To Have and Have Not: Southeast Asian Raw Materials and the Origins of the Pacific WarJonathan Marshall makes a provocative statement: it was not ideological or national security considerations that led the United States into war with Japan in 1941. Instead, he argues, it was a struggle for access to Southeast Asia's vast storehouse of commodities--rubber, oil, and tin--that drew the U.S. into the conflict. Boldly departing from conventional wisdom, Marshall reexamines the political landscape of the time and recreates the mounting tension and fear that gripped U.S. officials in the months before the war. Unusual in its extensive use of previously ignored documents and studies, this work records the dilemmas of the Roosevelt administration: it initially hoped to avoid conflict with Japan and, after many diplomatic overtures, it came to see war as inevitable. Marshall also explores the ways that international conflicts often stem from rivalries over land, food, energy, and industry. His insights into "resource war," the competition for essential commodities, will shed new light on U.S. involvement in other conflicts--notably in Vietnam and the Persian Gulf. Jonathan Marshall makes a provocative statement: it was not ideological or national security considerations that led the United States into war with Japan in 1941. Instead, he argues, it was a struggle for access to Southeast Asia's vast storehouse of commodities--rubber, oil, and tin--that drew the U.S. into the conflict. Boldly departing from conventional wisdom, Marshall reexamines the political landscape of the time and recreates the mounting tension and fear that gripped U.S. officials in the months before the war. Unusual in its extensive use of previously ignored documents and studies, this work records the dilemmas of the Roosevelt administration: it initially hoped to avoid conflict with Japan and, after many diplomatic overtures, it came to see war as inevitable. Marshall also explores the ways that international conflicts often stem from rivalries over land, food, energy, and industry. His insights into "resource war," the competition for essential commodities, will shed new light on U.S. involvement in other conflicts--notably in Vietnam and the Persian Gulf. |
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LibraryThing Review
User Review - Winomaster - LibraryThingThis is an important book in how it lays out the importance of asian sources of strategic materials in driving the US to war in the Pacific. It also is a good source on the pre-war diplomacy aimed in ... Read full review
Contents
The Rush to Stockpile | 33 |
1940 | 54 |
JanuaryJune 1941 | 95 |
JulyDecember 1941 | 121 |
Roosevelt Plans for War | 157 |
Defining the National Interest | 173 |
Notes | 189 |
257 | |
273 | |
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Common terms and phrases
action administration Affairs agreed agreement ambassador American Army attack bases believed Britain British China Chinese Committee concern continued Council December defense Department dependence diary discussion Dutch Dutch East Indies Eastern economic effect effort essential exports Feis fight fleet force Foreign French further Government Grew hope Hornbeck Hull important Indochina industry interests Japan Japanese July June keep later leaders major March meeting Memoirs memorandum ment military Mineral move naval Navy negotiations Netherlands East Indies Nomura noted November October officials Pacific peace Pearl Harbor Philippines political position possible powers prepared present President Press proposal raw materials region Relations Roosevelt rubber Seas Secretary September ships Singapore situation sources South Southeast Asia southward Stimson stockpiling strategic supplies Thailand threat tion Tokyo trade troops United vital warned Washington York