ABSTRACT
A revealing look at presidential politics and foreign policy-making from the aftermath of Vietnam to the NATO intervention in Kosovo. The book illuminates the relationship between presidents' domestic and foreign policy priorities and the key role of public opinion in constraining presidential initiatives, particularly the ability of a president to use military force overseas. In case studies ranging from the invasion of Grenada through the Gulf War and the dilemmas of Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia and Kosovo, Melanson provides compelling portraits of presidents Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Bush and Clinton, and their different efforts to forge a foreign policy consensus.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part One|40 pages
The Rise and Fall of the Cold War Consensus
part Two|154 pages
American Foreign Policy After Vietnam
part Three|96 pages
American Foreign Policy Since the Cold War
part Four|19 pages
Conclusions