Key Information
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1979-1981 (Creation)
- 1945-1954 (Creation)
Level of description
Collection
Extent
70 reels and 8 published detailed guides
Scope and content
Records of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, part 2: 1946-53 is a themed microfilm collection containing copies of official documents of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), 1946-1953. Documents include meeting minutes and memoranda and reports relating to strategic issues; Europe and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO); the Far East; the Middle East; the Soviet Union; and the United States. Meeting minutes include those of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, 1948-1954, and its committees, the US Joint Logistics Committee, 1946-1947; the US Joint Logistics Plans Committee, 1946-1947; the US Joint Staff Planners, 1946-1947; and the US Joint Strategic Plans Committee, 1947-1953. Documents relating to strategic issues include Joint Chiefs of Staff meeting memoranda and official reports concerning the effect of the atomic bomb on warfare and military organisation; scientific representation from British Admiralty and Air Ministry at the atomic bomb trials, 1945; projected Soviet atomic capabilities; armed forces participation in proof-testing operations for atomic weapons; the control and direction of strategic atomic operations; requirements for the stockpile of atomic weapons in North America and Western Europe; atomic requirements from NATO member states; US psychological and unconventional warfare; US industrial mobilisation planning; US Joint Chiefs of Staff plans for global demarcation into areas of strategic control; and post-war US military requirements, 1945-1954. Documents relating to Europe and NATO include Joint Chiefs of Staff meeting minutes concerning the political stability of post-war Austria, Hungary, Finland, the Balkans, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Iceland, Italy, the Trieste Free Territory, and Spain; the establishment of the North Atlantic Treaty; NATO command arrangements; the state of the armed forces in European NATO member states; the defensive capabilities of Western Europe; the establishment of Supreme Headquarters, Allied Powers in Europe (SHAPE); and the establishment and function of the Supreme Allied Commander, Europe (SACEUR). Documents relating to the Far East include meeting minutes and memoranda concerning the demilitarisation of China, 1945; reform of the Japanese government, 1945; British and Canadian requests for information on the US atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 1945-1948; US military assistance to the Netherlands Indies Forces, Netherland East Indies, 1946; US military assistance to the Philippines; US policy in reference to the adoption of the Japanese Constitution, 3 Nov 1946; the post-war disposition of combatant vessels of the Imperial Japanese Navy; the implications of possible Chinese Communist attack on foreign colonies in South China, 1949; the defence of Formosa, 1949-1953; the withdrawal of US occupation forces from Japan; the planning and conduct of the Korean War, 1950-1953; talks with French and British military representatives regarding the defence of Indochina, 1950; possible US military involvement in Indochina, 1950-1953; the Treaty of Peace with Japan, Aug 1951; US military assistance to Japan, 1951-1954. Documents relating to the Middle East include US Joint Chiefs of Staff reports on political and military relations with Iran, Palestine and Israel, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, 1946-1954. Documents relating to the Soviet Union include US Joint Chiefs of Staff political estimates of Soviet policy; intelligence estimates assuming war developed between the Soviet Union and the Non-Soviet Powers, 1946-1953; Soviet objectives in relation to the strength of its armed forces; Soviet capabilities in the Far East, Central and South America, and the Middle East; estimates of the scale and nature of Soviet attacks on the United Kingdom and Western Europe; plans for military aid to US allies and NATO member states. Documents relating to the United States include US Joint Chiefs of Staff memoranda and reports concerning the strategic defence of US territory; US programmes for national security; and civil defence capabilities, 1946-1953.
System of arrangement
Arranged into the following sections and thereafter chronologically: meetings of the JCS; strategic issues, section 1 and section 2; Europe and NATO; the Far East; the Middle East; the Soviet Union; the United States.
General Information
Repository
Custodial history
University Publications of America, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Conditions governing access
Open, subject to signature of Reader's undertaking form, and appropriate provision of two forms of identification, to include one photographic ID.
Conditions governing reproduction
Copies may be printed off the microfilm/microfiche for research purposes and are charged at cost.
Enquiries concerning the copyright of the original material should be addressed to University Publications of America Inc.
Language of material
- English
Script of material
Finding aids
This collection level description. Published guides are available in the Reading Room:
Related materials
Note
Compiled Jul 1999
Alternative identifier(s)
Subjects
- Alliances
- Armed forces
- Colonial countries
- Decolonization
- Diplomacy
- East West relations
- Foreign relations
- Higher science education
- International conflicts
- International relations
- Korean War (1950-1953)
- Military doctrine
- Military engineering
- Military equipment
- Military liaison
- Military organizations
- Military strategy
- Nuclear warfare
- Nuclear weapons
- Organizations
- Political systems
- State security
- War
- Warfare
- Weapons
- Wars (events)
People and Organisations
Genre access points
Rules and/or conventions used
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000.