ABSTRACT
Recalling his years at the Department of State, George F. Kennan wrote in his memoirs that “the theaters of our greatest dangers, our greatest responsibilities, and our greatest possibilities at that moment were the two occupied areas of Western Germany and Japan.” These two defeated countries could affect the entire global balance of power, as “these places were the centers, respectively, of the two greatest industrial complexes of East and West.”1 Therefore, one of the most important tasks for the newly established Policy Planning Staff (PPS) in 1947 was to aid these two countries for the purpose of tying them fi rmly to the West.
