Two contrasting traditions have governed the relationship between American diplomacy and international law. In one, the United States acts as the principal upholder of global law and morality. In the other, national interests reign supreme, and international law merely sanctions and ennobles the foreign policies of the strong. These contradictory impulses were nowhere more apparent than in the United States' postwar relations with Germany.

In 1945, the United States and its allies assumed “supreme authority” over the defeated foe and implemented numerous occupation measures that violated the spirit, if not the word, of international law. Several years later, American officials seemed to rediscover their respect for that body of law as they began to construct a postwar European order. They championed German recovery, granted sovereign rights to an emerging Federal Republic of Germany, and defended their new ally against challenges from Moscow and the rival German Democratic Republic (GDR). Not only was the framework created in 1945 unique in the history of diplomacy and international law, the expansion of the web of contractual relationships between the Federal Republic, the GDR, and the Four Powers also coincided with the ebb and flow of the Cold War, with the United States playing a prominent role throughout.