By More Than Providence: Grand Strategy and American Power in the Asia Pacific Since 1783

760 Pages·2017·25.237 MB·English

by  Michael J. Green

By Than
MORE
P R O V I D E N C E
GRAND STRATEGY AND AMERICAN POWER
IN THE A SIA PACIFIC SINCE 1783
M J. G
ICHAEL REEN
By More than Providence
A Nancy Bernkopf Tucker and Warren I. Cohen Book on
American– East Asian Relations
Edited by
Thomas J. Christensen
Mark Philip Bradley
Rosemary Foote
M I C H A E L   J . G R E E N
B Y M O R E T H A N P R O V I D E N C E
Grand Strategy and American Power
in the Asia Pacific Since 1783
Columbia University Press New York
Columbia University Press
Publishers Since 1893
New York Chichester, West Sussex
cup . columbia . edu
Copyright © 2017 Columbia University Press
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-i n- Publication Data
Names: Green, Michael J., author.
Title: By more than providence : g rand strategy and American power in the
Asia Pacifi c since 1783 / Michael J. Green.
Description: New York : Columbia University Press, [2017] |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifi ers: LCCN 2016039620 | ISBN 9780231180429 (cloth : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9780231542722 (e-book)
Subjects: LCSH: United States— Foreign relations— Pacifi c Area. |
Pacifi c Area— Foreign relations— United States.
Classifi cation: LCC DU30 .G73 2017 | DDC 327.7305— dc23
LC rec ord available at https:// lccn . loc . gov / 2016039620
Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent and durable acid-f ree paper.
Printed in the United States of Ameri ca
Cover Image: Raymond Massey, The Empress of China Arriving at Whampoa
For the probl em of Asia is a world probl em, which has come upon the world in an age when,
through the rapidity of communication, it is wide awake and sensible as never before, and by
electrical touch, to every stirring in its members, and to the tendency thereof . . .
— Alfred Thayer Mahan, “The Prob lem of Asia: Its Eff ect on International
Politics,” Harpers New Monthly Magazine, March 1900.

CONTENTS
Note on Korean, Chinese, and Japa nese Terms xi
Acknowl edgments xiii
Introduction 1
PART ONE
THE RISE OF THE UNITED STATES
1. “A Theatre for the Exercise of the Most Ambitious Intellect”:
Seeds of Strategy, 1784–1860 19
2. “How Sublime the Pacifi c Part Assigned to Us”:
Precursors to Expansion, 1861–1898 56
3. “I Wish to See the United States the Dominant Power
on the Shores of the Pacifi c”:
Grand Strategy in the Era of Theodore Roo se velt 78
viii
PART TWO
THE RISE OF JAPAN
4. “Leave the Door Open, Rehabilitate China, and Satisfy Japan”:
Defi ning the Open Door, 1909–1927 115
5. “Between Non- resistance and Coercion”:
The Open Door Closes, 1928–1941 151
6. “We Have Got to Dominate the Pacifi c”:
Grand Strategy and the War Against Japan 188
PART THREE
THE RISE OF THE SOVIETS
7. “The Overall Eff ect Is to Enlarge Our Strategic Frontier”:
Defi ning Containment in the Pacifi c, 1945–1960 245
8. “Anyone Who Isn’t Confused Really Doesn’t
Understand the Situation”:
Asia Strategy and Escalation in Vietnam, 1961–1968 297
9. “An Even Balance”:
Nixon and Kissinger’s Redefi nition of Containment in Asia,
1969–1975 323
10. “The President Cannot Make Any Weak Moves”:
Jimmy Car ter and the Return of the China Card, 1977–1980 363
11. “To Contain and Over Time Reverse”:
Ronald Reagan, 1980–1989 387
PART FOUR
THE RISE OF CHINA
12. “The Key to Our Security and Our Prosperity Lies
in the Vitality of Those Relationships”:
George H. W. Bush and the Unipolar Moment, 1989–1992 429
13. “Engage and Balance”:
Bill Clinton and the Unexpected Return of Great- Power Politics 453
14. “A Balance of Power That Favors Freedom”:
Strategic Surprise and the Asia Policy of George W. Bush 482
ix
15. “The Pivot”:
Barack Obama and the Strug gle to Rebalance to Asia 518
Conclusion:
The Historical Case for Asia Strategy 541
Notes 549
Index 689