| Summary: | In the uncertain security climate after the conclusion of the Second World War but before the intensification of the Cold War, the major factor that shaped US strategic planning was the impact of novel destructive technologies that radically increased the speed and scale of warfare. American planners responded by seeking to enlarge the defensive perimeter of the United States beyond its territory. How to realize this and what it meant in concrete terms, however, was an open question. Over time, the wartime allies worked out a variety of arrangements premised on different rationales in light of the political difficulties associated with a foreign peacetime military presence. Where US military presences were maintained, they were predicated on temporary conditions, and none were fated to become the kind of arrangements we are familiar with today. The discussion develops case studies of American interactions with Canada, Portugal, Britain, France, Iceland, and Saudi Arabia.
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