U.S. Military Forces as a Political Instrument since World War II

Abstract

On November 11, 1944, the Turkish ambassador to the United States, Mehmet Munir Ertegiun, died in Washington; not a very important event at a time when Allied forces were sweeping across France and Eastern Europe toward Germany, and Berlin and Tokyo were approaching Gctterdammerung. Sixteen months later, however, the ambassador's remains were the focus of world attention as the curtain went up on a classic act in the use of armed forces as a political instrument. On March 6, 1946, the U.S. Department of State announced that the late Ambassador Ertegiin's remains would be sent home to Turkey aboard the U.S.S. Missouri, visibly the most powerful warship in the U.S. Navy and the ship on board which General Douglas MacArthur had recently accepted Japan's surrender. Between the ambassador's death and this announcement, not only had World War II ended, the cold war-as yet untitled-had begun. In addition to conflicts between the United States and the Soviet Union over Poland, Germany, Iran, and other areas, the Soviet Union had demanded from the Turkish government the concession of two of its provinces in the east and, in the west, a base in the area of the Dardanelles. On March 22, the Missouri began a slow journey from New York harbor to Turkey. At Gibraltar the British governor had a wreath placed on board. Accompanied by the destroyer Power, the great battleship was met on April 3 in the eastern Mediterranean by the light cruiser Providence. Finally, on the