This book is the result of a Fulbright senior research fellowship. In 1995, two unique grants, entitled “Renville Research,”were allocated to an Indonesian and an American historian in celebration of the simultaneous fiftieth anniversaries of Indonesia's Proclamation of Independence and the genesis of the Fulbright scholarly exchange program.These Fulbright fellowships entailed the specific assignment of taking a fresh look at the US role in Indonesia's nationalist struggle in the post-World War II era from a distinctly American perspective, in my case, while Mestika Zed, as the Indonesian Fulbright fellow,was asked to review the same events from an Indonesian point of view. I would like to express my appreciation to Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia (the Indonesian Academy of Sciences or LIPI), in particular to Prof.Dr.Taufik Abdullah, which served as official sponsor of this project. I am also grateful to the Council for the International Exchange of Scholars (CIES) in Washington DC, especially David Adams, for its administrative support.The same holds true for the American-Indonesian Exchange Foundation (AMINEF) in Jakarta. Collectively, the latter two organizations oversee the Fulbright program's exchange of scholars,teachers,and students between Indonesia and the United States.

In the course of exploring archival materials in the US National Archives and Records Administration in College Park, Maryland (NARA), the George Meany Memorial Archives in Silver Spring,Maryland (GMMA),the United Nations Archives in New York City (UN Archives), the Arsip Nasional Republik Indonesia in Jakarta (the National Archives of the Indonesian Republic or ANRI), the Algemeen Rijksarchief in The Hague (the National Archives of the Netherlands or ARA), and the Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-,Land- en Volkenkunde in Leiden (Royal Institute of Linguistics and Anthropology or KITLV), I benefited enormously from the help of many archivists and librarians who facilitated my work with dedication and kindness.

While researching and writing this book, I have relished Mestika Zed's keen insights into the political history of the Republic of Indonesia,in general,and the unfolding of the nationalist revolution in West Sumatra, in particular. My intellectual debt to Thijs Brocades Zaalberg began as a family affair. Living in Washington DC in the United States until the summer of 1999, the ample Fulbright fellowship during 1995-1997 also provided my youngest nephew in the Netherlands with a chance to do original research in the archival records of the State Department and US intelligence agencies in order to prepare his Master's thesis in history at the University of Groningen.