READING NOTES--Leffler, pp. 141-265.

• p. 141--Forrestal quote key in capturing a sense of the climate of the time--and a warning to us to not read events in this period through hindsight
• pp. 141-147--skimmable--sets the scene
• p. 145 impt--sense of congressional role; did HST exaggerate his domestic difficulties?
• pp. 147-151--impt--good preview of the intense bureaucratic rivalries between State and DOD that characterize early stages of Cold War
• 151-157--skimmable; recounts diplomatic events
• 157-164--impt; good summary of Marshall Plan and its long-term importance
• 164-174--you need to have a sense of the international basis of US commitments, but probably no more than that. Did HST administration policymakers distinguish between Europe and elsewhere? Between their treatment of Germany and Japan?
• 174-179--read closely; a case can be made that the National Security Act of 1947 was the single most important piece of legislation in the 20th century US
• 181--interesting take on Kennan's globalism; Leffler's argument is not shared by all historians on this score.

Chapter 5

• 182-188--read this section closely; it's a good summary of some of the newer literature in the field, that takes a look at how foreign actors decisively shaped the US decisionmaking process
• 188-203--skimmable; summary of growing economic distress in Europe
• 197--impt--good sense of what the HST administration considered an appropriate type of activity for the CIA
• 203-213--Czech coup and aftermath--hard to underestimate its effect; did the coup make the US more aggressive in Europe--or simply continue previously existing patterns?
• 213-219--good summary of the dilemmas of US policymakers, and how decisions taken in the context of one country could increase the overall sense of tensions

Chapter 6

• 221-229--why did the passage of the National Security Act not produce a more immediate increase in military spending? Could the Cold War have developed in a different fashion?
• 229-235--read closely; good summary of difficulties of German question
• 235-246--skimmable, but a good introduction to some of the early postwar difficulties in the Middle East
• 246-253--skimmable--summary of growing difficulties with China and Korea
• 253-260--read very closely: the nexus between Japan and SE Asia would form one of the key themes of Cold War foreign policy in East Asia
• 260-265--impt summary of some of Leffler's main arguments