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4 - Why They Did Not Go Home

The GIs and the Battle over Their Presence in the 1960s and 1970s

from Part One - Strategy and Politics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 October 2013

By
Hubert Zimmermann
Edited by
Thomas W. Maulucci, Jr  and
Detlef Junker
Thomas W. Maulucci, Jr
Affiliation:
State University of New York
Detlef Junker
Affiliation:
Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, Germany
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Summary

On September 9, 1950, President Harry Truman announced that the United States intended to temporarily multiply the number of American troops in Europe. He strongly emphasized that a "basic element" of the decision was the government's expectation that the U.S. commitment would be matched by the Europeans. Chancellor Ludwig Erhard emphasized the great importance the German government attached to the troops and tried to re-assure President Lyndon Johnson with the remark that in his judgment the GIs were quite happy in Germany. Vietnam accelerated the shift in American attitudes on the political situation in Europe. Richard Nixon announced that the United States would "under no circumstances" make a unilateral reduction in its commitment to NATO: Any reduction in NATO forces will only take place on a multilateral basis and on the basis of what those who are lined up against the NATO forces - what they might do.
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Chapter
Information
GIs in Germany
The Social, Economic, Cultural, and Political History of the American Military Presence
 , pp. 96 - 118
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2013

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