An American Classic Goes Public

Most people associate the name Samuel P. Huntington with his best selling 1998 book The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. Even today the book ranks #5 in Amazon's 20th century world history category, and #20 in Amazon's International Relations category.

What you may not know is that Samuel P. Huntington also wrote one of the most influential articles in American Defense Policy history. National Policy and the Transoceanic Navy, published in May of 1954, is one of the most influential strategy articles ever written, and even to this day has influence among most of our national military leadership. The article is a timeless piece that is still often cited in national policy and naval strategy research today, and likely will be for many generations.

In what I believe is a brilliant move by the United States Naval Institute, National Policy and the Transoceanic Navy has been published in its entirety on the US Naval Institute blog, exposing this article to the masses for the first time ever. If you have never read the whole thing, treat yourself. The real value of that article is that much of the material applies as much today as it did in 1954 when it was written.