In observance of the fiftieth anniversary of the end of World War II, the Air Force History and Museums Program sponsored several commemorative events. One, co-sponsored by the Air Force Historical Foundation was a symposium on the War in the Pacific, held at the Bethesda, Maryland, Naval Officers' Club. The gathering offered a unique opportunity for its guest panelists-participants in that war or historians of it-to reflect on a variety of subjects: Japanese objectives; American military preparedness and grand strategy; the interaction between U.S. Army, Air, and Navy leaders; combined...