ABSTRACT
Henry Kissinger decided against moving to the University of Chicago and instead accepted a position at the Council on Foreign Relations that would keep him away from academics for at least a while and engaged in the power politics of New York City. Kissinger’s study work at the Council and for Rockefeller brought him in touch with many of the elite who were concerned about foreign policy, and a number who had served various positions in government related to policy. Throughout the 1960s there was a growing community of experts within the government, government research contractors, as well as academia focused on the evolving problems of arms control. During this period the weapons and their associated delivery systems grew increasingly complex while nuclear stockpiles in the US and Soviet Union mounted. Until 1962 all of Kissinger’s attention and writings had been on the issues of nuclear warfare, arms control, and the defense of Western Europe.
