"Before the Second World War, the states of Washington and Oregon were thinly populated economic backwaters of the United States. Even the major cities of Portland and Seattle were dependent on agricultural industries, especially timber, for their economic health. That all changed during World War II and the Cold War. By the dawn of the twenty-first century, the Pacific Northwest boasted a more diversified economy. Beer, tourism, and high tech moved in alongside timber and wheat as the region's mainstay industries. In Washington, especially, a Cold War-driven military and national security state set up shop as an economic behemoth even as debates over the costs and consequences of the new Atomic Age raged. Facing the World highlights these changes, as well as the politicians, business leaders, and ordinary people who helped bring them about. At the center of the story, Senators Henry Jackson, Wayne Morse, Slade Gorton, and Mark Hatfield; Congressman Tom Foley; and Governor Vic Atiyeh worked diligently for a generation to transform the region from insular and backward to cosmopolitan and forward-looking. Aligning the region with national security and international trade policies, these politicians made the Pacific Northwest economy what it is today. Through extensive research in congressional and federal archives, historian Christopher P. Foss vividly brings to life the discussions, conflicts, and controversies that shaped this political era. Though it wasn't perfect, its fading legacy of leadership is a lesson for our own time. Facing the World will prove a valuable resource to historians, political scientists, and civic-minded residents of the Pacific Northwest"-- Provided by publisher

Commerce, Defense industries, Defense industries Northwest, Pacific History, Economic development, Economic development Northwest, Pacific History, Expenditures, Public, History, National security, National security Northwest, Pacific History, Northwest, Pacific Commerce History, Northwest, Pacific Politics and government, Pacific Northwest, Politi

Introduction Part I: Globalizing the Pacific Northwest through national defense Washington: the national security state within a state The evolving politics of defense and national security in Oregon Mark Hatfield and the new national security Part II: Globalizing the Pacific Northwest through trade The opportunities and perils of postwar international trade Nintendo power: the growth of foreign direct investment and international trade in the Pacific Northwest since "We were way out in front": Vic Atiyeh and the growth of international trade in Oregon