Remaking the Conquering Heroes: The Postwar American Occupation of Germany

"Remaking the Conquering Heroes" shows that American policymakers and Army officers had to confront and take control over a lawless U.S. military in the aftermath of World War II. Money laundering, theft, racial antagonism between black and white GIs, unregulated sex, and high rates of venereal disease threatened to undermine American authority in occupied Germany as much as Soviet-American conflict. Willoughby argues that it was the creative, if disorganized, reaction of American officials in Germany that helped create both a foreign policy framework and more inclusive, familial military establishment capable of consolidating and extending U.S. power during the Cold War. This book covers the following topics: Introduction: The Historical Significance of the Rise of American Martial Tourism in Germany; The Collapse of the World War II Army; Primarily Invested in the German Fraulein; The Corrosive Racial Divide; From Colony to Junior Partner; Between Boot Camp and Summer Camp; The Beginnings of Gender and Racial Inclusion in the Cold War Military Family; Remaking the Conquering Heroes; Extending American Power. "Willoughby has written a fascinating study of the transformation of American troops in Germany." CHOICE