Anchoring in the American Lake: U.S. Military Government on Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Okinawa from 1944 to 1951
Abstract
As the United States achieved preeminence in the Pacific during World War II, political and military leaders faced a fundamental question about what to do with the islands of Guam, Okinawa, and the Northern Mariana Islands, which were seized by military force. As leaders deliberated long-term strategy, the U.S. military undertook a significant civil-military effort to govern liberated and occupied territories. While these initiatives initially facilitated immediate military objectives to further prosecute the war, they later served as a foundation upon which the United States built a new security order in the Pacific. These were not predetermined outcomes, however. U.S. policy underwent years of discourse to establish defense requirements, secure military bases, and maintain legitimacy in the international community. Though devastated during the war, the populations of these occupied areas still held political and social agency. How did the diverse civil-military interactions exemplified by these three cases shape the development of long-term basing agreements in the Pacific?
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 2020
- Accession Number
- AD1114690
Entities
People
- Evan Z. Ota
Organizations
- Naval Postgraduate School