The Origins of SDI, 1944-1983

The Origins of SDI, 1944-1983 PDF Author: Donald R. Baucom
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
Most people think Star Wars began with the ideas of Ronald Reagan, but its roots reach decades further back. In this first scholarly account of the origins of the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), historian Don Baucom traces these roots back to the dawn of the missile age in 1944. He finds SDI emerging after a period of nearly 40 years from forces generated by technological developments, changing strategic conditions, and the collapse of the SALT arms control negotiations of the 1970s.

The Origins of SDI, 1944-1983

The Origins of SDI, 1944-1983 PDF Author: Donald R. Baucom
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
Most people think Star Wars began with the ideas of Ronald Reagan, but its roots reach decades further back. In this first scholarly account of the origins of the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), historian Don Baucom traces these roots back to the dawn of the missile age in 1944. He finds SDI emerging after a period of nearly 40 years from forces generated by technological developments, changing strategic conditions, and the collapse of the SALT arms control negotiations of the 1970s.

Managing National Security Policy

Managing National Security Policy PDF Author: William W. Newmann
Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Pre
ISBN: 9780822970767
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 300

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Book Description
The U.S. national security decision-making system is a product of the Cold War. Formed in 1947 with the National Security Council, it developed around the demands of competing with and containing the USSR. But the world after the collapse of communism and, particularly, the tragedy of September 11, is vastly different. A threatening but familiar enemy has given way to a complex environment of more diverse and less predictable threats. As the creation of the Homeland Security Council and Office of Homeland Security indicate, the United States must now reevaluate standard national security processes for this more uncertain world.In this timely book, William W. Newmann examines the way presidents manage their advisory process for national security decision making and the way that process evolves over the course of an administration's term. Three detailed case studies show how the president and his senior advisors managed arms control and nuclear strategy during the first terms of the Carter, Reagan, and G. H. W. Bush presidencies. These studies, enhanced by interviews with key members of the national security teams, including James Baker, Brent Scowcroft, and Zbigniew Brzezinski, reveal significant patterns of structure and adaptation. They provide a window to how decision making in the modern White House really works, at a moment when national security decisions are again at the top of the agenda.Specifically, Newmann investigates this pattern. Each president begins his administration with a standard National Security Councilÿbased interagency process, which he then streamlines toward a reliance on senior officials working in small groups, and a confidence structure of a few key advisors. Newmann examines the institutional pressures that push administrations in this direction, as he also weighs the impact of the leadership styles of the presidents themselves. In so doing, he reaches the conclusion that decision making can be an audition process through which presidents discover which advisors they trust. And the most successful process is one that balances formal, informal, and confidence sources to maintain full discussion of diverse opinions, while settling those debates informally at the senior-most levels.Unlike previous studies, Managing National Security Policy views decision making as dynamic, rather than as a static system inaugurated at the beginning of a president's term. The key to understanding the decision-making process rests upon the study of the evolving relationships between the president and his senior advisors. Awareness of this evolution paints a complex portrait of policy making, which may help future presidents design national security decision structures that fit the realities of the office in today's world.

The History of American Foreign Policy from 1895

The History of American Foreign Policy from 1895 PDF Author: Jerald A. Combs
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1003862438
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 702

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Book Description
Now in its fifth edition, this volume offers a clear, concise, and nuanced history of U.S. foreign relations since the Spanish–American War and places that narrative within the context of the most influential historiographical trends and debates. The History of American Foreign Policy from 1895 includes both revised and new sections that incorporate insights from recent scholarship on the United States in the world. These sections devote more attention to the international framework as well as the domestic constraints under which American foreign policymakers operated. This edition also emphasizes the role of non-state actors such as missionaries, aid workers, activists, and business leaders in shaping policies and contributing to international relations. As a result, the text considers a broader and more diverse range of people and voices than many other histories of U.S. foreign policy. Expanded final chapters bring the story of U.S. foreign relations to the present and explore some of the contemporary challenges facing American and global leaders, including terrorism, the effects of climate change, China’s increasing influence, and globalization. Updated controversial issues sections and suggestions for further reading at the end of each chapter reflect important contributions from new studies. This engaging text is an invaluable resource for students interested in the history of American foreign policy and international relations.

