UNITED STATES PLANS FOR A POSTWAR OVERSEAS MILITARY BASE SYSTEM, 1942-1948

Between 1942 and 1948, the American military establishment drew up a series of plans for a postwar overseas base system. Though initially designed to support an international police force, the plans increasingly assumed a national character as the Grand Alliance of World War II dissolved into Cold War confrontation.; Well into 1945, military planners viewed United States physical security in essentially regional terms, encompassing the Western Hemisphere and the Pacific to the shores of East Asia. With the end of the war, however, plans began to focus on overseas bases extending beyond this area that might best counter the perceived threat from the Soviet Union. At first, military planners concentrated on a far northern base strategy; but, in 1946, emphasis began to shift to bases on Russia's southern rim.; The requirements of military strategy were but one of several factors influencing postwar base planning. Some civilian and military officials hoped to fashion a coordinated network of overseas air facilities that would not only provide for United States physical security, but, through the expansion of American commercial aviation, would also promote the nation's postwar economic prosperity. Partly from apprehension that the military, if left alone to plan an overseas base system, might fail to assess the full scope of American interests, civilian defense officials reasserted their traditional influence on policy formulation, diminished during the war by the special relationship the Joint Chiefs of Staff enjoyed with the President. Civil-military friction, however, had less of an impact on postwar base planning than rivalry among the military services; their conflict over postwar roles and missions resulted in delays and strategic deficiencies in base planning. Not until 1948, when civilian officials forced the services to produce a joint war plan, did base planning become effective. All along, military planners had anticipated sharp reductions in postwar defense expenditures; consequently, they planned most often in terms of acquiring "rights" to bases rather than base development. Much less expected, however, was the degree of resistance encountered from other nations as the United States tried to obtain the base rights it believed essential for its security.