America's Cold Warrior

Paul Nitze and National Security from Roosevelt to Reagan

Author: James Graham Wilson

"This book is a political biography of Paul Nitze, the lead author of NSC-68, who served in eight presidential administrations and contributed to Cold War debates from 1945-1991. It considers his legacies after September 11, 2001, and in the context of Russia and China in the 2020s"--

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Summary

Description

In America's Cold Warrior, James Graham Wilson traces Paul Nitze's career path in national security after World War II, a time when many of his mentors and peers returned to civilian life. Serving in eight presidential administrations, Nitze commanded White House attention even when he was out of government, especially with his withering criticism of Jimmy Carter from 1977-1980. While Nitze is perhaps best known for leading the formulation of NSC-68, which Harry Truman signed in 1950, Wilson contends that his most significant contribution to American peace and security came in the painstaking work during the period 1982-1988 to negotiate successful treaties with the Soviets to reduce nuclear weapons while simultaneously deflecting skeptics surrounding Ronald Reagan. America's Cold Warrior connects Nitze's career and concerns about strategic vulnerability to the post-9/11 era and the challenges of the 2020s, where the United States finds itself locked in geopolitical competition with the People's Republic of China and Russia.

Critic Reviews

A brilliant political biography, elegantly written, rich in archival material. Mr. Wilson tells Nitze's story with an impressive command of detail and sources, no mean feat given the span of Nitze's career.

The Wall Street Journal

In his superb America's Cold Warrior, State Department historian James Graham Wilson portrays Nitze as consistently animated by a single, "steadfast conviction that the United States needed to possess overriding strength."

Foreign Policy

America's Cold Warrior by James Graham Wilson, an historian at the US Department of State, expertly recounts and analyzes Nitze's career and influence.

The Cipher Brief

This book is not a stale history of an insignificant person. It is a well written, fascinating story centered around a very influential man. It just happens that the man's name is unknown to most, even if his acts are not. Paul Nitze is a real-life Forrest Gump, albeit a very serious and more reliable narrator of history. America's Cold Warrior is a book for the casual reader and policy wonk alike. If you enjoy history, war, or great biographies, this book is for you.

Global Security Review

The result is an admiring, but not uncritical, portrait of one of the great national security "experts" of the second half of the 20th century.

New York Journal of Books

Wilson has ably shown (in less than 300 pages) how State Department historians can extend their remit from publishing documentary records to enlivening the past—and educating those who seek to navigate the future.

The National Interest

Although he lived almost as long as George Kennan, Paul Nitze never quite achieved the fame of his coeval. But James Graham Wilson makes a compelling case in this biography that Nitze was comparably influential in US diplomacy.

The Foreign Service Journal

This splendid book is... long overdue.

War on the Rocks

James Graham Wilson makes a compelling case that the under-celebrated example of Paul Nitze is both instructive and worthy of our emulation.

Law & Liberty

Wilson has written a definitive history of Paul Nitze...

CHOICE

About the Author

James Graham Wilson is a Historian at the US Department of State.

Product Details

Publisher

Cornell University Press

Published

15th July 2024

Pages

336

ISBN

9781501776076

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