The Collapse of the Middle Way: Senate Republicans and the Bipartisan Foreign Policy, 1948-1952

213 Pages·1988·4.261 MB·English

by  David R. Kepley

The Collapse of
the Middle Way
Recent Tides in
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The Collapse of
the Middle Way
Senate Republicans and the
Bipartisan Foreign Policy, 1948-1952
DAVID R. KEPLEY
CONTRIBUTIONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY, NUMBER 126
GREENWOOD PRESS
New York • Westport, Connecticut • London
Kepley, David R.
The collapse of (he middle way.
(Contributions in American history, ISSN 0084-9219 ;
no. 126)
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. United States—Foreign relations—1945-1953.
2. Republican Party (U.S. : 1854- )—History—
20th century. 3. United States. Congress. Senate-
History—20th century. I. Title. II. Series.
E813.K47 1988 327.73 87-23665
ISBN 0-313-25784-1 (lib. bdg. : alk. paper)
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available.
Copyright © 1988 by David R. Kepley
All rights reserved. No portion of this bode may be
reproduced, by any process or technique, without the
express written consent of die publisher.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 87-23665
ISBN: 0-313-25784-1
ISSN: 0084-9219
First published in 1988
Greenwood Press, Inc.
88 Post Road West, Westport, Connecticut 06881
Printed in the United States of America
The paper used in this book complies with the
Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National
Information Standards Organization (Z39.48-1984).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
I dedicate this book to the memory of my father,
Rodney Strickler Kepley (1915-1987). He would
have been proud to see this.

Contents
Preface ix
Introduction 1
1 The Origins of Bipartisanship, 1942-1948 7
2 The North Atlantic Treaty and the Military Assistance
Program, January-September 1949 19
3 The Senate and the Fall of China, 1949 37
4 The Republicans and Formosa, October 1949-January 1950 53
5 McCarthyism and Bipartisanship, January-June 1950 69
6 Bipartisanship and the Korean War, June-November 1950 85
7 The Great Debate of 1951 101
8 MacArthur and the Demise of the Old Bipartisanship 117
9 Dulles, Eisenhower, and the New Bipartisanship 133
Conclusions 151
Abbreviations in Notes 155
Notes to Chapters 157
CONTENTS
Note on Sources 187
Index 191
Preface
This study began in the mid-1970s as an examination of the role of
Congress in foreign policy. In those days, right after the resigna­
tion of President Richard Nixon, it was popularly assumed that
presidents had manipulated Congress and the American people into
wars. It was in this spirit, for instance, that the War Powers Act of
1973 was passed. I thought it might be useful, therefore, to ex­
amine the relationship between President Harry S Truman and the
Congress (particularly the Senate) during the previous Asian war
in Korea. Like the Vietnam conflict, the Korean War featured an
attempted communist takeover of a pro-Western regime. It also
became an exercise in limited war and soon became a political al­
batross around the neck of the president. Finally, in each conflict,
questions of the constitutional prerogatives of the president and
Congress were raised. This is not to say that there were not im­
portant differences between these two conflicts, only that the sim­
ilarities are worth studying.
During my research I came across numerous references to the
bipartisan foreign policy. I was fascinated with how this device for
achieving consensus on foreign policy issues was initiated in the
mid-1940s, came under massive attack during the late 1940s and
early 1950s, and later re-formed around some new assumptions in
the early 1950s. Tlie history of this process sheds valuable insights
into a variety of issues that are central to our understanding of the
Cold War. How did the Cold War consensus develop, and how
was it sustained? What was the political, ideological, and person­
X PREFACE
ality mix that accounts for the attack by the McCarthyites on the
bipartisan foreign policy? To what extent did the bipartisan foreign
policy stifle the development of alternatives to the Truman admin­
istration’s containment strategy?
How and to what extent did the Republican party change from
being a haven for the isolationism of Gerald P. Nye during the
1930s, to the nationalism of Robert A. Taft during the mid-1940s,
to the party of universal, militant, anticommunism represented by
William Knowland and Barry Goldwater in the 1950s and 1960s?
What is the constitutional relationship between the president and
Congress on foreign affairs in an age when America’s enemies can
strike so swiftly? Finally was there a way in which the United States
could have been spared the excesses of the McCarthy period? This
book by no means provides final answers to these questions, but I
hope that it will stimulate further scholarship.
One of the pleasures of working on a large project is acknowl­
edging those who have provided much help and a great many
kindnesses. I want to express my thanks to the Harry S Truman
Institute for providing me with a grant-in-aid that enabled me to
travel to the Truman Library in 1981. Librarians in the following
institutions were professional, courteous, and generous with their
resources: McKeldin Library, University of Maryland; Paley Li­
brary, Temple University; Beaver College Library; the Library of
Congress; the National Archives Library; and George Mason Uni­
versity Library. I also had the pleasure of meeting numerous ar­
chivists across the country whose work in processing materials,
promptly providing them to me, and sharing their many insights
was invaluable. I wish to express my thanks in particular to the
following: Dennis Bilger, Truman Library; Allen Kenyon, Eisen­
hower Library; Robert Wood, Hoover Library; and George Perros,
Debra Leahy, and Ron Swerczek, National Archives. I also had
rewarding and pleasant experiences at the Bentley Historical Col­
lections, Ohio State Historical Society; Western Historical Collec­
tions, Indiana Historical Society; Nebraska State Historical Soci­
ety; Massachusetts Historical Society; Wisconsin State Historical
Society; New England College Library; Manuscripts Division, Li­
brary of Congress; Columbia University Library; Seeley G. Mudd
Manuscript Collection, Princeton University; and McKeldin Li­
brary, University of Maryland.