The United States in the Indo-Pacific before World War II

Abstract

Synthesizing historiographical debates, this chapter addresses the following questions: How did the United States historically approach Asia not only in terms of shifting security interests but also diplomatic mindsets? What were the nature and characteristics of the US pre-WWII presence in Asia? We first examine the origins and historical use of the phrase the Indo-Pacific before turning to three interpretative frameworks for studying Asia’s strategic system which are historical connections, national identity in strategic policies, and contact zones. Section two shifts to the United States in Asia especially its private commerce, consular apparatus, and the Open Door policy from 1784 to 1900. This is followed by a discussion of US strategic imagination about Asia—as reflected in Alfred Thayer Mahan and Frederick Jackson Turner—and American major foreign policies towards the region before WWII including Wilsonism, collective security, and anti-colonialism in 1900–1941. The chapter argues that the American involvement in the Indo-Pacific, since its founding, gave the United States a competitive advantage. This had been understudied by researchers primarily focused on the Atlantic and Asia-Pacific worlds and US historical relations with these two regions. The new Indo-Pacific way of looking at Asia brings the potential to add a third interpretive framework to the dual approach of Atlanticism and Pacificism for a more comprehensive and sophisticated understanding for which present circumstances call.