How did the US Army emerge as one of the most powerful political organizations in the United States following World War II? In this book, Grant H. Golub asserts that this remarkable shift was the result of the Army's political masters consciously transforming the organization into an active political player throughout the war. Led by Henry Stimson, the Secretary of War and one of the most experienced American statesmen of the era, the Army energetically worked to shape the contours of American power throughout the war, influencing the scope and direction of US foreign policy as the Allies fought the Axis powers. The result saw the Army, and the military more broadly, gain unprecedented levels of influence over US foreign relations. As World War II gave way to the Cold War, the military helped set the direction of policy toward the Soviet Union and aided the decades of confrontation between the two superpowers.

‘Grant Golub's well-researched and deftly written book offers fresh insight into how power worked in Roosevelt's wartime Washington and how, under Henry Stimson's leadership, the US Army mastered the game of backroom angling, vote whipping, and assault by memo.'

Brooke L. Blower - author of Americans in a World at War: Intimate Histories from the Crash of Pan Am's Yankee Clipper

‘American grand strategy pivoted during World War II, and Henry Stimson was the fulcrum. Enmeshed in the highest echelons of power he more than any other leader put the Army-and thus army thinking, army jargon, and army solutions-at the heart of Washington's conception of the world's opportunities and threats. Grant Golub's insightful work gives Stimson his full due. Accessible, insightful, well-researched and well-reasoned, it is a must read for anyone interested in the rise of the American century.'

Jeffrey A. Engel - David Gergen Director of the Center for Presidential History, Southern Methodist University

‘Warriors in Washington is a valuable contribution to our understanding of Henry Stimson’s role during a perilous time in American history.’

Mary L. Dudziak Source: H-Diplo

‘This is a fine monograph, based on in-depth research in the papers of the War Department and the Combined Chiefs of Staff. It persuasively shows that Stimson worked hard to influence wartime grand strategy but was often stymied by the complexities of alliance politics, and by the sinuous president he served.’

William I. Hitchcock Source: H-Diplo | Robert Jervis International Security Studies Forum

‘Grant Golub convincingly argues that historians have overlooked the political dimensions of Stimson’s role as secretary of war during World War II … Golub has successfully made the case for viewing Henry Stimson as a driving force behind the War Department’s involvement in policymaking on issues that would have been beyond its scope before the war. In doing so, he has provided a new and persuasive view of Stimson as a political operator. These are important contributions to the understanding of wartime policymaking.’

David d’Avray Source: The Jervis Forum

‘The United States Army and Navy of 1940, which were trapped by a much more inward-looking system of bureaus and branches, and all too often wasting time fighting with one another, needed someone with Stimson’s background and skills. … As Golub clearly shows, he was, almost literally, born for this role.’

Michael S. Neiberg Source: H-Diplo

‘Golub’s Warriors in Washington is an incredibly important contribution to the history of the US Army, the American national security state, American civil-military relations, and the development of America’s twentieth-century grand strategy. Golub emphatically makes the case that Stimson and his War Department made a new American way of war, one in which the military helped identify national interests and shape policy objectives. It is hard to imagine the creation of the National Security Council and America’s Cold War policy of containment without Stimson’s reforms, which anticipated an increased role for US leadership in the postwar world. Perhaps the greatest triumph of the book is its showcasing how America’s interventionist foreign policy after World War II was not inevitable, but the product of committed internationalists like Stimson who remade the rules for warriors in Washington.’

Alexander J. Marino Source: H-Diplo

‘Based on extensive research in US archives, ‘Warriors in Washington’ adds considerably to our knowledge of the making of US wartime strategy … Golub's painstaking research illuminates the making of grand strategy in ways that most historians - who have limited their focus to Allied leaders and their top military brass - have not.’

Benjamin A. Coates Source: Diplomatic History