A groundbreaking reinterpretation of US war planning and Japan's Cold War role—with historical lessons for today
The Maritime Strategy transformed US war plans and operations in the Pacific during the final decade of the Cold War. Designed to cause the attrition of Soviet war-fighting capabilities, prevent the diversion of Soviet forces to Europe, strengthen allied resolve, and end the conflict on favorable terms, it became one of the most ambitious strategic concepts of the era.
In The First Cold War in the Pacific, Narushige Michishita offers a fresh and provocative reassessment of the Maritime Strategy and the critical yet often overlooked role of the US-Japan alliance. Drawing on extensive archival materials, official documents, war games, oral history, and interviews, he examines how American, Soviet, and Japanese leaders understood the prospects and risks of a Pacific conflict, and he reveals surprising new evidence about the active contributions of Japan's Self-Defense Forces to the US Cold War strategy. The book concludes by evaluating how the Maritime Strategy might have performed in wartime.
As strategic rivalry between the United States and China increasingly shapes the Indo-Pacific, the parallels with earlier US-Soviet competition are striking. The First Cold War in the Pacific provides essential historical perspective and timely insights for policymakers, military professionals, scholars, and anyone interested in maritime strategy, deterrence, and alliance management.
Reviews
"Dr. Narushige Michishita's The First Cold War in the Pacific is a must-read for everyone interested in national security and geopolitics in the Pacific. His book underscores the Pacific's central role in US maritime strategy and alliance policy. Drawing on Cold War-era Maritime Strategy cooperation with Japan against the Soviets, it shows how the US-Japan partnership can again counter expanding Chinese maritime pressure and strengthen regional deterrence. The author has unparalleled access to the foremost experts and policy makers in the US and the Pacific Rim."—John Lehman, 65th Secretary of the US Navy
"In today's era of US-China strategic competition, this book is an ambitious work analyzing the role played by US Maritime Strategy in the US-Soviet Cold War. It offers many insights from military exercises, wargames, and leaders' perceptions regarding the military and alliance strategies that prevented turning the Cold War into a hot war."—Gen (Ret.) Yoshihide Yoshida, President, National Defense Academy of Japan, Former Chief of Staff, Joint Staff, Japan Self-Defense Forces
"Scholars and practitioners of Asia-Pacific maritime affairs are in debt to Narushige Michishita for this much-needed and detailed history of the Cold War in the Pacific. Of particular relevance is Michishita's origin story of U.S.-Japan operational and strategic cooperation at sea. This work supplies invaluable context for our own age, when the U.S.-Japan alliance is squaring off against a domineering China and its "no limits" partner, Russia. Strongly recommended."—James R. Holmes, Ph.D., J. C. Wylie Chair of Maritime Strategy, Naval War College
About the Author
Narushige Michishita is a professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo. A specialist in international security affairs, he is the author of North Korea's Military-Diplomatic Campaigns, 1966–2008. He received a PhD with distinction from Johns Hopkins University.
