament WAR AN D SOCI ETY I N N ORTH AM ERICA Series Editors: Ingo Trauschweizer and David J. Ulbrich Editorial Board Janet Bednarek Michael W. Doyle Nicole Etcheson Joseph Fitzharris John Grenier John Hall Paul Herbert James Westheider Lee Windsor Hero of the Angry Sky: The World War I Diary and Letters of David S. Ingalls, America’s First Naval Ace, edited by Geoffrey L. Rossano Protecting the Empire’s Frontier: Officers of the 18th (Royal Irish) Regiment of Foot during Its North American Service, 1767–1776, by Steven M. Baule Citizen-General: Jacob Dolson Cox and the Civil War Era, by Eugene D. Schmiel Veteran Narratives and the Collective Memory of the Vietnam War, by John A. Wood Home Front to Battlefront: An Ohio Teenager in World War II, by Frank Lavin From Disarmament to Rearmament: The Reversal of US Policy toward West Germany, 1946–1955, by Sheldon A. Goldberg FROM DISARMAMENT TO REARMAMENT The Reversal of US Policy toward West Germany, 1946–1955 Sheldon A. Goldberg Foreword by Ingo Trauschweizer OHIO UNIVERSITY PRESS ATHENS Ohio University Press, Athens, Ohio 45701 ohioswallow.com © 2017 by Ohio University Press All rights reserved To obtain permission to quote, reprint, or otherwise reproduce or distribute material from Ohio University Press publications, please contact our rights and permissions department at (740) 593-1154 or (740) 593-4536 (fax). Printed in the United States of America Ohio University Press books are printed on acid-free paper ™ 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Goldberg, Sheldon Aaron, author. Title: From disarmament to rearmament : the reversal of US policy toward West Germany, 1946/1955 / Sheldon Aaron Goldberg ; foreword by Ingo Trauschweizer. Other titles: Reversal of US policy toward West Germany, 1946/1955 Description: Athens, OH : Ohio University Press, [2017] | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2017026384| ISBN 9780821423004 (hc : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780821446225 (pdf) Subjects: LCSH: Germany—History—1945-1955. | Disarmament—Germany— History—20th century. | United States—Relations—Germany (West) | Germany (West)—Relations—United States. | World War, 1939-1945—Peace. | Militarism— Germany. | Military planning—History—20th century. | United States—Military policy—History—20th century. Classification: LCC DD257.4 G65 2017 | DDC 355/.03109730943—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017026384 To my late son, Steven Lawrence Goldberg, of beloved memory, who achieved so much in such a short time under great adversity, and to my grandchildren, Rachel, Aaron, and Barrett, to whom I hope this effort will be an example that learning continues throughout one’s lifetime. Contents Foreword ix Acknowledgments xiii List of Acronyms xv Introduction 1 1 Operation Eclipse 13 2 The Diplomatic Path to 12 September 1950 50 3 The Military Path to 12 September 1950 85 4 From EDF to EDC to NATO 119 5 1954–55: EDC Defeated, “German Problem” Solved 151 Epilogue: The Role of the Three US Military Services 161 Appendix A: The European Advisory Commission (EAC) 183 Appendix B: Operation Eclipse Memoranda 187 Appendix C: Eradication of Nazism and Militarism 189 Appendix D: US-Approved Draft Directives of the US Joint Advisors to the US Representative to the European Advisory Commission 195 Appendix E: The Himmerod Conference and the Bonn Report 197 Appendix F: Acheson’s “Single Package” 201 Appendix G: The Great Debate 205 Notes 209 Bibliography 287 Index 311 Foreword The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is fast approaching its seventieth anniversary and one may conclude that the al- liance is showing its age. What started as a Cold War organization aimed at deterring the Soviet Union, first by demonstrating political resolve and then, in the wake of the Korean War, by creating more potent armed forces, has far outgrown its original geographic and strategic dimensions. NATO is now an almost all-European coalition that ties the continent to North America (and vice versa) and even acts far outside of its own territory (for example, in Afghanistan). NATO is facing challenges from Russia in Eastern Europe and could well get drawn into the vortex of Middle East conflicts. In the United States, politicians have repeatedly questioned the purpose of an alliance in which the United States out- spends all other members. Today is thus a particularly important moment in time for Dr. Sheldon Goldberg to present a book that invites us to re- consider the foundations of the transatlantic alliance, so that we can weigh its less obvious strengths against its evident problems. When NATO was founded in 1949, West Germany was not a mem- ber, France was the most important American ally on the European conti- nent, and the alliance had no military command structures and very little by way of armed force. Just four months after the original twelve mem- bers signed the North Atlantic Treaty in Washington, the Soviets broke the Americans’ monopoly on atomic weapons and in short succession China fell to Communism and war broke out in Korea. Whatever NATO was supposed to be, it was no longer sufficient in 1950, and leaders of the al- liance readily agreed to install General Dwight Eisenhower as the first ix
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