Every Citizen a Soldier: The Campaign for Universal Military Training After World War Ⅱ

摘要

In 1947, with American military leaders eager to avoid a repetition of the unpreparedness of 7 December 1941 and with a Cold War brewing, the idea of imposing Universal Military Training (UMT) on American youth had broad and deep support. Military leaders, flush with prestige in the wake of their glorious run to victory in 1945, argued that the nation could not afford a repeat of the Pearl Harbor disaster and, more terrifying, that modern war made such a scenario much more likely if the nation did not prepare. President Harry S. Truman voiced his support, influential civic organizations rallied to the idea, and opinion polls showed that UMT had the approval of two in three Americans. Yet the training ultimately failed. William Taylor explains why in this well-researched and well-written account of a key moment in the history of American military personnel policy. If Taylor has a conviction about whether the United States ought to have adopted UMT, he has kept it to himself, focusing instead on the process, policy, and personalities that drove the debate.