MacArthur and Kennan championed an offshore island perimeter ringing East Asia.

Evidence

For General Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Japan, and other military leaders, securing the Pacific meant creating an “offshore island perimeter.” The perimeter was to be a line of island bases stretching from north to south across the western Pacific. It would be like a giant wall protecting the United States, with thousands of miles of moat before reaching U.S. shores. “Our line of defense,” MacArthur explained, “runs through the chain of islands fringing the coast of Asia. It starts from the Philippines and continues through the Ryukyu Archipelago, which includes its main bastion, Okinawa. Then it bends back through Japan and the Aleutian Island chain, to Alaska.” This plan found support from the architect of early Cold War strategy, the diplomat George Kennan. Kennan saw the island perimeter as equally beneficial for hosting airpower, which would, he thought, allow the control of East Asia without large ground forces. — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 87

Categorization

• SEED: Direct quote from MacArthur defining the island perimeter gives a concrete, quotable origin story for Okinawa and Japan bases.