History of the Office of the Secretary of Defense

History of the Office of the Secretary of Defense PDF Author: Alfred Goldberg
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 752

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Book Description


History of the Office of the Secretary of Defense: The test of War, 1950-1953

History of the Office of the Secretary of Defense: The test of War, 1950-1953 PDF Author: Alfred Goldberg
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Government publications
Languages : en
Pages : 752

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Book Description


Presidents, Diplomats, and Other Mortals

Presidents, Diplomats, and Other Mortals PDF Author: Robert H. Ferrell
Publisher: University of Missouri Press
ISBN: 0826265715
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 363

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Book Description
From Abraham Lincoln's stance on international slavery to George W. Bush's incursions on the world stage, American presidents and other leaders have taken decisive actions to shape our country's foreign policy. This new collection of essays provides analytical narratives of how and why policies were devised and implemented that would determine the place of the United States in the international arena from the 1860s to the present. Showing what individuals do-or choose not to do-is central to understanding diplomacy in peace and war. These writings-by such prominent historians as Terry H. Anderson and Eugene P. Trani-examine presidents and other diplomats at their best and worst in the practice of statecraft. They take on issues ranging from America's economic expansion abroad to the relations of democracies with authoritarian leaders and rogue nations to advocacy of such concepts as internationalism, unilateralism, nation building, and regime change. In so doing, they take readers on a virtual tour of American diplomatic history, tracing the ideas and actions of individuals in shaping our foreign policy, whether George F. Kennan as author of Soviet containment or Ronald Reagan as progenitor of "Star Wars." The essays range over a variety of scenarios to depict leaders coming to grips with real-world situations. They offer original views on such topics as American diplomacy toward Nicaragua, origins of U.S. attitudes toward Russia and the Soviet Union, FDR's idiosyncratic approach to statecraft, and food diplomacy as practiced by LBJ and Richard Nixon. And in considering post-Cold War crises, they address Bill Clinton's military interventions, George W. Bush's war against Iraq, and the half-century background to the current nuclear standoff with Iran. Additional articles pay tribute to the outstanding career of Robert H. Ferrell as a scholar and teacher. Throughout the volume, the authors seek to exemplify the scholarly standards of narrative diplomatic history espoused by Robert Ferrell-especially the notion that historians should attempt to explain fully the circumstances, opportunities, and pressures that influence foreign policy decisions while remembering that historical actors cannot with certainty predict the outcomes of their actions. Presidents, Diplomats, and Other Mortals is both a collection of compelling historical studies and an overarching case study of the role of individuals in foreign policy making and an insightful review of some of history's most important moments. Taken together, these essays provide a fitting tribute to Ferrell, the trailblazing scholar in whose honor the book was written.

One World Divisible

One World Divisible PDF Author: David Reynolds
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 9780393048216
Category : History, Modern
Languages : en
Pages : 932

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Book Description
A new volume in the Global Century series, this masterful history of the world in our time captures the ground-level drama of events and the larger contours of change during a period of global transformation.

Dark Skies

Dark Skies PDF Author: Daniel Deudney
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019090335X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 465

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Book Description
Space is again in the headlines. E-billionaires Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk are planning to colonize Mars. President Trump wants a "Space Force" to achieve "space dominance" with expensive high-tech weapons. The space and nuclear arms control regimes are threadbare and disintegrating. Would-be asteroid collision diverters, space solar energy collectors, asteroid miners, and space geo-engineers insistently promote their Earth-changing mega-projects. Given our many looming planetary catastrophes (from extreme climate change to runaway artificial superintelligence), looking beyond the earth for solutions might seem like a sound strategy for humanity. And indeed, bolstered by a global network of fervent space advocates-and seemingly rendered plausible, even inevitable, by oceans of science fiction and the wizardly of modern cinema-space beckons as a fully hopeful path for human survival and flourishing, a positive future in increasingly dark times. But despite even basic questions of feasibility, will these many space ventures really have desirable effects, as their advocates insist? In the first book to critically assess the major consequences of space activities from their origins in the 1940s to the present and beyond, Daniel Deudney argues in Dark Skies that the major result of the "Space Age" has been to increase the likelihood of global nuclear war, a fact conveniently obscured by the failure of recognize that nuclear-armed ballistic missiles are inherently space weapons. The most important practical finding of Space Age science, also rarely emphasized, is the discovery that we live on Oasis Earth, tiny and fragile, and teeming with astounding life, but surrounded by an utterly desolate and inhospitable wilderness stretching at least many trillions of miles in all directions. As he stresses, our focus must be on Earth and nowhere else. Looking to the future, Deudney provides compelling reasons why space colonization will produce new threats to human survival and not alleviate the existing ones. That is why, he argues, we should fully relinquish the quest. Mind-bending and profound, Dark Skies challenges virtually all received wisdom about the final frontier.

Global Century Series One World Divisible

Global Century Series One World Divisible PDF Author: David Reynolds
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 9780393321081
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 924

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Book Description
"A magisterial account of our time by a distinguished historian".--Walter LaFeber, author of "The Clash". This brilliant history vividly captures the great political events of the past 50 years while carefully avoiding an encyclopedia approach. of illustrations.

Justifying Ballistic Missile Defence

Justifying Ballistic Missile Defence PDF Author: Columba Peoples
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521113296
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 319

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Book Description
Examines the ways in which views of technology have been used in debates over ballistic missile defence.