Introduction : the peculiar nature of civil-military relations in the United States -- Revolutionary war by committee -- Lincoln, Congress, and the generals -- Managing the Vietnam War -- John Adams and the politics of rearmament -- Franklin Roosevelt and the politics of rearmament -- Harry Truman and the politics of rearmament -- Theodore Roosevelt and military modernization -- The McNamara revolution -- The Goldwater-Nichols revolution from above -- The Bush-Rumsfeld war and transformation -- Conclusions : U.S. civil-military relations under stress.