I have a little different recollection on the current crop of US small arms.
We did indeed agree with NATO that our next pistol would be a 9mm, as we insisted on the 7.62, being willing to take no less powerful rifle than .30-06.
Trials were held in and after 1949, giving us the Colt Commander and S&W M39. The High Standard and Inglis Lightweight did not carry through to commercial manufacture. But the US military had enough .45s for the time being.
Fast forward to about 1980. The many .38 revolvers bought as secondary standard and still in wide use by the USAF were wearing out. A gunzine article of the time said that 40% of those sent for repair were rejected as irreparable. The USAF held their own trials and picked the Beretta. This left the Army playing catchup and everything had to be done over. A cynic might think the result was foreordained.
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