"This book discusses the role of the U.S. Navy within the country's national security structure during the first decade of the Cold War from the perspective of the service's senior uniformed officer, the Chief of Naval Operations, and his staff. It examines a variety of important issues of the period, including the Army-Navy fight over unification that led to the creation of the National Security Act of 1947, the early postwar fighting in China between the Nationalists and the Communists, the formation of NATO, the outbreak of the Korean War, the decision of the Eisenhower Administration not to intervene in the Viet Minh troops' siege of the French garrison at Dien Bien Phu, and the initiation of the Eisenhower "New Look" defense policy. The author relies upon information obtained from a wide range of primary sources and personal interviews with important, senior Navy and Army officers. The result is a book that provides the reader with a new way of looking at these pivotal events."--Jacket.

Wartime organizational changes in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations -- Initial challenges : postwar and demobilization planning -- The Navy and unification -- The National Security Act achieved -- Preparing for a new enemy -- War ends in the Pacific -- Troubles emerge in postwar China, 1945-1946 -- Assessing and responding to the Soviet naval threat -- Adjusting to the National Military Establishment -- Living in "interesting times" -- Slugging it out on Capitol Hill -- Events in the western Pacific -- Troubles on the Korean Peninsula -- Deciding to fight -- Defending NATO Europe : planning during the initial stages -- The Eisenhower national security structure -- Rethinking national strategy -- Coping with the new look -- A crisis abroad and a CNO's departure.