ABSTRACT
Perhaps the crucial decision taken by the Allies during the Second World War was to seek the unconditional surrender of Germany and Japan. The depression of the 1930s had shattered cherished beliefs about US economic prowess; had wrought the most dramatic realignment in politics since the Civil War; and had initiated a thorough transformation in the relationship between state and society and in the philosophy of government. The war and the depression became memories, but their consequences affected the entire trajectory of the postwar world. The world leaders responsible for the making of the postwar order saw tremendous possibilities and were armed with ambitious plans and grand designs. The new discourse would place limits upon what US leaders could do to influence the international postwar order. Mobilization for war brought into the growing bureaucracy economic and social reformers who sought to turn their notions of responsible government into a reality.
