King's thesis linked war to national policy

King's unusually substantial Naval War College thesis offered an early statement of the strategic logic that later shaped his advice and command. He tied the conduct of war to the policy that caused it and to the political goal the nation wanted to attain. That formulation rejects the comforting idea that major wars simply arrive by accident and directs attention to the policies that create a confrontation. In the American case, this interpretation connects war planning to the pursuit of great-power status and the expectation that the United States should emerge stronger from major wars.