ABSTRACT The standard interpretation of Jacob Viner’s seminal essay on mercantilism, ‘Power versus Plenty’ (1948), locates it within a prolonged discussion over economic theory, historiography, and policy that originated from the late nineteenth century. Challenging this temporal context conventionally assumed, this article argues that Viner’s historical study is best understood in close relation with his preoccupations in the 1940s: U.S. grand strategy. Specifically, it examines the interplay of historiographical and foreign policy discourses in the 1940s by tracing the trajectory of Viner’s intellectual enterprise from history to strategy of economic statecraft. By surveying the forgotten origins of ‘Power versus Plenty’ in the years between 1944 and 1946, it shows that Viner’s rationale in writing the essay went beyond his scholarly interest in the past. His ultimate aim was to support the new interventionist argument that power politics was indispensable to realise the liberal internationalist vision of world order. In fact, Viner made active use of history not only to shape the strategic vision of U.S. foreign policy, but also police the boundaries of realistic foreign policy. This allowed him to discredit the socialist internationalist critique against the Truman Doctrine and to put financial power at the crux of U.S. grand strategy.