Reverse course

Reverse Course is the common name for the change in US policy toward Japan during the post-World War II reconstruction.

It is often linked to escalation of Cold War, the "loss" of China and the Korean War.

According to George F. Kennan’s policies, Japan served as an industrial engine of Communism containment in East Asia. The US needed an "empire to the South" in the form of a noncommunistic Japan. A strong Japanese economy would prevent Communism from spreading in Asia.