ABSTRACT
Foreign policy considerations heavily influenced decisions about MX during the Ford and Carter administrations and were important factors during the Reagan years. In the spring of 1978, in a document entitled the Declaration on National Security and Foreign Policy, the Senate Republicans issued a broadside attack upon the detente policies of the Carter administration and of the general conduct of Soviet-US relations during the 1970s. The document was reflective of the profound and growing ideological split in the United States over foreign policy, which would characterize conservative views of both presidential candidate Reagan during the 1980 election and his new national security program initiated in 1981. From the late 1960s through 1983, the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks regime affected, and was influenced by, two issues surrounding MX. By 1980 those opposed to MX for strategic and foreign policy reasons were joined by individuals and groups concerned about the disturbing environmental, financial, and social effects of the proposed missile system.
