ABSTRACT
The transformation of the two rudimentary concepts of growth and power into the effective, sophisticated formulas of "interdependence" and "national security" was a unique historical event. Despite their cultural and genetic differences, these two pillars of future US foreign policy were made to work in unison, at times prompting decisive synergies. The "interdependent" spirit of US foreign policy helped bridle the narcissistic or neoisolationist undercurrents that frequently kindled bouts of hypernationalism focused almost exclusively on the question of security. The Atlantic System supplied the operative core of the Grand Alliance and provided the heart of the entire structure of US alliances both during and after the war. The chapter focuses on the relations in the Western Hemisphere, and on the Atlantic System, which began to take shape during the first months of neutrality as the conceptual embryo of a general "quasi theory" of international relations.
