Army of Peace: American Military Ambitions for the United Nations and the Origins of the Cold War

In March 1946, President Truman decided to second roughly an eighth of all U.S. military forces to the United Nations. The New York Times declared the same month that the international police force initially proposed by U.S. planners would number “perhaps 2,000,000 men” and that it would “enforce the rules and regulations for world order.” This article explores American visions of the postwar order through the lens of the UN military project. In particular, it analyzes how the UN military project played a major role in the American reassessment of Soviet intentions, and with it, America’s global military strategy.