ABSTRACT
John Tower's personal exasperation with the prolonged and inconclusive process of fielding the missile was part of the wider discontent with legislative-executive relations on defense policy that prompted his decision to retire from the Senate in 1984. Yet the process illustrates strengths, as well as weaknesses, particularly in the dynamic relationship between Congress and the president. In 1967 President Lyndon Johnson proposed deployment of the so-called Sentinel system, designed to provide a thin nationwide defense against possible attacks by long-range Chinese missiles, if and when they came into being. The prelude to the fierce congressional battles over MX took shape in 1973-1975 during the tenure of Defense Secretary James Schlesinger, A man of depth and experience, Schlesinger was identified philosophically with the position taken by Senator John H. Jackson. Given the increased assertiveness of Congress in the foreign policy process, a relevant question to be considered is where to draw the line between legitimate congressional oversight and congressional intrusion.
