How did the US Army emerge as one of the most powerful political organizations in the United States following World War II? In this book, Grant H. Golub asserts that this remarkable shift was the result of the Army's political masters consciously transforming the organization into an active political player throughout the war. Led by Henry Stimson, the Secretary of War and one of the most experienced American statesmen of the era, the Army energetically worked to shape the contours of American power throughout the war, influencing the scope and direction of US foreign policy as the Allies fought the Axis powers. The result saw the Army, and the military more broadly, gain unprecedented levels of influence over US foreign relations. As World War II gave way to the Cold War, the military helped set the direction of policy toward the Soviet Union and aided the decades of confrontation between the two superpowers.

‘Grant Golub's well-researched and deftly written book offers fresh insight into how power worked in Roosevelt's wartime Washington and how, under Henry Stimson's leadership, the US Army mastered the game of backroom angling, vote whipping, and assault by memo.'

Brooke L. Blower - author of Americans in a World at War: Intimate Histories from the Crash of Pan Am's Yankee Clipper

‘American grand strategy pivoted during World War II, and Henry Stimson was the fulcrum. Enmeshed in the highest echelons of power he more than any other leader put the Army-and thus army thinking, army jargon, and army solutions-at the heart of Washington's conception of the world's opportunities and threats. Grant Golub's insightful work gives Stimson his full due. Accessible, insightful, well-researched and well-reasoned, it is a must read for anyone interested in the rise of the American century.'

Jeffrey A. Engel - David Gergen Director of the Center for Presidential History, Southern Methodist University