ABSTRACT
To what extent did the United States commit itself to the defence of Japan by the September 1951 US-Japan Security Treaty? This has been a longstanding and FRQWHQWLRXV LVVXH DPRQJVW -DSDQHVH EXW QHZO\ GHFODVVL¿HG%ULWLVK GRFXPHQWV provide us with new and reliable materials to help address this question. On 13 September 1951, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), General Omar N. Bradley, informed the new chief of the British Joint Staff Mission (JSM), Air Chief Marshal Sir William Elliot, that the United States was determined to defend Japan even at the risk of starting a third world war with atomic weapons. 7KLVVWDWHPHQWZDVPDGHRQO\¿YHGD\VDIWHUWKH86DQG-DSDQVLJQHGWKH6HFXrity Treaty in San Francisco.
