Think from KERA

U.S. defense strategy from Washington to Trump

Jan 30, 2026
Michael O'Hanlon, Brookings policy analyst and author on U.S. defense history, offers a compact tour of American military strategy from the Revolution to the modern era. He traces early naval fights, 19th-century expansion, the rise of global naval power, WWII’s transformation, Cold War shifts, and contemporary dilemmas about Russia, China, and when the U.S. should act.
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ANECDOTE

Early Naval Rebuild Against Pirates

  • The 1790s saw renewed naval investment to protect commerce from Barbary pirates and French-enabled attacks.
  • O'Hanlon describes building six frigates and finishing them when France threatened American shipping.
INSIGHT

Peacetime vs Wartime Strategy Record

  • O'Hanlon identifies many discrete U.S. defense strategies and finds peacetime strategies often prepared the nation well.
  • He judges wartime strategies as a mixed record, with about a third failing or needing change.
ANECDOTE

Navy Rise Before Teddy Roosevelt

  • Late 19th-century industrial growth, Mahan's book, and presidential actions drove the U.S. to build a world-class navy.
  • O'Hanlon links the naval build-up across administrations before Theodore Roosevelt to that broader shift.
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