More than fifty years have passed since the twin crises of Lebanon and Taiwan dominated the news. These two events have faded into history and are often regarded as being, at best, footnotes in the histories of the Cold War. The world in which they took place seems to have passed away a long, long time ago. Yet, when reading these monographs, it become apparent that these two crises were profoundly important in terms of the effects they were to have on American strategy throughout the rest of the century. Those effects are still in play today and even now they are affecting how the United States perceives the world and reacts to developments within it. Air Operations in the Taiwan Crisis of 1958 and Air Operations in theLebanon Crisis of 1958 were prepared by the USAF Historical Division . This book is a compilation of those reports with substantial additional material that updates and complements the original material. However, the integrity of the original text has been scrupulously preserved.

Written in 1959, this study is based chiefly on the raw materials of historical vriting--messages and correspondence--and command and unit reports on the operations available at that time. State Department, JCS, Air Force, Army, Navy, and Marine Corps materials were used in its preparation. This study is of special significance in connection with planning and preparations for local wars and incidents. In this operation the American forces experienced no combat action, but the possibility of action was constant and the deployment of forces to the objective area was of first importance. To achieve a meaningful historical context for the military operations, the political and diplomatic background has been presented in some detail.